A lithium-ion upgrade for your car, but not the one you’ve been waiting for

From iPhones to Teslas, lithium-ion battery technology is ubiquitous in today’s world. It is the chemistry chosen for a wide range of applications due to its high charge density in relation to its mass, which in turn produces things like high-end laptops that can run for more than 10 hours on a single charge and weigh less than two kilos.

But what about that lead-acid lump hanging in your car’s engine compartment? The origins of this battery date back to the mid-19th century, and even today you will still find this archaic technology serving electrons in the vast majority of vehicles on the road – including EVs.

In recent years, some automakers have started making lithium-ion batteries available in their vehicles, but the batteries have been largely limited to expensive optional offerings in high-end sports cars from companies like Porsche and McLaren. Antigravity is trying to change that.

The Los Angeles-based outfit is the brainchild of Scott Schafer, an engineer and performance enthusiast who saw writing on the wall more than a decade ago. “In 2010, I bought one of the first available lithium motorcycle batteries,” he explains. “I found it on an online forum – it was a guy who was building them to order. I thought it was an amazing product, but it ended up lasting about three months or more before it failed. Not long after that, I started collaborating with an engineer battery that worked for SBC Global. We discussed the shortcomings of this motorcycle battery and he explained that if we did this, this and that, we could create something with much more reliability. “

The two soon started working on creating their own lithium battery for motorcycles. “Initially, we just created the batteries for ourselves and our friends who were participating in racing events,” says Schafer. “And over time, just by being on the track and talking to people about it, we started getting more and more orders for these batteries.”

The team quickly overcame Schafer’s garage-based operations center and moved to larger and larger facilities as news of their new product spread to enthusiastic circles. “It was when we made a molded plastic box and started to make it look like real batteries”, he jokes. “And at that point, it really became a legitimate product.”

Move forward a decade and Antigravity is now a leading supplier of lithium iron phosphate batteries not only for motorsport applications, but also for replacing 12V automotive batteries. “There were other companies that started around the same time as us, but they were unable or unwilling to evolve as new technologies became available,” says Schafer.

“The real obstacle we needed to overcome was to develop an internal management system that would make these batteries safe and durable in these types of applications. We knew that the product needed to meet a certain standard, which is why we developed our battery management system. – it protects lithium from getting into situations where thermal leakage can be a problem due to overload or other problems, and the type of lithium chemistry we are using is iron phosphate, or LiFePO4. safest lithium technology available today. “

A real-world test

Antigravity offers automotive batteries that fit almost all passenger vehicles on the market today, so we decided to put our latest and best to the test with a Dodge Challenger model, which uses an H7-size battery. In addition to the benefits of charge density and the pure novelty of the concept, Antigravity batteries offer several important benefits over a lead-acid battery that are important in use in the real world.

“The battery has a built-in emergency boot feature,” says Schafer. “So if you accidentally leave the lights on or the battery is completely discharged for some other reason, the battery goes to sleep and maintains a reserve capacity that can provide four or five more engine starts so you can get the car running again.” Although the feature can be accessed by a button on the battery itself, Antigravity provides a keyring that allows the function to be triggered remotely as well.

The company also offers a remote battery monitor, which connects to the battery terminals and reports the battery charge status to a mobile device via Bluetooth. The app is free to download from the Apple App Store and Google Play, and can send push notification alerts if the battery charge level drops below a user-defined threshold. The application can also be used to monitor the start-up voltage and check the charging system for problems.

“Initially, we looked for the performance market, but there are a number of other factors that make lithium better for conventional applications as well,” notes Schafer. “For example, it has a starter amplifier much taller than a lead-acid battery – probably two to three times as much. This translates into easier engine starts and less starter effort, whether it’s too cold outside or very hot. “

But the main reason Schafer originally targeted the performance market is because lithium batteries weigh significantly less than their lead-acid counterparts. After removing the factory battery from our Challenger, we put each one on a bathroom scale. Our factory lead-acid battery weighed up to 45 pounds (20 kg). The Antigravity battery? Just under 16 pounds (7 kg), or about a third of the weight. Making an A / B comparison of catching one after another, the difference is genuinely impressive.

Sure, losing 30 pounds isn’t exactly a transformer in a vehicle that weighs well over two tons, but for autocrossers and people who build racing cars, losing 30 pounds without losing any functionality in the vehicle would be like receiving manna from the car gods. You can also argue that, at 4,400 pounds (1,996 kg), the Challenger (and most modern production cars, in fact) could use all the weight reduction it can get.

With the new battery installed, the Schafer’s promise of easier engine starts was immediately evident – the starter really looked different due to the noticeably faster starting speed. The battery monitoring app also worked perfectly, connecting to the car without any problems, even when we were inside a building and several walls away from the car.

“Keep lowering the price”

But here’s the setback: while a good H7 lead-acid battery costs about $ 250, Antigravity H7 will cost $ 829. This can be a hard pill to swallow for everyone except the most enthusiastic – or people who have cars that sit for long periods of time – but the damage to your wallet may not be as bad as the high price suggests: while you would be lucky to get more than four years of life with a traditional lead-acid battery, Lithium batteries can last twice as long – if not longer.

And looking to the future, Schafer says that making technology viable for the average driver is one of the main focuses of Antigravity. “The hope is to continue to lower the price, keeping the features that the battery currently has and expanding the feature set as we go – integrating Bluetooth monitoring into the battery itself and things like that. But now what matters is making it make it even more accessible to the family with the minivan or the person who needs to change a new battery in their daily transport. “

Fortunately, the steady march of progress – and its inherent effect on the cost of emerging technologies – should help Antigravity do just that.