With World EV Day on the 9th of September, in this episode we’re looking at the power behind electric vehicles – the batteries themselves. As more of us consider ditching our petrol cars, in favour of ones we simply plug in, we’re going to explore both the positives and negatives – and the charges for-and- against this developing technology.

Jamie Foster is Professor of Applied & Industrial Mathematics at the University of Portsmouth and in this wide-ranging episode, you’ll hear how batteries work, how sodium (salt) might be the replacement for the finite ingredients currently used, such as nickel and cadmium – and the steps that need to be taken to get us all comfortable with EVs when we next buy a car.

We’d love you to be part of the discussion, too. Email your questions on this episode or ideas for future episodes to lifesolved@port.ac.uk.

You can also find out more about this work and other research at the University of Portsmouth website: https://www.port.ac.uk/research/ 

Life Solved is released every Thursday and available on all major podcast platforms.

USEFUL LINKS

Dr Jamie Foster bio: https://www.port.ac.uk/about-us/structure-and-governance/our-people/our-staff/jamie-foster

University of Portsmouth’s battery modelling research: https://www.port.ac.uk/news-events-and-blogs/news/fresh-cash-boost-for-university-of-portsmouth-battery-research

World EV Day: https://www.worldevday.org/

The future of sodium-ion batteries: https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/05/11/1072865/how-sodium-could-change-the-game-for-batteries/

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