At the beginning of the year, a team of Tesla researchers commanded by expert Jeff Dahn patented new aqueous electrolyte batteries that significantly improved the capabilities of current packs thanks to the use of two additives. This technology, registered in the name of Tesla, will probably be used by their own development cells that the company will launch in the future.
One of the main characteristics of these cells with a ‘single crystal’ NMC cathode is its high resistance to degradation. This is because, theoretically, it can have a useful life of 1.6 million kilometers. Now, Tesla has applied for a new international patent called ‘Dioxazolones and nitrile sulfites as electrolytic additives for lithium-ion batteries.’
This application includes new mixtures of two additives in an electrolytic solvent that can be used in lithium, nickel, manganese, and cobalt compounds (NMC batteries). A solution that Tesla has never used in its vehicles. At first, we should see the first batteries with this technology at some point in 2020. According to Tesla, these new cells will be cheaper to manufacture than those currently used.
The patent covers the high-temperature storage and long-term cycle performance of NMC bag cells with an electrolytic additive, MDO, and two new additives, PDO and BS. Both MDO and PDO form passive layers on the surface of the graphite electrode during cell formation, while BS does not.