Hyundai battery patent | CAR ENGINE AND SPORTS

Hyundai filed a patent for a solid-state battery with the US Patent Office on December 28, 2023. Almost all major car manufacturers have been actively researching such batteries for years – Hyundai may now have achieved concrete success.

In solid-state batteries, a solid electrolyte separates the anode and cathode – in conventional batteries, which also include the lithium-ion batteries currently used in electric vehicles, a liquid electrolyte is responsible for this. Since the electrolyte material is unlikely to leak if a solid-state battery is damaged, it is considered particularly safe. At least it’s useful: solid-state batteries should enable higher energy density, faster charging times and lower battery weight. However, implementing this technology for a car battery seems difficult – Toyota, for example, only announced the market launch of such an energy storage device for 2021 and then 2022, and the Japanese are now targeting 2030 for the start of the series.

Hyundai/US Copyright and Trademark Office

Hyundai’s solid-state battery design shown in patent specifications.

It works at room temperature

In their patent, Hyundai engineers describe a battery that is isostatically pressurized with a liquid. This means that the pressure remains constant at all times. A pressure device controls the water supply to each battery chamber. Sensors monitor the pressure of each chamber, while voltage monitors monitor the voltage of each individual cell. When the pressure and temperature are within a specified range, the controller starts charging or discharging each individual cell. At the same time, the temperature controller sets the optimal operating temperature of the battery. This is 25 degrees Celsius – the original laboratory batteries required an operating temperature of 60 degrees.

Several variants in development

It is not clear from the patent what material Hyundai wants to use for the patented battery. However, Hyundai boss Jae Hoon Chang has already announced that his engineers are working on LFP solid-state and NMC (LFP: lithium iron phosphate, NMC: nickel manganese cobalt) solid-state batteries. This is intended to reduce costs while providing more flexibility. Hyundai may have come closer to this goal than any of its competitors. And the South Koreans already have patents for the electrolyte solution, Binder solution and a process for making solid state battery electrodes.

If cars are compared to combustion engines in terms of charge time and range – yes.No – I think combustion engines still offer an advantage in terms of range and refueling time.

Especially since Toyota postponed the series production of advanced batteries until 2030 at the earliest, some experts were not sure if this storage technology could be implemented in a large range of cars. The patent that Hyundai has now submitted to the US Patent Office gives new hope that the battery can be developed and manufactured, especially since reducing the operating temperature from 60 degrees to 25 degrees is a big step forward. More stability, shorter charging time, lower weight and higher storage capacity: After lithium-ion technology, the solid-state battery will be the biggest – and possibly even decisive – breakthrough in electric mobility.

It works at room temperature

Several variants in development

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