LITO: Lithium–titanate battery

[Ulmo]

Lithium–titanate battery - Wikipedia

I first saw reference to this in the comment section of A stunning new all-electric catamaran with massive battery pack goes into operation:

Here's a quote from Wikipedia:

A lithium–titanate battery is a modified lithium-ion battery that uses lithium-titanate nanocrystals on the surface of its anode instead of carbon. This gives the anode a surface area of about 100 square meters per gram, compared with 3 square meters per gram for carbon, allowing electrons to enter and leave the anode quickly. This makes fast recharging possible and provides high currents when needed.[5] Lithium Titanate cells also withstand 3000-7000 cycles, far higher than other chemistries.[6]

A disadvantage of lithium-titanate batteries is that they have a lower inherent voltage (2.4 V), which leads to a lower specific energy of about 30–110 Wh/kg[7] than conventional lithium-ion battery technologies (which have an inherent voltage of 3.7 V).[8]

Lithium-titanate batteries are reported to have an energy density of up to 177 Wh/L.[7]

They might seem well tailored for boats.

 

[Peevee]

Hi... first post.

I can confirm that a number of large battery manufacturers are taking a closer look at lithium titanate based batteries right now. Beyond faster charging / discharging, the main advantages over graphite-anode based batteries are:

• Safety - LTO is much more thermally stable.
  
• Cycle life - LTO batteries last longer.

I would say the two I've mentioned are actually the characteristics generating the most buzz for LTO, and researchers are actively looking at ways of addressing the lower specific energy so they could use LTO in EVs, supercapacitors, energy storage systems, etc.

Another LTO issue - higher cost than graphite - is somewhat covered by the fact LTO batteries use aluminum instead of the heavier and more expensive copper foil.

A bit more info is available here: Lithium Titanate (LTO)