Pioneering research and skills
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Spark behind electric car market It is estimated that almost 2.4 million battery-electric vehicles will be sold worldwide in 2020, lithium-ion batteries used in many of these vehicles use electrode materials discovered by researchers Professors John Goodenough, Mike Thackeray, Peter Bruce and Bill David. Pioneering work on LiCoO2 at Oxford University in the 1980s led to the first commercial lithium-ion batteries, which have transformed portable electronic devices. New generations of lithium-ion batteries are now the technology of choice for the electrification of transport, as well as having a key role to play in storing electricity from the grid. The discovery of LiMn2O4 spinel positive electrodes, also at Oxford, resulted in a lower cost and safer alternative to LiCoO2. As a result they were the material of choice for the first generation of electric vehicle batteries. The UK has continued to pioneer and innovate in lithium batteries and their materials, supported by EPSRC funding, this work holds the key to new generations of energy storage devices.
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