A team of researchers at TUM CREATE has announced a significant breakthrough in lithium-ion battery technology, achieving energy density improvements of up to 40% over current state-of-the-art systems. The research, conducted in collaboration with partners at the Technical University of Munich, represents a major step forward for electric vehicle adoption in tropical climates.

The new battery formulation addresses a key challenge facing EV deployment in Southeast Asia — the rapid capacity degradation that occurs when cells are exposed to sustained high temperatures. By engineering a novel cathode material with improved thermal stability, the team demonstrated 85% capacity retention after 1,000 charge cycles at 35°C ambient temperature.

“This is a result of five years of fundamental research into material science and electrochemical engineering,” said the project lead. “We are now working with industry partners to scale the manufacturing process and bring this technology to market within the next three years.”

The findings have been published in the journal Nature Energy and presented at the International Electric Vehicle Conference in Singapore. TUM CREATE’s research is funded by the National Research Foundation Singapore as part of the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme.