The lithium-titanate or lithium-titanium-oxide (LTO) battery is a type of rechargeable battery which has the advantage of being faster to charge than other lithium-ion batteries but the disadvantage of having a much lower energy density.
Uses
Titanate batteries are used in certain Japanese-only versions of Mitsubishi's i-MiEV electric vehicle as well as Honda's EV-neo electric bike and Fit EV. They are also used in the Tosa concept electric bus. Because of the battery's high level of safety and recharge capabilities, LTO batteries are used in car audio applications as well as mobile medical devices.
An LTO battery is also used in the S-Pen that comes with the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G.
According to a Weatherflow Co. article, the Tempest weather-station device contains a 1300mAh LTO battery, charged via four solar panels, requiring "at least 4 hours of adequate sunlight every two weeks."
The Combustion Predictive Thermometer is described as using an LTO battery. According to Combustion Inc., this allows it to safely survive temperatures up to 105°C (221°F) inside of ovens.
Chemistry
A lithium-titanate battery is a modified lithium-ion battery that uses lithium-titanate nanocrystals, instead of carbon, on the surface of its anode. This gives the anode a surface area of about 100 square meters per gram, compared with 3 square meters per gram for carbon, allowing electrons to enter and leave the anode quickly. Also, the redox potential of Li+ intercalation into titanium oxides is more positive than that of Li+ intercalation into graphite. This leads to fast charging (higher charging current) being much safer in the case of the titanate, than in the case of carbon, since lithium dendrites are less likely to form in the former case. Lithium-titanate cells last for 3000 to 7000 charge cycles; a life cycle of ~1000 cycles before reaching 80% capacity is possible when charged and discharged at , rather than the standard .
A disadvantage of lithium-titanate batteries is their lower inherent voltage (2.4 V), which leads to a lower specific energy (about 30–110 Wh/kg) than conventional lithium-ion battery technologies, which have an inherent voltage of 3.7 V. Some lithium-titanate batteries, however, have an volumetric energy density of up to 177 Wh/L.
Brands and uses
Log9 Materials
The Log9 company is working to introduce its tropicalized-ion battery (TiB) backed by lithium ferro-phosphate (LFP) and lithium-titanium-oxide (LTO) battery chemistries. Unlike LFP and LTO, the more popular NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt) chemistry does not have the requisite temperature resilience to survive in the warmest conditions such as in India. LTO is not only temperature resilient, but also has a long life.
Altairnano
Altairnano produces lithium-titanate batteries under the "Nanosafe" line, mainly for battery electric vehicles. Vehicle manufacturers that have announced plans to use Altairnano batteries include Lightning Car Company, which plans to use them for the Lightning GT, an electric sports car; Phoenix Motorcars, for use in its electric sport-utility vehicles; and in Proterra, its electric EcoRide BE35 lightweight 35-foot bus.
Altairnano has also deployed their lithium-titanate energy storage systems for electric grid ancillary services as well as military applications.
Grinergy
Grinergy is a South Korean battery manufacturer founded in 2017. It offers commercial and Warfighter military grade LTO battery technology. Grinergy is a 2023 CES Innovation Honoree
Leclanché
Leclanché is a Swiss battery manufacturer founded in 1909. In 2006, it acquired Bullith AG (Germany) to establish a Li-Ion manufacturing line in Germany. In 2014, their product "TiBox" entered the market. The energy content of the TiBox is 3.2 kWh, with an expected 15,000 cycle life span.
Microvast
Microvast, based in Houston, Texas, makes a lithium-titanate battery that it calls "LpTO". In 2011, the world's first ultrafast charge bus fleet was launched in Chongqing, China. An 80 kWh LpTO battery system was installed in 37 twelve-meter electric buses, which can be fully charged within 10 minutes with a 400 kW charger.
As of 2014, a British bus OEM, Wrightbus, began using Microvast LpTO batteries for 1,000 units of double-decker New Routemaster buses. An 18 kWh LpTO battery system is used to replace the initial Lithium Iron Phosphate battery because the LFP battery encountered performance failure.
As of 2015, the European ZeEUS (zero emission urban transport system) was first offered. Its VDL bus uses a 62.5 kWh LpTO battery system from Microvast for a demonstration project.