The lithium-titanate or lithium-titanium-oxide (LTO) battery is a type of

rechargeable battery A rechargeable battery, storage battery, or secondary cell (formally a type of energy accumulator), is a type of electrical battery which can be charged, discharged into a load, and recharged many times, as opposed to a disposable or prima ...

which has the advantage of being faster to charge than other

lithium-ion batteries A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, energy ...

but the disadvantage is a much lower

energy density In physics, energy density is the quotient between the amount of energy stored in a given system or contained in a given region of space and the volume of the system or region considered. Often only the ''useful'' or extractable energy is measure ...

Uses

Titanate batteries are used in certain Japanese-only versions of Mitsubishi's i-MiEV

electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...

as well as

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

'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 Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G. According to a Weatherflow Co. article, the Tempest weather-station device contains a 1300 mAh 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 Carbon () is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalence, tetravalent—meaning that its atoms are able to form up to four covalent bonds due to its valence shell exhibiting 4 ...

, on the surface of its

anode An anode usually is an electrode of a polarized electrical device through which conventional current enters the device. This contrasts with a cathode, which is usually an electrode of the device through which conventional current leaves the devic ...

. 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 6000 to 30000 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 Specific energy or massic energy is energy per unit mass. It is also sometimes called gravimetric energy density, which is not to be confused with energy density, which is defined as energy per unit volume. It is used to quantify, for example, st ...

(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

Log 9 scientific 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 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 Altair Nanotechnologies Inc. is an American company specializing in the development and manufacturing of energy storage systems for efficient power and energy management. Altair Nantechnologies designs advanced lithium-ion energy systems and batt ...

produces lithium-titanate batteries under the "Nanosafe" line, mainly for

battery electric vehicle A battery electric vehicle (BEV), pure electric vehicle, only-electric vehicle, fully electric vehicle or all-electric vehicle is a type of electric vehicle (EV) that uses electrical energy exclusively from an electric vehicle battery, on-boa ...

s. 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 Leclanché is a Swiss lithium-ion cells and related technologies Manufacturing, manufacturer founded in 1909. It currently employs over 350 staff and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ticker symbol "LECN"). The company has its headquarters in ...

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 ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

, 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 The New Routemaster, originally referred to as the New Bus for London and colloquially as the Borismaster or Boris Bus, is a low-floor Hybrid electric bus, hybrid diesel–electric double-decker bus operated in London, England. Designed by Tho ...

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. As of 2016, the world's largest automated port, PSA TUAS, began using the Microvast LpTO for 22 electric AGVs as a first phase of a project for horizontal container transportation.

Samsung

The

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...

-enabled S-Pen in the

Galaxy Note 10 and 10+ contains a lithium-titanate battery which has a stand-by time of ten hours.

Seiko

Seiko , commonly known as Seiko ( , ), is a Japanese maker of watches, clocks, electronic devices, and semiconductors. Founded in 1881 by Kintarō Hattori in Tokyo, Seiko introduced the world's first commercial quartz wristwatch in 1969. Seiko is ...

uses lithium-titanate batteries in its Kinetic (

automatic quartz Automatic quartz is a collective term describing watch Movement (clockwork), movements that combine a self-winding rotor mechanism (as used in Automatic watch, automatic mechanical watches) to generate electricity with a Piezoelectricity, pie ...

) wristwatches. Earlier Kinetic watches used a

capacitor In electrical engineering, a capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy by accumulating electric charges on two closely spaced surfaces that are insulated from each other. The capacitor was originally known as the condenser, a term st ...

to store energy, but the battery provides a larger capacity and a longer service life. A technician can easily replace the battery when its capacity eventually deteriorates to an unacceptable level.

Stadler

The British Rail Class 93 tri-mode locomotives built by

Stadler Rail Stadler Rail AG is a Swiss manufacturer of railway rolling stock, with an original emphasis on regional train multiple units and trams, but moving also into Rapid transit, mass rapid transit, High-speed rail, high speed, Inter-city rail, interci ...

use lithium-titanate batteries to allow the train to run on unelectrified lines. These liquid cooled cells can be charged while under the overhead lines, or from the onboard diesel engine when the full output isn't needed for traction.

Toshiba

In 2007,

Toshiba is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, elevators and escalators, electronic components, semiconductors ...

released a lithium-titanate battery, dubbed "Super Charge Ion Battery" (SCiB). The battery is designed to offer 90% charge capacity in ten minutes. SCiB batteries are used in the

Schwinn The Schwinn Bicycle Company is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets bicycles under the eponymous brand name. The company was founded by Ignaz Schwinn (1860–1948) in Chicago in 1895, and in the 20th century became the domi ...

Tailwind electric bike. Toshiba has also demonstrated its use as a

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...

laptop battery. Toshiba SCiB batteries are used in a Japan-only version of Mitsubishi's i-MiEV and Minicab MiEV

s, and

uses them in its EV-neo electric bike and Fit EV, which came to market in the summer of 2012.

JR Central is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu (Nagoya) region of central Japan. It is officially abbreviated in English as JR Central and occasionally as JR Tokai (). The term ''Tōkai'' refers to the southern portion of Central Japan, ...

N700S Shinkansen The is a Japanese Shinkansen High-speed rail, high-speed train with Tilting train, tilting capability developed jointly by Central Japan Railway Company, JR Central and West Japan Railway Company, JR West for use on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, Tō ...

uses SCiB batteries to operate at low speed in the event of a disruption to overhead power. The Toshiba lithium-titanate battery is low voltage (2.3 nominal voltage), with low energy density (between the lead-acid and lithium ion phosphate), but has extreme longevity, charge/discharge capabilities and a wide range operating temperatures. In 2024, Toshiba specified an expected life of 45,000 cycles at 10C for its "high power" 2.9 Ah SCiB cell, and 20,000 cycles at 3C for its "high energy" 23 Ah cell. At some loss in expected cycle life, these cells can be charged extremely rapidly from 0% to 80% of capacity: in 1 minute (i.e. at 48C) for the 2.9 Ah cell, and in 6 minutes (i.e. at 8C) for the 23 Ah cell. In April 2024, four Siemens Mireo Plus B battery-electric trains were placed into service, powered by Toshiba LTO cells with an expected service life of 15 years.

YABO

YABO Power Technology released a lithium-titanate battery in 2012. The standard model YB-LITE2344 2.4 V/15 Ah battery cell has been used in electric vehicle and energy storage systems.

Yinlong Energy

Gree introduced its Yinlong Battery Technology, a type of fast-charging LTO (lithium-titanate) battery, which can operate in extreme temperature conditions. The batteries have an operational life-span up to 10 years. Yinlong Energy provides batteries for such uses as automobiles and energy storage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lithium-titanate battery Lithium-ion batteries Rechargeable batteries