Cell Design and Materials: Li-Ion

Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) Basic Information NMC - SWOT ANALYSIS

NMC remains the go-to chemistry where very high energy density is paramount (high-range EVs, eVTOL, drones,...).

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

Properties and performance: High energy density, low temperature power capability.

Safety: High thermal release, dangerous side reactions during cycling, off-gassing, cell swelling.

Material chain strength: Strong battery supply chain and high recycle value.

Health concerns: Ni, Co hazardous to human and environmental health.

Wide variety of composition offers a broad range of use cases: Long range / high-end EVs, buses, boats, heavy-duty, equipment, power tools.

Incremental improvements within all the production processes (single-crystal particles, dopants, coatings, composition gradients,...) are allowing for more and more favorable trades-off between energy density, safety, durability and cost.

Easy system integration: Reliable and easy SoC monitoring and easy trade-off between energy density and durability.

Cost: Usually high cost/kWh compared to other chemistries.

Materials improvements: Continuing advances in safety and performance, high-voltage mid-nickel, advances in lowering cost/kWh.

Challenging to process: Prone to gellation during mixing.

Source: F. Saaid et al. Heliyon Cell Press. 2024; A. Eldesoky et al. J. Electrochem. Soc. 2023

Safer alternatives: LFP, LNMO, Na-ion. Regulations: PFAS, NMP, safety, material sourcing. Metals supply chain: Li, Ni and Co make NMC expensive and prone to high price variability, while mining practices can be environmentally damaging.

These process improvements allows for opportunities to lower the Co-content by (1) increasing the Ni-content above 90%at., aiming for even higher energy densities, and (2) increasing the end of charge voltage without sacrificing durability and energy density with high-voltage mid-Ni compositions.

Extracted from the PDF; charts and images may read imperfectly.