Tesla has extended its battery research contract with the team at Dalhousie University in Canada led by Jeff Dahn, adding a second five-year term in a deal that underlines Dahn’s prominence in the battery research field, Thedriven.io reports.
At the same time, ASX-listed battery materials firm Novonix Limited, Brisbane, Australia, has announced it has named Dahn as “chief scientific advisor” in a role that will commence in July 2021.
In 2020, Novonix announced a patented dry particle granulation technology which it says can be used to increase efficiency and reduce the cost of manufacturing anode and cathode materials.
Dalhousie’s exclusive partnership with Tesla is perhaps one of the most closely followed battery research contracts in the electric vehicle and energy storage sector.
The renewal of the contract indicates Tesla still expects to harvest benefits of Dahn’s research in the future, although it is keeping tight-lipped about what may be; a touted “million-mile battery” expected to be revealed at Tesla’s Battery Day in 2020 did not materialise.
Under the contract, Dahn will retain his position as NSERC/Tesla Canada Inc. Industrial Research Chair and the Canada Research Chair in Materials for Advanced Batteries and he will be joined by two new team members, including Tesla Canada research chair Chongyin Yang and German battery researcher Michael Metzger.
“I am so pleased to welcome Chongyin Yang and Michael Metzger to Dalhousie University assistant professors and Chairholders. Both are outstanding scientists and charismatic leaders,” said Dahn of the announcement in a statement.
“Our goal is to continue to help Tesla develop better advanced batteries for its products. Dr Yang and Dr Metzger bring new ideas, new methods, and new expertise as well as a full commitment to electric transportation and renewable energy to the partnership,” he said.
“We are thrilled to be extending and expanding our work with Dalhousie and Jeff Dahn with the addition of Chongyin and Michael. We look forward to their important contributions in battery technology to help achieve our mission,” said Tesla in a press release.
Dr. Chongyin Yang is the Tesla Canada Research Chair and has been working on materials and devices for energy conversion and storage for 12 years. Prior to coming to Dalhousie University, Dr. Yang was an assistant research scientist in the Department of Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Maryland, where he led research projects on material and device development for high energy aqueous lithium-ion batteries.
Dr. Yang’s research group will focus on developing high-performance materials for advanced lithium-ion batteries, which includes sustainable electrode materials that contain no transition metals. It will be a crucial part of Dalhousie-Tesla partnership that seeks lower-cost, longer lifetime, and higher-energy battery technologies as the next-generation energy storage solution for electric vehicles and sustainable green energy.
Dr. Michael Metzger is the Herzberg-Dahn Chair and received a diploma from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the top-ranked university in Germany and the European Union. While completing his graduate studies, Dr. Metzger developed innovative methods to study the lifetime and aging of lithium-ion batteries in close collaboration with BASF and BMW. He has also worked in the Silicon Valley tech industry as a research engineer for Robert Bosch, the largest supplier for the automotive industry.
Dr. Metzger’s research group will focus on developing novel methods to study the performance and lifetime of advanced lithium-ion batteries, lithium metal batteries and desalination batteries. The goal is to create fundamental understanding that will help develop new electrode materials and electrolytes for stationary and electric vehicle batteries.
The initial research agreement between Dalhousie University and Tesla was signed in June 2015. This collaboration is a first between the leading American electric vehicle company and a Canadian university. Work officially began with Tesla in 2016, and the partnership has been renewed until at least 2026.
