ecomagination

Batteries have been a routine part of everyday life for years. But the batteries used for larger scale applications — including electric vehicles, hybrid locomotives and the electric grid — require tremendous amounts of power and energy. Since our founder Thomas Edison championed battery-powered cars, GE has been exploring innovative uses of battery power. That drive has never been stronger than it is today.

From Edison’s time to the present, the economics of automobiles have favored the gasoline-powered combustion engine — but that dynamic has begun to change. The past few decades have seen increases in the cost of fuel and other drivers to reduce emissions. At the same time, the power, energy storage capacity and economics of battery technology have steadily improved. The improvements have come far enough to where the electrification of transportation is now clearly in view — and batteries will be a key technology driving this evolution.

One concept GE is exploring is a dual battery system, which combines two different battery chemistries in one system. Where a single-battery system can involve trade-offs between power output and energy storage capacity, combining lithium-ion batteries with sodium batteries can make up for these deficiencies.

GE’s researchers have had significant exposure to all types of energy storage, including both lithium-ion and sodium batteries. We have good insight into lithium-ion battery technology, in part, through a research partnership with A123 Systems. And for the past four years, we have been developing sodium metal halide battery technology for a hybrid locomotive.

Drawing from our experience with both technologies, we believe combining these two types of batteries into one system can help achieve an optimal balance of acceleration and electric range, while minimizing the size and cost of the energy storage system and maximizing life. Moreover, we think this type of system could be used across the transportation sector, from locomotives and heavy-duty mining trucks to buses, SUVs and passenger car applications.

Beyond transportation, batteries will also have impact in the stationary power sector. For example, they could play a key role in providing stable, integrated power solutions. In aviation, airplanes are becoming increasingly reliant on electric power to support the electronic systems on board.

GE recently convened a symposium of high-profile entrepreneurs, government leaders and battery and energy experts to explore the future of battery technology in both the transportation and stationary power sectors. While uncertainties remain, the consensus among the experts was clear: It is not a matter of if, but when batteries will begin impacting these two industries in profound ways.

Today, interest and investment in new battery technologies are at an all-time high. Nearly a century after Edison and others first dreamed of battery-powered transportation, GE is addressing the key challenges around batteries, aiming to take them from the lab to the marketplace.