Michigan-based battery company Our Next Energy (ONE), in partnership with BMW, has showcased the impressive long-range capabilities of its dual-chemistry technology. The company reports that an iX equipped with this hardware achieved an impressive range of 978.6 km on the WLTP test cycle. That’s approximately 75 percent more than the standard iX, which gets up to 560 km of range, according to the European testing standard. In fact, it’s nearly on par with the impressive distance covered by the highly aerodynamic Mercedes EQXX concept during its initial record-breaking range test (although it has since surpassed that range).
The BMW crossover managed to achieve that
impressive distance thanks to ONE’s Gemini dual-chemistry battery technology.
As the name suggests, it combines safe lithium iron phosphate cells for shorter
trips, with high-density anode-free cells for longer drives. ONE claims that
this combination creates the longest-range EV battery pack for its size. At the
same time, it uses 20 percent less graphite and 60 percent less nickel and
cobalt than lithium-ion cells, creating a more sustainable battery, all of
which will be important for consumers.
Now that ONE has proven that its
technology is effective, it is looking to refine the batteries to prepare them
for commercialization. It plans to improve the efficiency of the DC-to-DC
converter that helps unite the two battery cell chemistries, and to develop
enhanced control algorithms to optimize the use of the range-extender cells.
