For the past 30 years, lithium batteries have been the heart of almost every product in the consumer electronics category. Electric vehicles nowadays also use lithium batteries for power, and they’re getting improved with almost every new model.
Consumer electronics aren’t becoming drastically more expensive even though the batteries used in them have more capacity and are genuinely safer to use. When it comes to electric cars, they’re still pretty expensive compared to similar cars with internal combustion engines, but the goal is to make them as affordable as traditional cars we’re still mostly seeing on the road.
When it comes to mobile phones, for example, the price of the lithium-ion battery used in the product roughly costs around 5% or less of the retail price. The biggest reason why some mobile phones are considered expensive is that the profit margin is usually around 35% or more! Even if there was a more affordable alternative to lithium-ion batteries for consumer electronics, it likely won’t affect the prices.
What Industry Will Benefit Most If An Affordable Alternative Is Discovered?
Many labs are working on research regarding alternative battery technology. Mobile phone manufacturers and companies that are known for a wide variety of consumer electronics would benefit if there was a more affordable alternative to lithium-ion batteries, but only slightly. As we mentioned, the cost of the lithium-ion battery is roughly around 5% of the retail price, or even less. If there was a cheaper alternative, the public would expect the prices to be lowered as well, so the profit margin would be even smaller than it is now.
When it comes to electric vehicles, this industry would have the biggest benefit, for sure! Electric cars are considered pretty expensive even though you can get a four-door saloon for around $25.000! The problem with electric cars is that the infrastructure isn’t accessible everywhere. Unfortunately, electric cars are pretty limited when it comes to range and the reasonably priced electric car can cover the range of around 300 miles. When you take into consideration that a lot of electric car owners don’t have a charging station in a 10-mile radius, it’s even less than that. People who live in houses don’t need to worry about this because they can charge their electric cars directly from their home outlet. To see more about electric cars, check out this site.
If a cheaper alternative was to be discovered, electric car manufacturers would benefit greatly, especially if the capacity was improved as well. This means that electric car manufacturers would be able to offer cheaper cars with the same or even better range. This would improve sales greatly and it would actually be an amazing thing because climate change would significantly slow down due to less CO2 emissions.
What Are The Predictions When It Comes To New Battery Technology?
Many companies are investing jaw-dropping amounts into research and development of new battery technology. Even though lithium-ion batteries are good enough for now, technology is evolving, and the need for batteries with a bigger capacity and lifespan is something that’s making manufacturers work faster towards new alternatives.
Sodium-ion batteries are a promising alternative to lithium-ion batteries. The sodium-ion batteries should be cheaper, with the possibility of having a much larger capacity than its predecessor. Also, other materials will be used in making them so it won’t be such a big problem to find the required materials for manufacturing. This battery technology is still in development and the chances of this technology replacing lithium-ion batteries is probably going to happen in a decade or even a bit later.