Next-gen lithium-ion battery charges 20x faster, lasts 20x longer

tweaktown.com ^ | 1 hour, 33 mins ago Oct 13, 2014 | Anthony Garreffa

[truth_seeker]

“This would also be a huge boon for Solar power.”

This COULD also be a huge boon for Solar power. And I hope it will be.

Toyota has sold over 2 million Prius type hybrids, worldwide. Going back over ten years.

I remember all the criticism of such a vehicle, and technology.

Yet every single person I have asked, says they love their vehicles and the fuel economy. No battery problems. Every single one.

[jjotto]

Exactly.

A constant-rpm diesel powering batteries and/or electric motors. The constant-rpm diesel engine might be able to run on almost any kind of oil.

[morphing libertarian]

I don’t know when battery technology will surpass the gas engine, but itt will happen.

I just made a flippant comment to those who come on every thread about electric cars and wail and gnash their teeth.

Let’s build some nukes.

[Swordmaker]

I just LOVE miracle battery stories. Must have seen at least two dozen in my lifetime. I love them almost as much as the nutter LENR posts that invest FR.

I can't help but think of the miracle carberator said that promised 200 Mpg.

[Swordmaker]

Well, now, let’s do a little simple math.

Let’s say we have a 2000 mAh battery that will accept a charge current of 500 mA, and it takes 5 hours to fully charge (there are always substantial losses in the charging process.) If said battery can be charged 20x faster (ie., in 15 minutes), our charge current is up to 10 amps. That’s a MUCH bigger, more expensive charger.

Similarly, if the battery has 20x the capacity (40 Ah), given the original 5 hour charge time, again, charge current is 10 amps.

If the battery has 20x the capacity and can be fully charged in 15 minutes, then charge current is 200 amps.

Obviously, the battery banks needed to propel vehicles are MUCH larger. The recharging stations could be quite, uh, interesting. Plus, heat dissipation in both the charger and the batteries being charged would seem to be a very large concern.

My problem is the reality of what an electric cell is. . . it is a means of releasing energy by chemical change. There is an exothermic reaction if you charge it too fast as you add energy, forcing a chemical change. At one rate, the exothermic reaction is manageable, speed charging up by 20x, can they say the same? I really don't think so. I think the battery, a collection of cells, would get very HOT.

[Swordmaker]

The article says: The new battery will be able to endure more than 10,000 charging cycles -- 20 times more than the current 500 cycles of today's batteries.

Now THAT makes a lot more sense. . . and the economics might be more sensible. A battery can cost ten times more but if it's life is 20x longer it's approximately half the cost over its useful life.

[Paul R.]

Well... I use rechargeable batteries a LOT, and the early failure rates are dismal indeed. If the researchers are claiming 10,000 charge cycles, what we’ll probably get in “real” production is 1500, on average. That is, 1500 charge cycles if the contacts don’t corrode first, etc. This is a welcome improvement, but no miracle.

The charge rates are still limited by charger capacity.

[Paul R.]

Yes, that is my point about heat in the battery being charged. I’d guess that the improvement being touted involves less heat generation as the current is pushed in, and / or less tendency to go exothermic, but, still, 20x is dumping in a LOT of energy quickly.

This can be seen in high capacity batteries being charged by “quick chargers” (ie., high current chargers) available even a few years ago. The batteries get HOT.

Internal resistance of the cells would need to be much lower too — making for high output capacity without overheating, but, if the thing ever shorts out, oh boy!

I happened to accidentally short out a plain ‘ol Alkaline cell in my pocket the other day: It left a very nice burn mark on my leg...

[Swordmaker]

happened to accidentally short out a plain ‘ol Alkaline cell in my pocket the other day: It left a very nice burn mark on my leg...

Ow! Don't DO that!

Sony made some batteries (about 300,000, IIRC) for Apple IBooks and for some Fujistsu and Dell laptops way back in the in the early 2000s that had some defective electronics in them. The Apples merely overheated by rapidly discharging and discolored the cases, but the Fujitsus and the Dells, in a few cases, actually caught fire. Apple recalled 50,000, and the other two makers recalled 250,000, but guess which company got the lion's share of the bad publicity? Yup, Apple. . . and it was reported that it was Apple laptops that caught fire, not the Dells and Fujitsus that actually ignited. LOL!