Industry News: ProLogium Reveals Lithium Ceramic Battery Large-Footprint @ ees Electrical Energy Storage

[G. David Felt]

January 26th, 2022 Mercedes-Benz signed a partnership with ProLogium in developing next-generation batteries for electric vehicles. Mercedes has committed to a complete all electric auto portfolio starting in 2030. As such, having easily accessible supplies of battery packs would be needed on top of planning for next generation battery cells known at solid-state.

Mercedes with a heavy financial commitment to R&D under ProLogium and a seat on ProLogium's board is looking for ways to increase energy density and reduce costs as they change into EVs globally with a 2030 commitment to no longer producing ICE auto's.

Through the 2022 calendar year, ProLogium took a solid-state concept for next generation battery cells and took it into a physical form and tested to validate that said design.

While current Lithium-ion battery cells such as the famous 2170 or newer 4680 design are very safe, there have been the occasional time where a battery pack has caught fire and burnt down. Still safer than gasoline auto's, the understanding is for mass adoption of EVs globally, that battery cells will need to move to Solid-State design removing all chance for fires while increasing energy density.

June 14th to 16th in Munich Germany at the ees or electrical energy storage tradeshow, ProLogium revealed their break-through innovation in a next-generation solid-state battery cell design called Large-Footprint Lithium Ceramic Battery or LLCB. 

ProLogium has committed to having evaluation units into European auto companies by the end of 2023 as they have started to build their first mass-production LLCB plant in Dunkirk, France. This $5.2 Billion Euro investment for a planned battery capacity of 48 GWh with room to expand will serve as a manufacturing base to supply the European EV market. This will allow ProLogium to localize R&D and supply chain ahead of competitors for the european market.

ProLogium has pointed out that to reduce the number of cells in a battery pack is an effective way to optimize the battery pack while reducing the cost of the pack. This is why the industry is moving away from 21x70mm cells (2170) to 46x80mm cells (4680). 

This same concept can be applied to the solid-state cells. Taking advantage of the solid-state unique structure and manufacturing process, ProLogium has surpassed the liquid type limits of the 2170 or 4680 cells and has developed a large-footprint, high-capacity battery pack cell. 

LLCB flat shape have superior thermal conductivity allowing for less complex cooling system, optimizing space utilization. The design of the LLCB flat pack allows for simplified pack structure giving ease of maintenance and reduction of ownership costs.

ProLogium see's greater design flexibility for EV's. As Simon Wu, Assistant VP of ProLogium stated:

“For the same space as the mainstream 2170 EV battery pack, the LLCB pack’s volumetric energy density can be nearly doubled, and for the same total energy, the LLCB pack’s weight can be cut by up to 115 kg. More importantly, the LLCB production processes will produce less waste in terms of substrate materials, and the reduced number of cells will require less raw materials, which means increased sustainability and affordability.”

What this means is that as an example, the EQE 350+ that has a 90 kWh battery pack could go with a lighter battery pack and a weight savings of around 254lbs. Or Mercedes could stay with the over all current size of the battery pack and double the power to 180 kWh, increasing the driving range by 79% in the EQE 350+.

Polun Cheng, Global Project Management AVP of ProLogium Technology stated the following:

“ProLogium is currently cooperating with FEV, a globally leading engineering provider in the automotive industry and internationally recognized leader of innovation across different sectors and industries, to carry out verification tests of the LLCB and design applicable solutions. Samples are targeted to be delivered to European car OEMs for testing as early as the end of 2023.”

Third party validation in testing the LLCB across a wide range of different sectors and industries will confirm and validate the benefits of LLCB cells.

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