BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- An ambitious European project involving 19 partners from nine countries is developing a new generation of more sustainable battery for electric vehicles at a lower cost.
"We are trying to have cheaper, less toxic components that do not contain cobalt and that have a similar or even better performance and capacity than the technology currently used in electric vehicles," Dr. Jordi Jacas, coordinator of COBRA project at the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), told Xinhua on Thursday.
The project has an almost 12-million-euro budget over four years and is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.
These cobalt-free batteries will be made with energy storage materials to help enhance their energy efficiency. They will also include sensors to reduce the environmental impact and increase their life expectancy.
Jacas said these batteries satisfy a demand for more affordable batteries because electric vehicles are already very expensive. "They also meet the environmental and social needs of our current society," he added.
"One of the main objectives of the project is to improve the sustainability of the materials we use to make batteries," Jacas said, in addition to reducing the carbon footprint and price of the product,
With the use of lighter materials more resistant to impact and fire and metal components 95 percent recyclable, COBRA intends to produce toxic free batteries fully functional for electric vehicles.
