Titanate batteries are used in certain Japanese-only versions of Mitsubishi'si-MiEVelectric vehicle, and Honda uses them in its EV-neo electric bike and Fit EV. They are also used in the Tosa concept electric bus. Due to their high level of safety and recharge capabilities, LTO batteries are used in car audio applications as well as mobile medical devices.
Chemistry
A lithium-titanate battery is a modified lithium-ion battery that uses lithium-titanate nanocrystals, instead of carbon, on the surface of its anode. This gives the anode a surface area of about 100 square meters per gram, compared with 3 square meters per gram for carbon, allowing electrons to enter and leave the anode quickly. This makes fast recharging possible and provides high currents when needed. Lithium-titanate cells also last for 3000 to 7000 charge cycles; one source claims a cycle life of ~1000 cycles before reaching 80% capacity when charged and discharged at, rather than the standard. A disadvantage of lithium-titanate batteries is that they have a lower inherent voltage, which leads to a lower specific energy than conventional lithium-ion battery technologies, which have an inherent voltage of 3.7 V, although some lithium-titanate batteries are reported to have an energy density of up to 177 Wh/L.
Brands and uses
Altairnano
produces lithium-titanate batteries under the "Nanosafe" line, mainly for battery electric vehicles. Vehicle manufacturers that have announced plans to use Altairnano batteries include Lightning Car Company, which plans to use them for the Lightning GT, an all-electric sports car; Phoenix Motorcars, for use in its electric sport-utility vehicles; and Proterra, in its all-electric EcoRide BE35 lightweight 35-foot bus. Altairnano has also deployed their lithium-titanate energy storage systems for electric grid ancillary services and in various military applications.
Leclanché
is a Swiss battery manufacturer founded in 1909. In 2006, it acquired Bullith AG to establish a Li-Ion manufacturing line in Germany. In 2014, their product, "TiBox", was launched in the market. The energy content of the TiBox is 3.2 kWh, with 20,000 cycles.
Microvast
Microvast, based in Houston, Texas, makes a lithium-titanate battery that it calls "LpTO". In 2011, the world's first ultrafast charge bus fleet was launched in Chongqing, China. An 80 kW LpTO battery system was installed in 37 twelve-meter electric buses, which can be fully charged within 10 minutes with a 400 kW charger. As of 2014, a British bus OEM, Wrightbus, started to use Microvast LpTO batteries for 1,000 units of double-decker New Routemaster buses. An 18 kWh LpTO battery system is used to replace the initial Lithium Iron Phosphate battery because the LFP battery encountered performance failure. As of 2015, the European ZeEUS was launched. Its VDL bus uses a 62.5 kWh LpTO battery system from Microvast for this demonstration project. As of 2016, the world's largest automated port, PSA TUAS, started to use the Microvast LpTO for 22 electric AGVs as a first phase of a project for horizontal container transportation.
Toshiba
released a lithium-titanate battery, dubbed "Super Charge Ion Battery". The battery is designed to offer 90% charge capacity in just 10 minutes. SCiB batteries are used in the Schwinn Tailwind electric bike. Toshiba has also demonstrated its use as a prototype laptop battery. Toshiba SCiB batteries are used in a Japan-only version of Mitsubishi's i-MiEV and Minicab MiEVelectric vehicles, and Honda uses them in its EV-neo electric bike and Fit EV, which launched in the summer of 2012. JR Central's N700S Shinkansen uses SCiB batteries to operate at low speed in the event of a disruption to overhead power.
The Bluetooth-enabled S-Pen in the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and 10+ contains a lithium-titanate battery which has a stand-by time of 10 hours.
Seiko
uses lithium-titanate batteries in its Kinetic wristwatches. Earlier Kinetic watches used a capacitor to store energy, but the battery provides a larger capacity and a longer service life. The battery can be replaced easily by a technician when its capacity eventually deteriorates to an unacceptable level.
YABO
YABO Power Technology released a lithium-titanate battery in 2012. The standard model YB-LITE2344 2.4V/15Ah battery cell has been used in electric vehicle and energy storage systems.
