The limitations of lithium batteries could be minimized further with rapidly expanding technology, which can only benefit the Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF (LIT).
Advancements in lithium batteries will be a boon for the electric vehicle market. With the push towards putting more electric vehicles (EVs) on the road, a research team in Germany may have developed groundbreaking technology.
“For electric planes to really take off and for electric cars to travel far longer distances between charges, we’ll need batteries that pack far more energy without becoming prohibitively heavy,” a New Atlas article said. “A team in Germany has now demonstrated a new lithium-metal battery with a density well beyond the significant 500-Wh/kg benchmark and an ability to retain its performance across hundreds of cycles.”
German researchers are working to improve efficiency. One of the hurdles is trying to eliminate a key bottleneck that prevents lithium battery technology from realizing its full charging potential.
“Among the many research groups working to solve this problem is a team at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Helmholtz Institute Ulm (HIU), who have come up with a design that largely sidesteps this problem,” the article added.
This breakthrough will likely help LIT, which seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Solactive Global Lithium Index. The index is designed to measure broad-based equity market performance of global companies involved in the lithium industry.
LIT gives investors:
- Efficient access: LIT offers efficient access to a broad basket of companies involved in lithium mining, lithium refining, and battery production.
- Thematic exposure: The fund is a thematic play on lithium and battery technology.
- Exceptional performance: The fund is up about 140% the past year.
Keeping The World Running
LIT presents investors with an alternate growth play for long-term investors. With the world relying more heavily on lithium batteries, improving technology can only help LIT’s case.
“Today’s lithium-ion batteries do a wonderful job of keeping the modern world running, from electric vehicles to smartphones, to laptop computers, but scientists see a lot of potential that could be unlocked through tweaks to their architecture,” the New Atlas article said. “One of the more promising possibilities is swapping out the graphite used in one of the battery’s electrodes for pure lithium metal, a material that can hold as much as 10 times the energy.”
For more news and information, visit the Thematic Investing Channel.