Leclanché introduced the world’s first lithium-niobium battery for heavy equipment – it will withstand 10 thousand recharge cycles

The Swiss company Leclanché SA presented, in its words, the world’s first lithium-niobium battery for electric heavy equipment, designed for difficult operating conditions. The 10,000 recharge cycle battery has 50% more capacity than conventional lithium batteries and is designed for electric trains and electric marine applications.

Image source: Echion Technologies

The developer of raw materials for unusual batteries with an anode based on niobium is the British company Echion Technologies. The Echion Technologies company was founded by immigrants from the University of Cambridge and has now reached the production of several thousand tons of innovative raw materials per year. It is possible that Echion’s services are also used by another company from Cambridge – Nyobolt, which a year ago released a sensational electric car concept on an extended Lotus Exige chassis with a new body. But the main thing is that Nyobolt NV was also based on unusually powerful niobium batteries. Coincidence?

Image source: Nyobolt NV

Compared to batteries based on graphite and NMC electrodes (nickel, manganese, cobalt), the new Leclanché SA XN50 cells have a 50% higher energy density and an increased number of recharge cycles. The battery capacity does not drop below 3% even after many recharge cycles, which will find application in equipping heavy equipment with them, from buses and trucks to trains and ships.