As the EV market flourishes, we need a future where car batteries have sustainable raw materials that can cover energy storage needs. There is a new type of battery whose key component is from the tree. It is called a wooden battery. This article will explain what the wooden battery has in store for electric cars.
A Swedish battery company, Northvolt, is collaborating with Stora Enso (a paper milling company) in Finland to mass produce a battery that does not require graphite but lignode. Northvolt is a firm known for producing high-quality batteries with a mission to help Europe transition to a decarbonized future.
Stora Enso is a big private forest firm that makes renewable products in biomaterials, paper, and wooden construction. No doubt, the collaboration of the companies will yield excellent results. Lignode is a material developed from lignin, a gluey substance in trees. If lignin separates from the wood, it will be refined into a lightweight carbon powder in the form of electrode sheets and combined with other components to replace graphite.
Lignin is a suitable replacement for graphite because graphite is expensive and difficult to mine. Lignin, on the other hand, is renewable. Graphite can reduce a battery’s charging point. According to Stora Enso, batteries with lignode offers faster charging and discharging, which is efficient under cooler temperature.
Europe does not need to import graphite anymore for the production of batteries. They can now localize the production of anode material. Stora Enso will provide the lignode from its forest, while Northvolt will design the battery. This collaboration will expand the European battery value chain.
Stora Enso has built a €10 million production facility to produce renewable carbon by turning trees into batteries. This project does not require cutting down new trees; remember, lignin is a by-product waste of the paper milling industry. Wood is the future of EV batteries as it is low-cost, boosts charging speed, and is locally sourced, renewable, efficient, and eco-friendly.