Electric Cars Cover 200+ Miles With New Batteries Developed By Startup Company SEEO

Thanks to the internet, Electric Cars are now anything but a novelty. With the USA and Europe rapidly embracing the eco-friendly automobiles, the technology is expected to spread to other parts of world soon. However, one major hiccup regarding these vehicles is their inability to travel large distances without charging. Another problem is the substantial weight and cost of a battery which powers the vehicle. Addressing the former issue, SEEO, an alternative-energy focused startup has created a prototype solid state battery based on materials developed at a U.S. Department of Energy lab stores twice as much energy as the batteries used in most electric cars.


The cheapest electric car today costs about $30,000 with the battery alone costing around $10k. The battery gives the best performance of not more than 100 miles per charge. However, the Seeo prototype can enable e-cars put 200 miles behind them in a single charge. Seeo plans commercial trials of their product from 2015. They plan to manufacture these batteries using conventional equipment for Li-ion batteries, thus keeping the battery prices relevant.

As the name says, the electrolyte used in the batteries is solid. The Seeo prototype uses pure Lithium which allows more energy to be stored. Solid state batteries have to overcome two problems: Poor conductivity of the solid electrolyte and the tendency of pure Lithium to form hair-like structures which cause short-circuits within the battery. Seeo addressed both by using a solid electrolyte with two polymer layers. A soft layer conducts ions while the hard polymer layer forms physical barrier, preventing Li dendrites to reach the electrolyte. These tweaks have enabled the prototype to store more than twice the energy stored in a conventional car battery.

Some key questions are yet to be answered though, like 'How many times the batteries can be recharged?' and 'Will the idea will hold enough water as Li-ion battery specs improve along with a drop in costs?' Seeo will have to wait for the commercial trials to see the actual impact of their product on an already burgeoning market.

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