This was my material science teacher, super teacher. He has developed a new lithium battery that just may be a game changer... This site does not allow me to post a URL..google 'Grant Norton WSU super lithium-ion battery' I would think Tesla and Toyota will have a lot of interest in this new battery when they see it for themselves!
It remains to be seen if these batteries will be (1) affordable, especially for a car; (2) have all the other characteristics necessary for an electric car battery. However, if they are, you are absolutely right. Every electric and every plug-in hybrid car manufacturer will be beating a path to this guy's door. Imagine those of us who already bought electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles being able to upgrade to a better battery a few years from now. How many on this forum would be willing to spend a few thousand dollars to get triple the all electric mile range that we now have? Any auto manufacturer that is not already developing a pluggable vehicle will be left behind as everyone will want an electric or plug-in hybrid with affordable batteries giving them much more range than we have today. Think about how much the Tesla sedan drivers have been willing to pay to double or triple their range ($10,000 to $20,000, I believe). Plus as the batteries get more efficient, the vehicle should have to carry less weight for the amount of charge stored.
O2cool...I share your thoughts. I know a few folks in the WSU engineering program That say these batteries are for real and so far, they are very impressive compared to the current lithium batteries.. .
There are alot of unknowns for this kind of battery technology. The initial capacity maybe impressive. How will it how up after 3000 charge/discharge cycles? Can it can handle 5000+ cycles? How fast can it discharge? how fast can it charge? Does it need some kind of battery management system? Can the battery handle constant 100% depth of discharge and still able to recover 100%? How much does it weigh compared to other lithium ion batteries? How safe is it when punctured? Does it have thermal runaway characteristics like the LiPo Li-Ion?
I believe that the storage, charge, and discharge of electricity in a storage unit, i.e. battery, seems to be a monumentum hurdle, but not an impossible one. Electricity has no weight just pure energy, with this in mind in theory you could store a 1,000 kilo watts of energy in a storge unit the size of a sandwich. If a storage unit for electricity was invented that could be charged, discharged, and handled without danger with 1,000 kilo watts the size, of say a sandwich, it would be a game changer on the world market. Its not that it can't be done, the truth is that somehow it can be done, but perhaps not right now. Look at computers and electronics, in the last 50 years; who would believe in 1960 you could have an electronic deivce the size of a pack of cigarettes that you could be connected to and communticate with the world
I'm thinking about twice/year over the last several years I read a link or article of some kind touting a ground-breaking new battery technology. I have yet to see any put in a consumer device at a cost that is relevant. If we actually go back through history of batteries there don't appear to be many revolutions at all. The last big tech was lithium based and its progressions in capacity/weight/charge rate/discharge rate have been evolutionary.
Oh look, yet another battery that will change the face of EVs overnight. I'd love for it to be true, but its unlikely to happen. It has to work on a energy density level, a power-density level, a manufacturability level, a longevitity level, etc. I find these types of post and the associated news article bad for EV adoption. It makes be people think if only they wait the net generation will be better and cheaper.
Whatever happened to all the fuel cell work? Is it just not getting NSF funding anymore and have DOT grants dried up completely as well?
xkcd: Researcher Translation Anyway, if it's not the same as "now for sale" it's always good when something markedly better is reported since that leaves more room for maneuver in bringing it to market. For example, stability or weight could make it unsuitable for cars, but it might be good enough for static energy storage.
ConnDOT: Connecticut to Receive New Fuel Cell Bus under USDOT Grant Nope. It's just that they stopped focusing on fuel cells as the be-all-and-end-all and treated it as a research project, which it still is. (Toyota is saying they'll sell an HFCV sedan for $50,000 in 2015, but there's no mention of "profitably"). Instead the focus and market help switched to batteries, since they were seen as being near(er) to market. They also have the advantage of having significant value even if prices never drop to mass-market levels.
