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Learn more - CREATE AN ACCOUNTSIGN IN JOIN IEEESIGN IN Close Special offer: Join IEEE now for 2023 and save 50%! IEEE Members receive 12 print issues of IEEE Spectrum and enjoy PDF downloads, full access to our archive with thousands of in-depth articles, and other exclusive content and features. Join IEEE today for 2023 and save 50%! JOIN IEEE EnergyTopicTypeNews Lithium Battery Ripe for Disruption, Inventor Says Nobel laureate calls for radical changes in manufacturing, mining, and recycling Tekla S. Perry 8h 2 min read Two workers in safety gear remove the top panel of a car battery pack. Workers open up a battery pack, revealing the battery modules, at Volkswagen's pilot recycling plant for car battery cells in Salzgitter, Germany. John MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images Recycling TechnologiesSolid-State Batterieslithium-ion batterystanley whittinghamenergy storage The lithium-ion battery isn't going anywhere soon. That's what M. Stanley Whittingham, the Nobel laureate who created the first rechargeable lithium-ion battery some 50 years ago, told attendees of the SLAC-Stanford Battery Research Center Launch Symposium on Thursday. The new organization aims to bridge gaps between organizations that research, manufacture, and deploy large-scale energy storage systems. [svg]M. Stanley Whittingham It's going to be at least five-to-ten years before any alternative technologies can compete on cost with lithium-ion technology, Whittingham predicted. Granted that this technology remains the incumbent for some time to come, Whittingham has concerns--big concerns--about how the world makes and uses these energy storage devices. Here are the big issues he worries about: Manufacturing It's ridiculous that manufacturing technologies haven't changed in 30 years, Whittingham says. "We need to reduce the 60 to 80 kilowatt hours) of electricity it takes to produce a one kWh battery," he says. "We've got to find new manufacturing technologies." Recycling Whittingham is also worried about recycling technologies. He's encouraged that facilities to recycle lithium-ion batteries are being built around the world, but he adds, "We need to make sure they are clean." Mining The supply chain for the minerals used in battery manufacturing in the first place also need work. "We need regional supply chains," Whittingham says. And "we need to look at clean mining with clean energy." Heavy Metals Given that some components of a lithium-ion battery's traditional chemistry are inherently toxic, they must be engineered out of the device as soon as possible, Whittingham says. He put it bluntly: "Cobalt must go!" The Exploding Battery Nightmare "We can't have cheap junk out there," Whittingham says. He called for a U.S. federal government mandate requiring that all products that incorporate lithium-ion batteries by approved by Underwriters Laboratories or an equivalent testing and certification organization. Safety Myths "Please don't say [solid state is] safer until we prove that it's safer!" --M. Stanley Whittingham With much attention being paid these days to the possibilities of solid-state batteries, Whittingham points out that some claims for the technology are overblown, that is, solid state chemistries are not necessarily safer than liquid chemistries, and carry their own risks, given they incorporate far more lithium. "If you go to solid state," he says, "please don't say it's safer until we prove that it's safer!" From Your Site Articles * How to Build a Safer, More Energy-Dense Lithium-ion Battery > * Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Finally Takes Off in North America and Europe > * Less Fire, More Power: The Secret to Safer Lithium-Ion Batteries > Related Articles Around the Web * What Are Lithium-Ion Batteries? | UL Research Institutes > * Lithium-ion battery - Wikipedia > Recycling TechnologiesSolid-State Batterieslithium-ion batterystanley whittinghamenergy storage {"imageShortcodeIds":[]} Tekla S. Perry Tekla S. Perry is a senior editor at IEEE Spectrum. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., she's been covering the people, companies, and technology that make Silicon Valley a special place for more than 40 years. An IEEE member, she holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Michigan State University. The Conversation (0) A red humanoid robot on a wheeled platform waits beside a human wearing a VR headset with his hands and arms covered in mechanical sensors. RoboticsTopicMagazineTypeFeature Your Robotic Avatar Is Almost Ready 7h 13 min read A black and white photo of a young man sitting in front of a CRT screen that has lines and numbers on it. History of TechnologyTopicTypeComputingGuest ArticleProfile The Tremendous VR and CG Systems--of the 1960s 9h 9 min read Can We Identify a Person From Their Voice? TelecommunicationsTopicMagazineTypeFeature Can We Identify a Person From Their Voice? 15 Apr 2023 10 min read Related Stories EnergyTopicTypeNewsConsumer Electronics Supercapacitors Get Smaller Than Ever EnergyTopicTypeNewsTransportation Aviation, the Unlikely Road to Long-range EVs EnergyTopicNewsType Solid-State Battery Has 2x the Energy--and No Anode