Posted on 02/27/2022 9:14:45 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT
In the superheated market for batteries, promising lab developments often get overhyped by startups. ‘Liar, liar, battery supplier.’
Given what’s at sake, it’s easy to chalk up exaggerated claims about new battery breakthroughs to the tech industry’s propensity for hyperbole and grandstanding. A typical example: Researchers invent a tweak to a type of battery that has long shown promise but has never come close to commercialization. That gets spun into claims that an electric car with a 2,000-mile range is within reach.
“People like a breakthrough, but when we write papers we try to avoid using these kinds of words,” says Xin Li, a researcher at Harvard University whose team recently published a paper on a new kind of higher-capacity solid-state battery in the scientific journal Nature. “There are too many battery ‘breakthroughs’ in my opinion in the past 5 years, and not many can be implemented in a commercial product.”.
“When we started Tesla in 2003, the batteries were just good enough, but what we had noticed was that they got better at about 7% to 8% a year, and had for a long time,” says Marc Tarpenning, a co-founder of the company. “It’s been 19 years, and we still haven’t had a step change in battery capacity—it just ticks along at 7% to 8% per year.”
At Harvard, Dr. Li’s team has worked out a new way to make solid-state batteries last longer. In theory, this could make the current combinations of elements that go into batteries yield a product with much higher capacity, and way down the road, it could be used in concert with other novel chemistries, like lithium-sulfur, to take auto- and gadget-makers to some sort of high-performance battery nirvana.
But Dr. Li cautions that commercializing his team’s technology will take years...
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
If it continues, that would mean, in 10 years, we will see Teslas with a real 500 to 600 mile range for a single charge.
It is a big deal.
—” They have to be relatively safe in a very, very, rough environment,”
A friend in the automotive industry said they want Near NASA specs for a competitive mass-market price.
Personally I’ve always thought the way to charge a car would be to switch the battery to a charged one. The charge time is just too long. This would require universal batteries and a fast way to switch them. Just throwin it out there.
I’m going to type this comment and risk getting yelled at, again, or banned from this site....oh well
I DO NOT GIVE A FLYING RATS F*** *&%89( (*&&9 (*&^5 *%$g **&6 *&^ ABOUT EV CAR BATTERIES OR ANYHTING ABOUT EVs OR HOW EFFICIENT THE BATTERIES ARE.
Believe it or not, what the manufacturing process does to the environment is what I care about. So, all the EV-nerds and Greenies that love EVs have ZERO problem with this. Yes they do. Why? Because it isn’t happening in their backyard.
Electric Vehicle Push Is Sparking Massive Deforestation, Environmental Damage https://dailycaller.com/2021/12/08/electric-vehicle-deforestation-global-climate-pledges/
Tesla is ditching cobalt, and everyone else should too ... Banishing cobalt for the greater good .... https://topcharger.co.uk/tesla-is-ditching-cobalt-and-everyone-else-should-too/ ..... While future technologies like graphene are exciting, the next step is to move away from materials that come at a significant human and environmental cost....You know what comes at a drastically reduced human and environmental cost? Walking or going back to horses and buggies. Then we don’t have to worry about mining, costs, and the one thing we rarely read about, what to do with all the spent batteries.
Absolutely
BobL wrote: “The problem with batteries for EVs is very simple.”
Another real problem with batteries is where do you get the electricity to charge the batteries. Won’t be solar. Won’t be wind. Won’t be nuclear. So, what’s left?
Step Daughter drives a Rolling Death trap Fiberglass body Chevy Hybrid, battries are about $4K. She hit a deer with her last 1, totalled it.
This is so much like so many other topics, wash-rinse-repeat. How many ways do we state or argue just how toy-like EVs are and if they are not toys, just how limited or specific their use is?
Electric carts and golf carts have worked well for ages because of specific applications and locations. Each time I consider the EV I arrive at the same conclusion, that they are very expensive and glorified golf carts constantly and consistently limited in some instance or application. This has not changed and will not without a significantly different approach and it will probably not be a metallic / chemical battery except for certain and limited applications.
But, but, oversized electric golf karts are teh fastar!
/Golf kart fanbois
Saw an article about an EV 4WD claiming 600 mile range but only about 2% of the population have that kind of money...
Musk recently killed his idea of a $25k EV. Must not have been profitable.
EVs have their places they fit and apply well, kind of like sports cars and other specialty vehicles. The market will decide. I want a hybrid crew cab PU with a 500 horse IC engine and 400 horse battery power than can run alone or both at once. I’d pay 80K for that.
I’m curious how many households in the USA own ONLY EVs.
“Personally I’ve always thought the way to charge a car would be to switch the battery to a charged one. The charge time is just too long. This would require universal batteries and a fast way to switch them. Just throwin it out there”
My actual Rocket Scientist BiL has been saying that for years.
My addition was that the manufacturer doesn’t even provide a battery. You lease the right to use batteries from a separate company that specializes in batteries and “Switch Stations”.
No more need for manufacturers to make batteries or warranty them. Wearing them out wouldn’t be an issue, replacement cost would be added to the lease, just like a rental car, but you are spreading that cost over millions of drivers.
Well if there are enough others like you and such a vehicle can be privately manufactured and be profitable for those who make it and if the vehicle is durable and safe, you may get your wish. However many EV dreams have not happened. Whatever happened to the big semis that Tesla once showed, EV aircraft or the real resale value of used EVs? Do the batteries hold up and remain safe after a couple of years? Final story not yet written but the EV concept has big limitations.
—”EVs have their places they fit and apply well, kind of like sports cars and other specialty vehicles. The market will decide.”
I want something similar to the Genesis Electrified GV70 with FULL SELF DRIVING.
If Tiger Woods had FSD...
My Hybrid gets about 55 MPG in warm weather and about 35-40 in really cold weather due to the extra time running the gas 4-banger to heat the water than keeps the cabin comfortable. I’m happy with that. Will never buy a total electric car - especially for trips to Minnesnowta.
“The goal is to quickly cram enough power into a battery without it exploding.”
My solution is to have replaceable batteries like you have with battery powered tools. The “filling stations” would just replace your battery.
cymbeline wrote: “My solution is to have replaceable batteries like you have with battery powered tools. The “filling stations” would just replace your battery.”
How long you figure to replace ‘your battery’?
I want something similar to the Genesis Electrified GV70 with FULL SELF DRIVING.
They will get there eventually with self-driving.
Think of those people riding around in the self-driving models as test pilots. Dangerous job.
Should be faster than filling with gas easily. Will require an interesting hydraulic lift setup. And you could still have a home charger and charging stations too.
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