The team of Professor Lee Cronin from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow in the UK has developed a new flow battery that uses very high concentrations of metal oxides to make an electrolyte that is about 10 times more energy efficient than existing flow batteries, so it can be used in electric vehicles. Since the battery is made of liquid instead of solid, when the battery is low, it is replenished from the electrolyte stored in the tank to the battery. Just like regular gasoline or diesel fuel, it only takes a few minutes to fill up. For example, The SLA 3 electric vehicle has a 70 kWh battery, while the new flow battery requires 70 liters of volume, the same size as a gasoline car.
The new flow battery can be pumped with the pump of the existing gas station, so there is no need to build a new infrastructure. Of course, due to the corrosive nature of the electrolyte, the storage tank and piping need to be upgraded to cope with corrosion. In addition, because the electrolyte is in the water Simple inorganic salt, so you can control the aging of the battery.
