Intresting Pheonix motorcars are saying these batteries are great. How expensive and how safe are they though? http://transport.seekingalpha.com/article/21753
Safety: Li-Ion: Over charging, overheating, or puncturing can lead to a breakdown of the membrane between the anode and cathode. the two compounds react violently to each other, leading to thermal run-away (IOW, your laptop catches on fire). Altairnano: Replace the graphite Anode with a new compound - slightly decreased performance (it hold less charge), but it's more structured, allowing for longer battery life (recharging cycles), and doesn't chemically react with the cathode - so over heating, over charging, or puncturing doesn't pose a risk. Price: I believe they're a bit expensive, but i haven't seen a price list from them FWIW, i think they're a great company, and i really hope the Pheonix cars do well - it'll help to propel their battery technology into bigger companies and bring PHEV's to all of us.
I've read their white papers, and I am very excited by these batteries. These could be the most significant advance in battery storage in just about ever... Many companies make claims of extraordinary accomplishments, but are often just blowing smoke. Their white papers go into an extraordinary amount of detail, and that just lends them more credibility in my mind. I sure do hope these see mass market!
Not only do the white papers lend them credibility, but the fact that they're out there in a limited production environment really helps - 500 cars next year is a great number to start with... Better buy the stock now, cause a year from now it's gonna be going up, up up! :lol:
