Basic Motors is becoming a member of a choose group of automakers and battery producers within the growth of mixed-chemistry battery packs for electrical automobiles. In a patent submitting printed by the USA Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) on November 28, 2024, GM outlines its idea, which builds on an preliminary submission made on August 2, 2023. This doc particulars the mix of nickel manganese cobalt (NCM) batteries with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and different associated chemistries.
In line with the patent, the 2 sorts of batteries can be organized into separate modules, every doubtlessly providing completely different usable capacities. A controller would handle varied parameters, equivalent to temperature and state of cost, permitting for the potential for bypassing one chemistry or the opposite beneath particular situations.
GM suggests {that a} mixed-chemistry configuration may optimize each efficiency and price. By integrating the extra inexpensive LFP battery cells alongside the higher-performing NCM cells, they may obtain a steadiness. Whereas the 2 chemistries could create a cost imbalance that reduces the general capability of the battery pack, GM goals to mitigate this subject by permitting one set of cells to cost whereas the opposite set is bypassed.
This strategy may additionally allow sooner charging, resulting in smaller battery packs that counteract the pattern of rising pack sizes, which contribute to elevated prices and weight, and demand extra uncooked supplies. This melding of faster-charging specialised cells with slower-charging commodity cells may improve the practicality of electrical automobiles.
Different companies are pursuing related mixed-chemistry options. For instance, CATL has launched a battery pack designed for fast charging in plug-in hybrids. Moreover, the U.S. startup Our Subsequent Vitality (ONE) demonstrated in 2022 how its mixed-chemistry expertise may extract a formidable 600 miles of vary from a BMW iX, almost doubling its EPA-rated vary. Mercedes-Benz has additionally been creating expertise that would pave the best way for the combination of various battery cell varieties.
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