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Li-Ion Battery Inventor Creates Breakthrough Solid-State Battery, Holds 3X Charge (fossbytes.com)
A research team led by John Goodenough at the Cockrell School of Engineering (Yes, this is a legitimate story) has created a new fast charging solid-state battery. Decades ago, American physicist John Goodenough co-invented the lithium-ion battery, which is now omnipresent in today's technology. The team has published a research paper in the journal Energy and Environmental Science. Fossbytes reports: The design limitations of lithium batteries containing liquid electrolytes don't allow them to charge quickly. If done forcefully, it would lead to the formation of metal whiskers (dendrites). Eventually, a short circuit would happen, or the battery would explode. However, that's not the problem with the solid-state batteries. The researchers have used a solid glass electrolyte in place of the liquid one. The glass electrolyte allows the researchers to use the alkali metal anode (negative side) which increases the charge density of the battery and prevents the formation of dendrites. Also, the glass electrolyte enables a battery to operate in extreme temperatures of -20-degree celsius. You can read more via The University of Texas at Austin.
Are you morons even trying anymore?
From TFA: 'In experiments, the researchers’ cells have demonstrated more than 1,200 cycles with low cell resistance.'
It is when the current charging recommendation is >0 for LI-ion so anything below is extreme for LI-ion.
As always, comments before reading TFA: "This is the first all-solid-state battery cell that can operate under 60 degree Celsius."
So yes, -20C is extreme for this type of solid state battery.
But how economical is it to modify the existing multi-billion dollar battery factories to make these solid state batteries?
Spoken just like Edsel Ford or just about anyone managing a US Steel plant since World War Two.
You do something like that or you eventually become far less relevant to the economy.
I just watched a recent Nova that highlighted a similar technology, but using plastic rather than glass as the electrolyte. Check out a short clip about it here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/n.... Seems like it has the same advantages, but without issues of brittleness, given that his sample batteries are shown being flexed. On the other hand, the plastic might be more susceptible to cold than the glass electrolyte.
A few weeks ago, Nova showed a lithium-metal battery developed at Univ. of Michigan that uses plastic, has 2X the energy density of Li-ion, and doesn't explode or burn even when cut numerous times. Pogue showed such a battery continuing to produce power even when sliced many times with scissors.
The irony of that statement is you are simplisticly casting yourself in my role without even attempting to find out that I'm an engineer that some years back worked in the manufacturing industry - you removed the complexity and placed a very simple strawman in the place of someone who has been considering this issue since the 1980s.
Also I gave two examples - two views of companies that were very reluctant to upgrade their processess and suffered very gravely.
I could have been as insulting as you have, but instead of pointing out appalling ignonance on your part I placed the spotlight on two examples of others who acted in the same appalling ignorance as you expressed.
Factories that do not upgrade process lines shut down while the work is carried out elsewhere in places that do. Haven't you heard of the "rust belt"?
It can take quite some time to move beyond the lab.
Goodenough et al demonstration of a rechargeable LiCoO2 cell was in 79-80 and it wasn't until 1991 that the 1st commercial Li-on battery was produced by Sony
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
Ever heard of the light bulb cartel
Yes, it fell apart within a decade because other companies started making cheaper, better light bulbs.
In a highly competitive market like batteries, these conspiracy theories become more and more unlikely.
> a modern ICE will cost you less than 4 grand in fuel for the entire life of the vehicle
In the USA, maybe. In nations where the tax on fuel makes up most of it's cost like the UK... I spend about £2,000 a year on fuel in my tiny little Skoda CitiGo, commuting a mere 60 miles round trip 4x a week.
Tesla Model 3 (the closest they've come to a mass-market car) has a range of 215 miles. The battery pack makes up a large amount of it's mass. If you can cut the battery down to 1/3rd the size, the range of the car will go up, so you can probably cut it a little further - maybe to 1/4. Now you're talking about a battery that only costs 2.5x as much.
Plus the speculation that these batteries will cost 10x as much when the inventor describes them as "cheap" is wild. If they cost 3x more to manufacture, they're definitely already worth it for electric cars - because even a unit that holds the same charge as the current battery, and thus costs the same, improves the car by being lighter, taking up less space, and charging faster, giving it better range or carrying capacity and greater utility.