A Michigan-based start-up Our Next Energy (ONE) has plans to reduce the use of traditional EV battery materials like cobalt, nickel, graphite, and lithium. As said by Mujeeb Ijaz, ONE founder and chief executive, the company is testing different electrode chemistries in its attempts to discover trade-offs in cost, energy, and sustainability. The success of products yielded out of such experiments relies on the company also working out good chemistry with EV automobile manufacturers. Given that, just today reports are out that BMW will install and test a long-range battery called Gemini in its upcoming iX electric SUV.
BMW iX EV SUV to be tested with ONE’s Gemini battery
The battery would come packed with two kinds of battery cells. One of these would harness advanced chemistry that improves energy storage capacities and yields a range of 600 miles (965 km) or more between charges for cars that would install it. The prototype vehicle is slated to be manufactured by the end of this year.
Earlier in December last year, an older prototype of the same battery was fitted and tested in a Tesla Model S sedan, said the company. ONE further reported that this earlier iteration yielded a range in addition to 750 miles (1,200 km). Even the performance of the best production vehicles out in the market fall pale in the face of this figure. Now let us wait and see what the latest prototype has got in store for us.
Since its inception, ONE’s plans have always been centred on developing a long-range battery built with the use of materials that are safer and sustainable. The aim has been to build a battery that packs in more energy in a less costly package.
Meanwhile, BMW executive Juergen Hildinger expressed the German automaker’s plans to explore ways by which ONE’s battery technologies could be incorporated into its future BEV (battery electric vehicle) models.
