Future of Technology - Battery tech improving as demand soars sounds promising - "The ability of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries to store up to eight times more energy than conventional designs is getting a boost thanks to a new conducting material that doesn't break down after repeated usage. What's more, the manufacturing process is compatible with established technologies, according to researchers with the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California."
There are lots of posts and news stories like this one but as Cyclopathic points out - when is it commercially available? Until then it's just a dream.
I thought the key point was "compatible with existing technologies". If that's the case, and its already tested and proved, then maybe it is mainly a question of how soon can they get their patents licensed to the various battery makers.
This is not a safe assumption. Stating that it is "compatible with existing technologies" is just an unproven claim until tested and verified by independent third parties. Inflated claims sell stock, so don't hold your breath until it hits the market. I hope it is true, but we have seen too many similar claims quietly disappear along with investor's money. Tom
xkcd: Researcher Translation This is research. I'm sure it's compatible, the problem will be in manufacturing the stuff. If we had the ability easily to manufacture nanomaterials we would have more than enough energy from renewables. There's also the issue of discharge rate. The good thing is that if the material's much more energy dense then it can be relatively slow at discharge per stored Wh but if it's too slow it would be better for storage than vehicles. Of course, I'm hopeful of gradual density improvements. As long as the cost per kWh is kept flat while density increases, utility will increase. The ultimate aim is densities high enough, costs low enough and charging fast enough to support commercial BEV. A key milestone will be GIAB: Grumpy In A BEV. PS If anyone has a subscription to Advanced Materials and could provide a digest on how the material was made and explain whether it volume production is likely to be the problem (if you have a subscription, I'm guessing you can) I'd very much appreciate it.
Of course it's a dream. But all advancement starts with a dream. And what I find encouraging and isn't speculation is the forecast for increased demand. Advancements will happen more readily if people forecast demand because demand is a platform for potential profit.
+1 It's like the oily industry - making huge claims - promising vast new pools being discovered .... promising 50-60 years of production. 5 or 10 years later, after they got the investor's money, lo & behold, the latest & greatest reserve is then claimed to only have 10 or 20 years before it peaks.
blah, i disregard all of these PR's, basically looking for investment money . How many of these actually turn into products? 0.00001%?
I wouldn't diss these guys too much. DOE makes A LOT of money off of battery patents (222 to be exact), particularly for large format NiMH batteries, something not a lot of people know about. Yes both Ovonics/Texaco and GM pay royalties for these patents. That being said, this is part of the snowball effect of "electrification" of the automobile. At least Ford knows which star to tie their wagon to.
New storage tech is always welcome and quite overdue by the time of actual production. Remember that Lithium Ion batteries have been around for a long time, but are only now being introduced into large scale applications like EV's. The road testing phase towards acceptance alone has added several more years to that wait. Any new battery formula might be another 5-10 years before they're powering our wheels. Heck, flying cars might even beat them to the production line. I can dream, can't I?
