Turn off the horn? Toyota's lithium battery technology has made a major breakthrough

According to a report from the automotive news website Electrek, Toyota Motor Corporation announced last week that in terms of lithium-ion battery technology, the company has made major technological research and development breakthroughs. Not only has the life of lithium-ion batteries been extended, but the range of electric vehicles can also be increased. 15%.

According to reports, Toyota said that breakthroughs in lithium-ion battery technology will increase the range of electric vehicles by at least 15%. In the past two decades, the performance of lithium-ion batteries has improved at a rate of 5% to 8% per year, so the battery performance improvements announced by Toyota may not be so exciting. But Toyota's new discoveries are of great significance.

It is reported that Toyota Motor Corporation’s new breakthrough lies in its ability to observe changes in the electrolyte of lithium-ion batteries during charging and discharging. Toyota believes that by observing battery cells in this way, the company can increase battery capacity.

Toyota said: Through this method, Toyota can observe the real-time errors of lithium-ion batteries and obtain the reasons for the degradation of lithium-ion battery performance. Toyota believes that new technological breakthroughs can provide new fundamental guidelines for battery research and development, which can improve battery performance and durability. It can not only extend battery life, but also extend the battery life of plug-in hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles. mileage.

Toyota battery technology researcher Hisao Yamashita (Hisao Yamashige) told the media: 'Lithium-ion batteries will be a key technology in the electrification of vehicles. Therefore, we continue to improve this technology. In terms of improving the performance of lithium-ion batteries, we have a clear need.'

Prior to this, Toyota had announced that the company had established an internal electric vehicle research group. However, Toyota confirmed the research The team currently has only four engineers. The goal of this team is to produce long-range electric vehicles for the company by 2020.

In addition, various signs also show that Toyota is finally getting away from hydrogen fuel cell technology. To promote hydrogen fuel cell technology, Toyota must build a complete ecosystem, including hydrogen production, storage, transportation, and injection. To do a good job of these links, it must be deployed in advance. Moreover, the hydrogen fuel cell still has a fatal problem. It has to be filled with hydrogen and cannot be charged. Faced with various unfavorable situations, hydrogen fuel cell technology may be difficult to achieve in the near future. Therefore, Toyota Motor Corporation is currently investing more and more in lithium battery-powered electric vehicles.