Industry experts and academics have released a report titled ‘Future of Batteries’. Their research, under the banner of Arthur D Little Consulting attempts to answer two questions. These issues are which technology will dominate future battery space? And how should companies in the sector prepare themselves for a brave new battery future?
The Five Applications That Will Drive the Battery Future
The experts discern new applications joining traditional markets. However, they anticipate starter batteries will continue to maintain market share, although growing use of electric vehicles and their hybrids may take over in the West.
Moreover, electronic devices will continue to demand the largest-possible amount of energy in the most compact form. While energy storage will continue to grow at an unknown rate worldwide. The fifth application is the crowd of other devices, some of which lie in the battery future. Others in the current era include drones, power tools, electric scooters, electric bikes, aviation, forklifts etc.
Which Battery Technology Will Dominate As of Now
The Arthur D Little Consulting team considered three scenarios. In the first of these, current lithium-ion technology overcomes safety and cost issues, and dominates the market as the sole solution, just as photovoltaic cells have done with solar.
However, the experts consider it more likely the battery future will see a new lithium-ion technology take over. Because they believe the current model is ‘hitting its theoretical limits’, and electric vehicles and electronics will demand better answers. Therefore, they expect to see a move to solid-state electrolyte batteries, where the user pays more for greater benefits.
Finally, the panel considers it unlikely the foreseeable battery future will witness a viable alternative battery technology emerge. Because, “As of now,” they say, “there is no truly viable battery technology with sufficient potential to replace currently dominant Li-ion batteries across all applications.”
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Preview Image: Authors of Arthur D Little Consulting Report