Hello Steemians,

This is the continuation of my previous post. Last time, I wrote about the importance of Clean Energy and how much potential this sector has for the future. I also discussed how electric vehicles and new lithium-ion battery technology are going to be the "Game Changer" in the coming years. If you have not gone through that article yet then please click this link

When Elon Musk introduced a football field size lithium ion battery in Australia, I could not believe it. Right now, this battery is powering more than 30,000 houses. But this is not a permanent solution. It is simply not possible to make a football field size battery everywhere. If this battery is only capable of delivering power to 30,000 houses, then imagine how big a battery would be to power a city with a population of 20 million!! Not to mention space required to place thousands of wind turbines to recharge that battery!!

World Largest Li-ion battery ( Photo Credit : mashable.com )

What is a lithium-ion battery?

Lithium-ion batteries are those batteries which generate electricity by the movement of lithium ions from the cathode to the anode (when the battery is recharging) and anode to the cathode (when it is not recharging and on a power supply mode).

The battery Technology currently we have, is not capable of replacing oil or gas in the vehicles. Secondly, they are too expensive, they cannot provide enough energy for a longer time frame and they take too long to charge.

But by 2020, we can expect a substantial decrease in the cost of manufacturing Li-ion batteries and an increase in power output thanks to the usage of new chemistries and revolutionary materials. For example, according to an estimate, a fully charged lithium-ion battery on an electric vehicle today can take it as far as 200 kilometers but by 2020 the mileage will increase to 500 km.

Challenges in refining Li-Ion batteries

• As a power source of automobiles, they carry less energy density than oil or gas.
• Refuelling of automobiles with oil or gas takes few minutes but recharging a Li-Ion battery takes several hours.
• Li-ion battery can catch fire if overcharged or some malfunction occurs.

Types of Li-Ion batteries currently available in the market

*There are five major types of lithium-ion battery chemistry: *

• LFP (lithium iron phosphate) used in Two wheeler self-balancing Personal Transporters, automotive, power tools, aviation products.
• NMC (nickel manganese cobalt) used in Electric vehicles, power tools etc.
• NCA (nickel cobalt aluminum) used in Electric vehicles.
• LMO (lithium manganese oxide) used in Electric vehicles, mobile phone, laptop.
• LCO (lithium cobalt oxide) used in many applications.

Out of these 5 types, Nickel manganese Cobalt (NMC) is regarded as the chemistry with the most potential for use in the Electric vehicle segment given its high performance, safety, and low cost.

Potential

According to a report published in bloomberg, 5 billion Li-ion batteries are been made every year and the numbers are only going to increase in the future. Since Lithium, Nickel, and Manganese are metal of choice of NMC batteries (Cobalt being scarce), I strongly feel one should invest in shares of the companies which are extracting these metals at the moment. Also, keep an eye on the shares of Electric vehicle manufacturers and battery manufacturers.. !!

Advancement in Li-ion batteries would have huge implications for not only Electric vehicles but also for the robotics industry ( which is another sector of great importance). The future is not far away when our houses, aircraft, ships, trains, manufacturing industry and all the other sectors that you can think of, will be battery powered. I strongly feel, Li-Ion battery stocks will give good returns on your investment, similar to bitcoin. And that's why I feel, it is going to be the true successor of Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies if considered for investment !!