New refillable batteries could fuel an electric car revolution

NBC News dot com ^ | 23 Feb 2019 | Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky

[blueplum]

(snip) ...Scientists are working to develop refillable, or so-called flow, batteries that can be refueled in minutes at a vast network of converted gas stations. It’s a shift that could make electric vehicles (EVs) more attractive to drivers who are wary of long charging times.

“You drive 300 miles, drain your tank and pump in new [liquid] — as long as it would take to fill your car with gasoline — and drive off,” says John Cushman, a professor of earth and atmospheric sciences and mathematics at Purdue and a leading researcher on liquid battery technology.

[blueplum]

ok, I can wrap my head around liquid battery - why not. But I don't get the drain the tank thing. Are you vaporizing what's in the tank, or dumping used liquid like a RV dump?

[donna]

Hey, and then we can call it gas . . . in a . . . gas tank!

[NorseViking]

You probably dump it in the next refill station in exchange for a new liquid.

[BobL]

I tried that long ago in high school. Dead car battery, replaced the acid with new acid...still dead car battery.

I guess they’ll tried that yet...but they’ll learn.

[a fool in paradise]

‘ep!!!

[ModelBreaker]

“Hey, and then we can call it gas . . . in a . . . gas tank!”

But a scientist in the article says it would make electric cars the “cultural equivalent” of gas cars.

So there’s that.

[Fungi]

"But if the two scientists have great expectations for their battery technology, other experts are cautious." IF, a very big word.

[Pontiac]

Cushman’s team announced on Feb. 7 that they had created a liquid battery with three to five times the usual energy density

As we have learned with Cell Phone and Laptop batteries, with energy density come the potential for fires and explosions.

High energy density batteries have the potential to be bombs.

If these batteries pan out I think I give them a decade or so to work out the bugs before I buy one.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Like this;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeskbiJjCXI

[Revel]

“You drive 25 miles, drain your tank and pump in new [liquid]”

Fixed it.

[clearcarbon]

I suspect the end result of all the research and development on electric vehicles will be the invention of the internal combustion engine.

[Candor7]

So you drain out old electrolyte and add new?

What happens to the drained electrolyte? Is it recyced for further use?

[rawcatslyentist]

It’s called a capacitor.

[P.O.E.]

And the massive amounts of electricity needed to power millions of cars and trucks comes from where?

Or is it only the apparatchiks that will have them while the rest of us take the horse-drawn trolleys?

[tallyhoe]

My cousins 1933 Ford sedan didn’t have a battery! We had to push start it..

[aquila48]

I imagine, it’s just around the corner...

[qaz123]

Wondering if they’ve figured out what to do with the waste, if there is any. Because either the “drain” is in there and has to be replaced, or, the ‘liquid’ is used up and burned and put through some type of exhaust procedure. And I’m betting that whatever the byproduct from that liquid battery is, it ain’t gonna be good.

But, none of that matters. It’s all about the fantasy, good intentions and good idea.

Kind of like windmills and solar panels, isn’t it? All good in da’ hood, until you have to start maintaining them and throwing away the waste. Something they’re finding out about renewable energy materials.

[SunkenCiv]

The idea is, the electrolyte liquid gets drained, then fresh electrolyte goes in, and boom, ready to drive. I believe the technical challenges to such a system are considerable, because this was proposed at least 40 years ago. Obviously there'd be a need to standardize on a paricular electrolyte...

[Moonman62]

The last half of the article is all about how maybe this isn’t such a great idea.

[Klemper]

Shxxters full!