Toshiba launches “game changing” battery for electric vehicles
Toshiba has announced that its new next-generation SCiB battery will give a compact electric vehicle (EV) a drive range of 320km after just six minutes of “ultra-rapid recharging” – which it says is “three times the distance possible with current lithium-ion batteries”. The company first launched the SCiB battery in 2008 and has been steadily refining the technology and improved real-world performance. For its next-generation SCiB announced yesterday (3 October), Toshiba has developed a titanium niobium oxide anode material that has double the lithium storage capacity by volume of the graphite-based anodes generally used in lithium-ion batteries.
“We are very excited by the potential of the new titanium niobium oxide anode and the next-generation SCiB,” said Dr. Osamu Hori, Director of Corporate Research & Development Center at Toshiba Corporation. “Rather than an incremental improvement, this is a game changing advance that will make a significant difference to the range and performance of EV. We will continue to improve the battery’s performance and aim to put the next-generation SCiBTM into practical application in fiscal year 2019.”