Lifetime Achievement Award
Professor Stanley Whittingham, the founding father of the lithium ion battery
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Professor Stanley Whittingham was presented with Benchmark Lifetime Achievement Award 2023
Professor Stanley Whittingham was recognised with Benchmark’s Lifetime Achievement Award, for his visionary creation and leadership of lithium ion battery innovation.
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The Award
The Benchmark Lifetime Achievement Award recognises influential figures that have shifted our industry on its axis over the years.
This Award was presented by Benchmark CEO, Simon Moores, at the opening of Benchmark Week 2023.
Professor Stanley Whittingham was awarded the Benchmark Lifetime Achievement Award at Benchmark Week 2023 in Los Angeles.
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The Award was presented by Benchmark Chief Executive Officer, Simon Moores at the opening of Benchmark Week 2023.
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Stan Whittingham Nobel Prize winner & founding father of the lithium ion battery
Whittingham won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2019 alongside Akira Yoshino and John Goodenough for his work on creating and developing the centrepiece of our industry - the lithium ion battery.
In his presentation at the conference, Professor Whittingham focused on what he believes will be the next evolution for batteries.
“I think the next step is to go from lithium ion to lithium (metal), and that’s what a lot of our goals are. So if we can double the energy density in the present batteries, that will automatically cut the cost by at least 50%” Whittingham told delegates.
Collaboration and Growth
Professor Whittingham also shared his view that the US should work with Canada to build a regional supply chain for batteries and has “everything it needs” to build cheaper lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells “We need to build here to supply our own needs. We don’t necessarily need to exclude China totally, there’s some things they can do for us. But we need to have our own industry, the cost will be less, both dollars and environmental, if we do it ourselves,” he said. “We can’t have all our industry just disappearing like it has done for the last 30 to 40 years.”
“We have to have cells that can recycle and we’ve got to make sure the cells are safer. That doesn’t necessarily mean changing the chemistry. It means making them in a better way.” Stan Whittingham is a SUNY distinguished professor of chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering at Binghamton U. and an honorary Fellow of New College, Oxford.
Professor Whittingham is also presently a lead on the U.S. DOE Battery500 consortium, and drives the Battery-NY $100M economic development effort. He is on the leadership team of both NYBEST and NAATBatt.
Highlights from Benchmark Week
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“There’s incentives for sodium but don’t expect sodium to come roaring and take out the field in the next two or three years.”
Professor Whittingham at Benchmark Week
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