Toshiba has announced the commercial availability of its new rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which the Japanese company claims solves traditional challenges associated with delivering both high energy and high power at the same time.
This makes it a good candidate for situations where battery cells must suppress heat and operate continuously, such as during the rapid charging of commercial vehicles, regenerative power systems for rolling stock, and industrial equipment. Suitable use cases include electric vehicles, logistics and other types of transport such as hybrid electric trucks.
Toshiba observed that the market is increasingly demanding batteries that deliver both high-energy and high-power characteristics. This has required a trade-off for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. In an EV, for example, a high-energy battery allows the vehicle to drive further on a single charge, but it lowers power input and output and extends charge times. Toshiba has thus developed a device that combines the advantages of both high-energy and high-power products.
The new 20Ah-HP cell also promises a longer life than the current 20Ah cell by suppressing heat during continuous charging and discharging, due to its lower internal resistance. Under Toshiba’s test conditions, the cell maintained almost 100 per cent capacity after 8,000 charge/discharge cycles, while the capacity of the current 20Ah cell decreased by approximately 10 per cent.
Toshiba anticipates the new cell being deployed in automobiles, industrial equipment and storage battery systems. Some examples include drive power supply and emergency power supply for railways; regenerative power supply for harbour cranes; electric ferries; hybrid buses; electric trucks; hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and plug-in HEVs (PHEVs); alternatives to lead-acid batteries, and storage battery systems.
Source: E&T
