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General Discussion / Re: New battery cell format optimized for motorcycles
« on: January 17, 2026, 09:35:29 AM »
Sony started making 18650 battery cells in 1991, so there’s a huge amount of industry experience in manufacturing cylindrical li-ion batteries.
For nickel-based (NCM, NMC, NCA) battery cells using flammable liquid electrolytes there’s a measure of safety in having a hermetically sealed solid metal casting.
Cylindrical cells have the advantage of having only two edges that need to be sealed, the top and bottom.
I read it will likely be a long time before anyone has the manufacturing capacity to topple li-ion battery cells. It takes a lot of time, money, and risk to bring a new battery innovation to market at scale.
I have read that it is the oxygen-containing liquid electrolytes that make the fire risk of current nickel-based li-ion battery cells so high. They have their own oxygen supply built in, so can’t be simply snuffed out as a gasoline fire can be. There’s no reason a liquid electrolyte has to be so flammable. I can remember reading reports of some researcher claiming to have one. But any new electrolyte has to meet or surpass what has been achieved by current electrolytes (power density, energy density, temperature range, life span, cost) and be available in adequate quantity. Then battery cell designs have to be updated, manufacturing has to be re-engineered and updated, and customers have certify the end result before they incorporate the new cells into their products. All this takes years and costs money.
For nickel-based (NCM, NMC, NCA) battery cells using flammable liquid electrolytes there’s a measure of safety in having a hermetically sealed solid metal casting.
Cylindrical cells have the advantage of having only two edges that need to be sealed, the top and bottom.
I read it will likely be a long time before anyone has the manufacturing capacity to topple li-ion battery cells. It takes a lot of time, money, and risk to bring a new battery innovation to market at scale.
I have read that it is the oxygen-containing liquid electrolytes that make the fire risk of current nickel-based li-ion battery cells so high. They have their own oxygen supply built in, so can’t be simply snuffed out as a gasoline fire can be. There’s no reason a liquid electrolyte has to be so flammable. I can remember reading reports of some researcher claiming to have one. But any new electrolyte has to meet or surpass what has been achieved by current electrolytes (power density, energy density, temperature range, life span, cost) and be available in adequate quantity. Then battery cell designs have to be updated, manufacturing has to be re-engineered and updated, and customers have certify the end result before they incorporate the new cells into their products. All this takes years and costs money.
