I used to know a guy who taught battery design. Didn’t know him well but it was his ‘field’. He was optimistic on the future but then so is every scientist. Breakthroughs happen, 10% inspiration + 90% perspiration and all that.
It would be great to have batteries that can hold a charge longer, and be recharged over greater spans of time without losing their ability to hold the charge. And we will... to what degree and how soon, I guess we’ll find out.
But suppose you can get a battery system that can drive a car 1 million miles. You get a whole set of other problems to deal with. Probably still cheaper than combustion engine parts, but I don’t know of too many motors that can run that long. Rust? How many times will that car need to be re-upholstered? The average car runs 13,500 miles a year. So a typical Tesla will last, what, 74 years? Is that a viable business model? LOL.
A lot of Checker cabs hit 1 million miles with proper upkeep.
The article mentions 2nd & 3rd lives for the battery in the electric power grid. That suggests people would use the battery in a vehicle until the vehicle wore out or became obsolete. Then the battery would be used to store electricity for the power grid. That is already being done — you charge the battery at night when rates are cheap, and sell it back to the grid during peak hours. Depending on the cost/kWh for the battery storage, that can be quite profitable.
There would be an after-market for the batteries, which would reduce the cost of ownership for the cars. Some people could even sell back some power every day they own the car — which would offset part or even all of the cost of the electricity they use for driving.
A battery pack good for 1MM miles would absolutely be a game-changer.