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Industry needs for practical lithium-metal battery designs in electric vehicles

Nature Energy volume 9, pages 1199–1205 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Lithium-metal battery (LMB) research and development has been ongoing for six decades across academia, industry and national laboratories. Despite this extensive effort, commercial LMBs have yet to displace, or offer a ready alternative to, lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles (EVs). Here we explore some of the most critical industry needs that will have to be resolved to advance practical LMB designs for implementation in EVs. We begin our exploration with a brief overview of LMBs, then consider the following needs: energy density, anode thickness and cathode loading, electrolyte formulation and gas generation, electrolyte injection amount, cathode oxygen release, cell pressure control, cell format, cell manufacturing quality checks and battery modelling. We conclude with generic cell design recommendations for future LMB EV applications.

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Fig. 1: Plot of energy density against different cell designs.
Fig. 2: Plot of capacity retention for different cell designs.
Fig. 3: Three types of battery testing fixture designs.
Fig. 4: Schematic for LMB manufacturing.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Meinan He, Louis G. Hector Jr.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Battery Materials and Systems Research, General Motors Global Research and Development Center, Warren, MI, USA

    Meinan He, Louis G. Hector Jr, Fang Dai, Fan Xu, Suryanarayana Kolluri, Nathaniel Hardin & Mei Cai

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  1. Meinan He
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  2. Louis G. Hector Jr
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Correspondence to Mei Cai.

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He, M., Hector, L.G., Dai, F. et al. Industry needs for practical lithium-metal battery designs in electric vehicles. Nat Energy 9, 1199–1205 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-024-01624-5

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