What's Next For Magnesium-Ion V+Batteries: Molecular Foundry Coughs Up A Clue

For those of you new to the topic, lithium-ion is currently the gold standard for electric vehicle batteries among many other applications (lithium is a soft metal, and ion refers to a charged atom or molecule). Just ask our good friends over at Tesla Motors, they’ll tell you how good Li-ion batteries are.

However, we’ve been catching wind of some new developments in Mg-ion batteries here and there, and Toyota, for one, has been in hot pursuit of the technology for electric vehicle batteries. As described in the Berkeley Lab’s breakdown of its Mg-ion battery supercomputer simulation, the advantage of Mg-ion batteries over Li-ion is threefold: they offer greater energy density, at lower cost, while minimizing safety issues. The secret sauce in Mg-ion batteries is an extra electron, giving it a +2 charge. Compared to Li-ion’s +1 charge, that extra electron means that Mg-ions could deliver double the current of Li-ions under the same energy density conditions.

Read more: http://cleantechnica.com/2014/10/17/molecular-foundry-coughs-up-a-clue-about-mg-ion-batteries/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter