Time to nerd out a bit
by John Curnow, Global Editor, SailWorldCruising.com 3 Apr 16:00 UTC
Solid State Wafer - 0% electrolyte © Safiery
Possibly a big bit, as it turns out. Anyway, historically we know I am up for it, but how about you? Right oh. Unequivocally, the greater electrification space is not just THE hot topic presently, it also changes at a prodigious rate. It is as marked as how much the genset for power consumption is now dead and buried. Yes. Do take a moment to re-read that last sentence, and zoom in on the 'consumption' aspect. Got it? Good. Yes. Gone like the hint of an incandescent bulb on board.
There are exciting things happening, and Safiery (pronounced Sa-fi-er-ri BTW) are doing a lot of them. Jonathan Turnbull was good enough to talk through a lot of it during a recent factory visit. "We have just made the move to Solid-State Lithium cells. We are the first (excluding the Department of Defence) to bring these into Australia. The advantage of these cells is primarily safety, as it the electrolyte inside of the battery is what poses a large portion of the safety risk. Presently, our batteries have just 2-3% electrolyte, and in just 12-month's time we may be at 0% electrolyte."
"Safiery's Solid-State Lithium batteries are also completely waterproof, making them one of the very few AS3004 compliant fully waterproof batteries on the market. This makes these batteries quite compelling, especially so when you consider they carry 190wh/kg, which just so happens to be higher than the industry leading EV at present, the Hyundai Ioniq 6. Then with our proprietary Battery Management System governing it all, you have safety and reliability par excellence. Additionally, if something is going on with your batteries in a Safiery Gold Support system, such as them running flat, we'll know about it before you, thanks to the telemetry," added Turnbull.
That's certainly putting the smart into intelligent power supply. Safiery's existing range of solid-state batteries are brilliant and waterproof themselves, so don't require a waterproof locker, nor forced ventilation, but other items placed in there may well do.
Potentially, it could even reduce the level of retardation required, as well, given the fire element is removed quite substantially (as it's the electrolyte that goes up BTW). Given the BMS already deals with overheating, rapid discharge, and overcharging, things seem to only be getting better and better.
If you know what all that means, you'll know that stability, even under immense duress, is the key word to come out of it. In a marine environment, that's your seal of pure unobtanium, right there. There will be no chance of a 'nuclear meltdown' type of scenario affecting your vessel. No need to know where the big red button is located.
It is also quite likely that vessels will have 12, 24, and 48V DC on board, and as more new products arrive, this could see the only 12V being as starter batteries. The upside of the upward migration is less heat, and smaller cables, which in turn is less weight, so you could potentially put that saving back into a bigger bank. Safiery's Scotty AI DC to DC converter is bi-directional, and so utterly clever at pushing charge where it needs to go, or just as importantly, not go.
Now one thing has remained, and you could argue that it is only going to increase. Draw. A lot of modern gear does do amazing things, but they do like power. It is like Pacman coming out to feast after a month-long diet. In turn, it means carrying a lot of stored power, and having the ability to generate swiftly, especially if you want to run silently a lot of the time. Historically, you could just use one word to cover it off. Weight, as in mass, and heaps of it.
It is not that ICE has gone from the equation. On the contrary, it has become even more crucial to the proposition. It is that as of about now, the mass of genset and fuel needed for it, along with enough storage to cover when it is not on, is about the same as Safiery's 48V BiDirectional Motor Generator, which is a hybrid field excitation motor (think super-intelligent digital alternator - with thanks to the EV market), and LIFePO4 bank. By the time solid-state comes online, you could even see the pendulum swing over for the very first time. Also, it is the electrolyte that poses any fire threat. So, its removal is a genuine hallelujah moment, me thinks.
Now a hybrid field excitation motor might sound like it attaches to the warp drive, but in reality, it is the component that sits on the back of a normal looking alternator. The difference is that it can push out more than three phase mains power. Much more.
Being digital, the power supply is also smooth, which all electrical gear loves. Spikes are for running tracks and footballers. It also talks, which goes straight to the point later about the CAN bus. You could go into a lot of nerdy things about now, but the word 'safety' kind of sums it all up. Also, if you have an electronically controlled motor (i.e. common rail) it's going to love smooth 12V power, which a standard alternator won't deliver without a regulator, but the HFEM in conjunction with Scotty AI considers a no brainer.
In EV speak it is a 'belt motor generator', as it recovers energy when slowing and braking. The hybrid part is in reference to the permanent magnet generator used inside it. You also get to vary the load coming off it. No point cooking a system that does not need it. Also, it does not heat up like a traditional alternator.
The warp bubble around it, is that it sits at the front of the ICE, as per normal, but as a motor it could also sit in series to become the propulsion. (Think 60kW at 400V for much lower amperage, and possibly as high as 800V with early detection of issues and warning a key component of the structure.) Straight drive, no gearbox to add in failures. Add in hydroregeneration, and Safiery could have just opened up a whole new field of endeavour for themselves. Up there for thinking. Down there for dancing. We'll see what occurs...
Should it come to pass, Scotty AI won't be getting asked by people to beam them up, but rather show them the beam of light. Cue the Angels - Aaahhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Go further. Stay Longer. Without a doubt it is the mantra of everyone looking to explore and escape with the ultimate in self-reliance and self-sustainability, and if you see it as a tagline somewhere, remember you saw it here first. Solar is great, but if you charge in an hour or less, and then run for days, well it is no longer the search for Spock, it is the celebration of life.
"Getting the power back in is crucial, so too is safety. There are about 100 ways you could do a lithium system on a boat incorrectly. It can result in some pretty dire consequences, but when you use the right gear and when you really think it through, it can be done very, very safely. We think lithium is better for boats over sodium, where overall performance, and includes various types of abuse, is more important than outright cost," said Turnbull.
"Yes, an NMC battery has the highest energy density, but with a boat you have to apply the safety card. This is why our solid-state batteries currently offer the best mix of variables for the desired outcome, with such a low level of electrolyte to cause any concerns for accelerating heat and fire. Safiery's solid-state batteries do come in at 190Wh per kilogram, BTW." N.B. This is higher than a Tesla 3.
"For what it is worth, some lithium batteries certainly will get warm and it's not really a function of charging or discharging the battery. It's actually just coming from poor connections inside of the battery."
A moment to pause and reflect. The last five years has been phenomenal in terms of pace of change. Now contemplate things from 30 years ago, and you'll see how the curve of recent time resembles that of a jet fighter climbing vertically to 40,000 feet. What we (collective 'we' there BTW) know now about the management, integration, and communications of batteries and systems is so utterly brilliant, and it is now even more crucial to employ the best in the field, for one thing has not changed. Juice in the wrong hands will kill.
They used to say, 'one flash and you're ash', with regard to three-phase, and in some systems now going in boats we have way more than that. This is not solder the wire back on to the connector and get the incandescent globe to light the instrument panel again. We are way past that now. Experts for expert jobs. It is why all the gear has to be certified.
So, if the pendulum for mass is about to swing, then the other item that has moved is footprint. Solid-state will continue to get smaller than it already is, which is vastly different from even five to ten years ago. As a designer, you can place equipment to CofG and buoyancy, and no longer need the whole bank in the same place. Equally, with a catamaran, you could place the ICE on one side, and storage in the other. With space not the final frontier on boats, but rathe THE overarching rule, a level of flexibility is a real boon.
Said it in other editorials like this one, as well as this one, and will say it again. What we know about design is changed forever more. More than ever, you have to be clear about your mission, and the find the vessel to suit.
As of now the footprint is small enough and they're now cost-effective enough to actually go in and be a viable substitute for a generator. The tech has got there. The ICE is there to ensure range/time. At 40 feet the scales (pun intended) are now pretty much balanced (say 8-10kWh of storage and it is charged in an hour, no less). Yes, on larger craft the size of bank will mean the cost outweighs the genset solution, but at that point other considerations come into play, not the least of which is silence.
As for lifecycle, Turnbull states, "We expect them to last somewhere over 15 or 20 years, and over 8000 cycles. The number we put on that is at the end of our 5-year warranty, we still want 80% of the capacity of the battery to be inside of it. Our battery cell structure is the safest possible for lithium currently, and this is definitely an element not really discussed that often, but fundamental to the decision-making process."
"A lot of that safety is actually how the battery is talking to the different charge and the load sources. Through the CAN bus, our batteries quite literally tell our chargers exactly what voltage and exactly what current to give them. Our chargers are not just guessing and throwing in heaps of current or heaps of voltage, and then the battery having to react to something that's already adverse."
"It's really important to do it that way, because you avoid anything that the battery doesn't want. Say that the battery is sitting at six degrees, and it needs some charge, but not all that is available. Some chargers might give it the absolute maximum it can. Yet at six degrees, the battery might not be able to take the absolute maximum. It might need something a bit smaller, which avoids heat. Note here that many a lithium battery does not like to charge at under five degrees C, nor discharge at zero or below. However, Safiery's solid-state will charge all the way down to -5 degrees C."
"Equally, our batteries tell the load source how much it can have. Important when it is at say 15% capacity, or really cold. This is part of disconnection warnings, which can be critical to navigation systems and the like."
We mentioned comms before, and the integration into Victron chargers etc can be done at various levels. Safiery elect to go for the highest, and that means they can monitor voltage and temperature on individual cells. Tick the box... Also, with the Victron system providing the remote monitoring, it means you can drill down to the nitty gritty no matter where the vessel is. Tick another box. Remember, it's the smarts that keep the batteries alive!
One of the common methods used in the industry for charging house banks, regardless of the house's voltage, is to charge it directly from an externally regulated alternator. In itself this poses significant, avoidable risks. However, usually less considered is the reliability of the charging of the Start bank. This is commonly done via a DC-DC from the house to the Start.
However, what if the lithium doesn't want to be charged as it's in a cold climate? You can't run your engine? That's not an acceptable risk. This is impossible for a traditional alternator, however our BMG with its inverter technology allows us to be able to develop power even if the 48V bank is completely disconnected, doesn't want charge, or in any situation imaginable. This then talks to Scotty which converts this 48V to 12V for use by the engine, no matter what. Cool huh?!
Not a mere gateway between voltages, I tell you. It is literally a subject on its own, but it means you can utilise all the facilities, even if 48V is down. Redundancy personified.
"If we take a moment to look forward, we see a world where you run a 120kW generator at optimal speed for an hour to charge a 120kWh bank that might give you enough to live for 10 days, with no solar input. As for propulsion, if it's a cat you won't have two engines shaking the place, just smooth electric force moving you along. We think it's kind of revolutionary."
"One six-cylinder ICE rather than two three- or four-cylinder motors is also inherently smoother, and you won't have to run it for long, so therefore the service intervals are further apart. With precious little maintenance on the electrical side, and the motors lasting for five years, it is compelling. It is exciting, and the next five years will happen at a tremendous pace with massive developments."
What does it all mean? Well, thankfully we have people like Safiery here to help us navigate the seas of electricity. If you want to go further, and stay longer once you're there, best reach out to the team at Safiery. Warp drive is currently not available, but a bunch of other cool stuff is, and it is thought through, installed brilliantly, and not just fit for purpose. It kind of creates purpose through safety and dependability.
If you want to see what is happening in the other Hemisphere, go to the top of the SailWorldCruising home page and the drag down menu on the right, select the other half of the globe and, voila, it's all there for you.
Finally, stay safe, and let's see where it all goes now.
John Curnow
Global Editor, SailWorldCruising.com