IBM has revealed that it has created a new battery design that uses materials mined from seawater instead of cobalt, as the mineral is in high demand in the electric vehicle market. The software giant has teamed up with the research wing of Mercedes-Benz, battery electrolyte supplier Central Glass and battery maker Sidus to assist in the commercial development of the new design. However, according to IBM Research vice president Jeff Welser, the first working prototype of the new battery won't arrive for at least a year and the company won't necessarily end up making a product using the design.
Environmental impact
In a blog post announcing the breakthrough, IBM's next-generation battery hardware innovation manager Young-hye Na explained why the company is exploring the use of non-traditional materials for its new battery, saying: " Many battery materials, including heavy metals such as nickel and cobalt, pose huge environmental and humanitarian risks.Cobalt in particular, which is widely available in Central Africa, has been criticized for its careless mining and exploitation practices. Using three new and different proprietary materials, which have never been recorded as being combined in a battery, our IBM Research team has discovered the chemistry of a new battery that doesn't work - don't use heavy metals or other substances with supply problems Battery manufacturers are currently trying to reduce the amount of cobalt in their lithium-ion batteries, as the growth of the electric vehicle industry is expected to lead to a shortage of the mineral, which is mainly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In addition to being better for the environment, IBM claims its technology is capable of outperforming lithium-ion batteries in terms of cost, charge time and energy efficiency. via Reuters