Batteries,...the future's so bright I gotta wear shades

[CaptSpiff]

I while back a poster asked what we thought today's Tech Nugget was that will change the future (ie like the transistor of the early '60s). I opined that battery tech, and specifically miniaturization, will fundamentally change the future landscape. The advances happening daily is astounding.

https://www.greencarreports.com/new...ride-could-make-better-electric-car-batteries

My only worry is that the rapid advancement will actually delay things like EV adoption because the Majors and their Investors will fear Stranded Assets killing their bottom lines.

 

[Highbeam]

Electric vehicles and homes. The grid is hugely wasteful. Good, small, cheap, durable storage of energy makes so many things possible and even probable.

The tech will likely be strategically released only after profits from existing technologies are totally harvested. Those that are aware of the coming tech will make seemingly stupid decisions like stopping maintenance or minor improvements to existing tech (power lines, gas engines) since they know that the switch is inevitable.

I’m saving room in my yard for a solar array. It’s not worth deploying the funds at this time but with a good 50 kWh battery....

 

[vinny11950]

My house is close to the Brookhaven lab! They do some cool stuff there.

As for battery technology, CaptSpiff is right, the innovation is going to make it hard for jittery investors to pick the winning investment. Which is why the government should keep funding the research for these projects.

On the private side, the Japanese and the German auto makers are also working on their own battery designs. I trust the Japanese to do it right.

 

[peakbagger]

Too many actors pumping cash into new tech to worry about technology being held back by business. Battery tech is worldwide, one or two companies are not going to be big enough to hold back better tech for long.

 

[begreen]

Developing a new tech, setting up manufacturing and then selling this new tech is a risky venture. It could very well be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but there is also the risk of it being surpassed by another technological breakthrough or disrupted by a complete unknown. Look at how many big companies fell in the hard drive market in a relatively short period of time.

 

[begreen]

Battery tech is evolving steadily. Samsung now has a highly competitive battery in the works using graphene balls deposited on the anode and cathode that dramatically improves performance. They made some promising announcements at the Detroit auto show.
"Recently, a team of researchers at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) developed a “graphene* ball,” a unique battery material that enables a 45% increase in capacity, and five times faster charging speeds than standard lithium-ion batteries.z"
400 mile range on a 20 minute charge? Bring it on.
http://www.samsungsdi.com/sdi-news/1803.html?idx=1803
https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-develops-battery-material-with-5x-faster-charging-speed
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01823-7

 

[woodgeek]

Bottom line, I have stopped caring about most battery advances. They are in the pipeline and on the way. Current battery tech is good enough and will soon be cheap enough for grid storage in high cost (island) areas and for affordable long-range EVs.

Why is that important....b/c science happens when money is applied, pure and simple, just like every other human endeavor. Not crazy haired crackpots having a eureka moment in small labs working in isolation....but ARMIES of trained PhDs with v expensive equipment working 9-5 5 days a week and drawing a decent paycheck for years. More money....bigger army....better tech coming out the back end.

So, the grid storage and EV application means that $$ spent on R and D is in billions every year (not govt money, corporate and private venture)...change will come, probably surprisingly fast now that the $ spigot is open.

So, the only limits are elements....and the only one worth worrying about today is Cobalt. Cobalt is chocolate to Lithium's peanut butter. We can now make AWESOME Li-ion batteries with a ton of cobalt in them. The heavy work today is figuring out how to get similar performance with less, or even just a whiff of Cobalt.

I think the 2019, next generation of the LG EV batteries (my and Jim's Bolts use the current gen from them) have 1/3 the Cobalt and similar specs. So change is in the pipeline.

 

[begreen]

Yeah, cobalt is an issue, especially with the current administration's change in attitude toward Cuba.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...supplier-amid-sanctions-concern-idUSKBN1K92Q9