The quest for better batteries

Title: The quest for better batteries

Duration: 04:15 minutes

[Audio:]

Background music commences

[Kunal Dutta standing on bridge to camera:]

It’s one of the world’s great technological challenges.

From cars…to phones...and even drones, just about everything with electric circuits requires a battery.

[Kunal Dutta close-up to camera:]

But while the 21st Century has seen a revolution in technology, the batteries themselves still have a way to go.

[Cut to shot inside Imperial College science laboratory. Voiceover of James Frith]

“So the main concerns people have is the amount of energy a battery can store. This is called the energy density.”

[James Frith in shot]

Text: James Frith, Energy Storage Analyst, Bloomberg

“And if batteries don’t have a high energy density it means when they are in electric vehicles you can’t drive very far...”

[Montage of sped-up shots of cars driving on highways, skyways, and on streets.]

[Kunal Dutta voiceover:]

This century is expected to see a demand for electric cars as well as new energy storage opportunities.

The International Energy Agency says there'll be 140 million electric vehicles on the world’s roads by 2030.

All of this is going to need better, faster, and longer-lasting battery technology.

And yet…huge challenges still remain.

[Cut to Dr Billy Wu in Imperial College Science Lab. Billy Wu:]

“At the moment, the global demand for energy is increasingly. The landscape for energy is also changing.”

Text: Dr Billy Wu, Imperial College London

“We’re getting more intermittent renewables on the grid. Wind and solar uptake is becoming larger and larger. And one of the enabling technologies we need is batteries.”

[Montage of laboratory shots. Kunal Dutta voiceover:]

Lithium-ion batteries, first introduced in 1991, are still the go-to battery technology – they’re the ones you find in smartphones, tablets and in electric cars.

[James Frith in vision:]

“The great thing about lithium-ion batteries is they have a high energy density. this is because they contain lithium which is very light. The other thing about them is that they can be charged many times, so you can access power and then re-charge them and use them for thousands of cycles. The battery market has increased massively over the last few years, you have companies like Tesla and Panasonic, who have brought huge amounts of attention to the industry. You have companies like LG and Samsung who both have branches that are producing huge amounts of batteries each year.”

[Kunal Dutta in vision:]

And the rewards for those that can break through are potentially lucrative. The battery market is forecast to be worth $120bn by 2019.

[Kunal Dutta voiceover:]

But it’s not just about the big brands. The breakthrough in cheaper, lighter and longer-lasting batteries could come from anyone and anywhere. And there are a number of smaller players who believe that they hold the answer.

[Audio]

Piano music commences.

[Video footage]

Brill Power winning the New Energy Challenge and collecting their award.

[Kunal Dutta voiceover:]

Earlier this year, Brill Power, a start-up from the Oxford Centre of Innovation in the UK, won Shell’s New Energy Challenge 2017. It was fitting that they won too. Because, Oxford has a special place in the history of battery technology. It was here nearly 40 years ago that crucial research into the development of one of the most popular rechargeable batteries was first conducted.

[Carolyn Hicks, Brill Power:]

Text: Carolyn Hicks, Head of Finance, Brill Power

“It’s a really exciting time to be in batteries. We’re trying to make batteries more intelligent. So a battery pack is made up of two main components…

[Carolyn Hicks in vision:]

Text: Carolyn Hicks, Head of Finance, Brill Power

“It’s a really exciting time to be in batteries. We’re trying to make batteries more intelligent. So a battery pack is made up of two main components: the battery cells themselves and the battery management system. So the brain that connects to the cells. And what Brill Power does is we’ve redesigned the way the cells are connected within a pack and so that allows the battery lifetime to be extended by up to 60%.”

[Video footage:]

Close up of a hand picking up a battery pack

[Carolyn Hicks voice over:]

[Video footage:]

Close up of a man holding the battery pack and turning it over in his hand

[Kunal Dutta voice over:]

Brill Power is competing against the likes of Tesla, Toyota, IBM and Dyson. Why does this company stand apart?

[Christoph Birkl in vision:]

Christoph Birkl in Brill Power labs

Text: Christoph Birkl, CEO, Brill Power

“The architecture of battery packs hasn’t really changed over the last twenty years. The cells have improved, but the control systems haven’t and we’ve identified that as an opportunity.””

[Video footage:]

Man studying a computer screen and turning the controls next to it

[Video footage:]

Professor David Howie interacting with Christoph Birkl in the Brill Power labs

[Kunal Dutta voice over:]

Professor David Howey is one of the world’s experts on batteries. He is helping the team on their quest to break through.

[David Howey in vision:]

David Howey in Brill Power labs

Text: Dr David Howey, St Hilda’s College, Oxford

“I think we need to produce the technology which is cheap enough to enable a rapid transition to an electrified, low carbon economy. And energy storage has a big part to play.”

[Video footage:]

Montage of battery packs in the Brill Power lab

[David Howey voice over:]

“There’s still a lot of research to be done to really make them work stably and well.”

[Kunal Dutta standing on bridge to camera]

“Big strides are still to be made for the next generation of batteries to be cheaper, long-lasting and durable. And huge opportunities await those that can breakthrough. The industry is charged up and the race is on.”

[Graphics]

Fade to white

Graphic: Shell logo

Text: #makethefuture

© Shell International 2017