In the US, the biggest sources of greenhouse gases are cars, trucks, aircraft, trains, and the transportation sector. If we want to curb the impacts of climate change, we’ll need to go away from burning fossil fuels in all ways possible.
There’s just one issue with most electric vehicles: they depend on lithium-ion batteries made using heavy metals like cobalt. Not only the material is short in supply, but it’s mined in a way that involves child labor and the destruction of the environment. To keep those issues in check, companies such as Tesla, Panasonic, and IBM have tried building electric batteries without using heavy metals.
Bold claims from SVOLT
So far, many of those efforts have yet to become mainstream, but a Chinese company called SVOLT claims to have cracked the code. The company says it’s ready to produce a cobalt-free battery at scale. At the Chengdu Motor Show, the firm showcased an 82.5KWh capacity power fitted inside a vehicle from Chinese automaker Great Wall Motors.
Under normal temperatures, SVOLT says its battery can deliver approximately 373 miles of range on a single charge and enable a car to reach 60 mph speed in just 5 seconds. The company said the battery is “expected” to make it to vehicles in the Chinese market but provided no clarity on the timeline of when it could happen.
Mainstream production is still far
The company also did not say how many cobalt-free power packs it is capable of manufacturing as of now. It’s worth noting that other companies are making cobalt-free batteries at scale.
Speaking of battery advancements, researchers claim to have made a breakthrough in quantum mechanics that could pave the way for new kinds of sensors, switches, and computers. The new discovery is based on the discovery of a ‘topological axion insulator, a quantum matter state that was only described in theory until now.
