IIT-Madras Team Developing Zinc-Air Batteries For Electric Vehicles

A research team from IIT-Madras, led by Dr. Aravind Kumar Chandiran, has filed a patent for Zinc-air batteries for electric vehicles, which can be charged mechanically and is said to have a longer shelf-life than the more widely used lithium-ion batteries and will be more economical too. The research team says that Zinc-air batteries can be used for two and three-wheelers. The team from IIT Madras says that lithium-ion batteries won't be enough to fulfil the demand for EVs in the future. And the availability of Lithium as an element will be an issue too, going forward, whereas Zinc as an element is more abundant in nature. 

(Zinc batteries can be used for electric two and four wheelers)

Dr. Chandira is the assistant professor at the Department of Chemistry and says that the Zinc-air batteries will have a 'Zinc cassette' that can be replaced in a depleted battery, like how battery swapping technology works, just that the whole battery need not be swapped. He also pointed out that one of the objectives of the research was to identify the shortcomings of the current technology and solutions for rectifying them. Currently, the team is working on manufacturing Zinc-air cells and will then work on developing Zinc-air batteries. 

(Zinc batteries are more energy dense than lithium ion batteries)

The problem with current Lithium-ion battery stations is that the entire battery needs to be swapped and that means extensive investment in infrastructure. With Zinc-air batteries, only the Zinc 'cassette' needs to be swapped which will be easier and require less infrastructure. The team from IIT-Madras is also planning Zinc Recharge stations, similar to petrol pumps, where the cassettes can be swapped.

Advantages with Zinc batteries are that they are more energy dense, lighter and inexpensive than the current crop of Lithium-ion batteries along with being less volatile than Lithium-ion batteries. Plus, India ranks among top 5 nations in production of both Zinc and Manganese, two elements which are necessary to manufacture Zinc batteries.