South Korean electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution (LGES) and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) announced that they have jointly developed a new battery technology that speeds up recharging and allows battery electric vehicles (BEVs) to travel longer distances. The findings were published in the latest edition of the international journal, Nature Energy.

KAIST revealed that the research, led by Professor Kim Hee-tak at its Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, in collaboration with LGES, has resulted in the development of a groundbreaking “aggregation-inhibiting” new liquid electrolyte technology that significantly improves the performance of lithium-metal batteries.

KAIST revealed that their new lithium-metal battery allows BEVs to travel up to 800 km on a single charge, compared with the maximum 600 km range provided by the lithium-ion batteries widely in use today. The institute also claims the newly-developed batteries can achieve a lifecycle of over 300,000 km of driving.

KAIST explained that the lithium-metal batteries use “lithium metal” instead of the graphite anode typically used in current lithium-ion batteries, which it says significantly improves the lifecycle by preventing the formation of lithium crystals, or dendrites, on the anode surface during charging. Dendrite formation is said to be particularly significant during rapid charging.

KAIST and LGES have found that the main cause of dendrite formation is the uneven “interfacial aggregation reactions” on the lithium metal surface, which they claim to have solved by using a newly-developed aggregation-inhibiting liquid electrolyte.

LGES’ chief technology officer, Kim Je-young, said in a statement: “Understanding the interfacial structure has become a crucial foundation for overcoming the technical challenges of lithium metal batteries, and we have overcome the biggest hurdle to introducing lithium metal batteries in electric vehicles.”