Panasonic reveals plans to introduce cobalt free batteries

Bruno Gomes

July 20, 2018

Soon, these Panasonic batteries will say “cobalt free”

Electric vehicles are the future, either using only electric power or mixing electricity with combustion engines like the hybrid options. Some motorcycle manufacturers offer 100% electric motorcycles, others, like Honda, are working on hybrid models.

But what everyone needs, is to be able to manufacture batteries that are more efficient and, of course, less expensive to produce.

And one way to do that is what Panasonic has announced: create a cobalt free battery.

Cobalt is an important component in the making of a battery, and while Panasonic uses around 10% of cobalt in the production of their batteries, other brands use a lot more. This is a problem because China is trying to limit the amount of this product, not to mention that the quantity of cobalt that can be mined is becoming less and less by the minute.

With less cobalt around for battery makers to use, and with the rise in demand expected in the next few years, this will lead to a rise in the price of electric vehicles, including electric or hybrid motorcycles.

Speaking to Reuters, Yoshio Ito, product manager of Panasonic, has revealed plans for the introduction in the market, by 2020 or 2021, of a new generation of batteries that are cobalt free. He revealed that the development of such special batteries is already completed, and now Panasonic will start a test phase before releasing these batteries in the market.

If successful, Panasonic not only will bypass the rising prices in production of cobalt batteries – lowering the final price of an electric vehicle -, but will also be able to create cobalt free batteries are more efficient, with higher energy density than regular batteries we know see being used in electric vehicles.

Panasonic is known to be the supplier of batteries for Tesla cars, but the Japanese brand also supplies batteries for other companies. While some manufacturers are trying to control the costs of the batteries, by making direct agreements with mining companies, Panasonic went the other way, and is trying to create a solution for this problem.

If the prices in electric motorcycles become lower, and the range of such vehicles becomes bigger, would you buy and rider an electric motorcycle?