Commercializing potassium-ion batteries using its Prussian white cathode (KPW) cathode cloth,

Austin-primarily based totally potassium-ion battery startup Group1 says its era has similar electricity density to lithium iron phosphate (LFP), and that it’s far aiming for a big-scale release of its product through 2027.

The organization released final week and is searching for to commercialise potassium-ion batteries the use of its Prussian White cathode (KPW) cathode fabric, which could be a world-first.

Startup Group1: Potassium-ion battery “LFP is our Target”

Group1 CEO Alex Girau has given that replied to questions from Energy-Storage.news, primarily based totally on feedback from Max Reid, studies analyst in Wood Mackenzie’s Battery & Raw Materials Service section who defined potassium-ion battery era as ‘promising however nevertheless immature’. See Girau’s complete reaction similarly down.

In his feedback, Reid stated a decrease potential and electricity density than nickel-manganese-cobalt, the maximum not unusualplace lithium-ion battery chemistry today, made Group1’s KRW cathode fabric extra appropriate for the electricity garage system (ESS) quarter than for EVs.

He then talked about that KPW has numerous blessings, inclusive of an extended cycle life, the capacity to apply present graphite anode manufacturing, a lot extra considerable underlying substances and the cappotential to be inexpensive than LFP or NMC as soon as scaled.

“Yet, all cathodes want to be of very excessive quality. The lithium-ion enterprise has been constructed over 30 years now, so manufacturers are skilled and had been via the slog of scaling up. In the potassium area there aren’t anyt any scaled cathode manufacturers and this may be a hurdle to the scale of potassium-ion’s impact,” he cautioned, estimating manufacturing of potassium-ion batteries ‘towards 2030’.

Group1 CEO Alex Girau responds

What is your reaction to Reid’s idea that the Prussian white cathode fabric’s potential is at 60% of lithium-ion’s (a hundred and twenty mAh/g vs 2 hundred mAh/g for NMC)?

Our fabric’s unique potential is 156mAh/g and is a completely credible quantity to lower back up our claims, with a peer-reviewed magazine article furnished displaying our preliminary fabric is already pushing near 150mAh/g.

In order to make a right evaluation we should recall KPW cathode running voltage.

As increasingly EVs are being powered through LiFePO4 (aka LFP – lithium iron phosphate), we recall LFP as our benchmark evaluation in LIB (lithium-ion battery) fabric systems, which supplies 170mAh/g running at 3.4V, with decrease electricity density however inexpensive and more secure than NMC.

For example, Tesla formerly introduced that its Q1 2022 manufacturing quantity had jumped to over 310,000 vehicles, and near 150,000 of those had the LFP pack. Group1’s KPW cathode is 4V and could supply similar electricity density to LFP, at decrease fee and advanced protection due to the fact it’s far Co/Ni/Li/O-free. It is the next-era sustainable cathode fabric aggressive with LFP. Both of them have been invented in [Nobel Prize-winning lithium battery inventor] Dr John Goodenough’s lab.

Would you settle this makes it extra appropriate for the electricity garage system (ESS) quarter than for EVs?

Because of the electricity density we referred to before, the KPW-enabled K-ion battery has an electricity density on par with LFP-primarily based totally Li-ion batteries which can be broadly utilized in BYD and Tesla motors today. In addition, a K-ion battery can price quicker and has higher low-temperature overall performance due to the fact K+ movements quicker than Li+, and KPW offers a extra open solid shape to facilitate that. Therefore, each ESS and EV are goal markets.

Not to say EV battery packs are transferring in the direction of combined chemistries in order that blessings from a couple of chemistries may be utilised in an ad-hoc fashion (NCM/LFP, LI/Na, LiK could be advanced to Li/Na).

However, because of rapid charging, lengthy cycle life, and low-temperature overall performance, our first EV marketplace is heavy-obligation trucks, and business/fleet vehicles. This permits them with batteries designed to supply overall performance on this extraordinarily stressful however underserved marketplace section.

What approximately the shortage of present scaled potassium-ion cathode manufacturers being a hurdle to the scale of potassium-ion’s impact?

This is the focal point of Group1: to hastily offer KPW fabric at a international scale. We have formidable increase plans and might be constructing cathode fabric flora to help enterprise adoption and increase. One of our co-founders Dr Kutsovsky, former CTO of Cabot Corporation, has a long time of enjoy scaling substances manufacturing from grams withinside the lab to 1,000-tonnes flora and turning in to stressful industries.

In addition, the K-ion battery is the maximum drop-in (sic) battery era withinside the marketplace, that is frequently due to the fact graphite may be immediately used because the anode. In evaluation, Na-ion batteries want to broaden each cathode and anode due to the fact graphite isn’t like minded with sodium.

As a result, we agree that the enterprise can adopt KPW cathode and build KIB (potassium-ion) batteries with low friction enough to switch from NCM to LFP cathodes in LIB.

  “Powering batteries beyond lithium. Building the best of lithium” is Group1’s philosophy..

Would you settle that business manufacturing of potassium-ion batteries will simplest appear towards 2030 (barring a primary manufacturer taking a specially bullish technique and rapid-monitoring it, wherein case we may want to see it towards 2025)?

Our plans help big-scale mobileular making and qualifications through main mobileular producers round 2025 with big launches in 2027. This is a bullish scale, however we assume very affordable because of the aggregate of the product characteristics, in-residence information of scaling and mapping that customer/marketplace needs, and dealing with timelines related to commercialisation.

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