Yes, not blowing up is good. – small dead animals

But don’t hold your breath for these batteries.

21 Replies to “Yes, not blowing up is good.”

“Sodium is extracted from seawater that is widely available”
I got a kick out of that sentence. The phrase “is widely available” could safely have been omitted.

It’s also available in many salt deposits – add water and get a brine. But the article said “could” a bit to often to suggest any certainty about this new battery.

This’d be great, if true. Anyone remember Pons & Fleischman (room-temperature nuclear fusion)? That was the first “energy breakthrough” announced during my lifetime that turned out to be a humungous disappointment.
I’ll believe it when I can buy the damn things under the Energizer brand for less than $10 USD per cell. Until then, it’s just more hopium.

Having worked with sodium in an experimental setting, it should be noted that it’s not as safe as the article leads one to believe.
If it comes into contact with water, it will react, producing sodium hydroxide (i. e., caustic soda) and gaseous hydrogen. The remaining sodium metal will become hot and possibly ignite and the hydrogen could explode.
I’ve worked with alternate power systems off and on for many years and I’ve heard my share of great ideas that didn’t go anywhere. Like you, I’ll believe it when it’s finally on store shelves.
Hopium? Nah. More like hokum or unobtainium.

Scientific American has fallen very far. That web page looks like something kids would do for a science fair.

No lithium required. Afghanistan is worthless…again.

Don’t they store pure sodium in oil to prevent rapid combustion? I think I remember that from high school. Anyway, too many ‘coulds’ in the article and besides, you still have to charge the things with energy derived from reliable, not green. sources.

I’m glad 94-year-old inventory of Li-ion batteries, John Good-
enough was able to come up with something better.
And here is a more detailed article.
http://engr.utexas.edu/news/8203-goodenough-batteries

Non-combustible? I’m your huckleberry.

Don’t they store pure sodium in oil to prevent rapid combustion?
I recall we stored ours in something like acetone and kept it locked inside a paint shed.

Yes, and charging FAST is a good thing too … unless you look forward to a 6-hour layover every 200 +/- Miles. Unless you like to sit in the middle of your journey and catch up on your reading.

It actually sounds like a breakthrough in battery technology to me, i.e., the real deal (I checked other sources). I certainly hope so. The key is that the electrolyte is a solid “glass” rather that a semi-liquid.
The principle researcher appears to be Dr. Maria Helena Braga (Portugese name), not Mr. Goodenough (you can’t make names like this up) who though not senile is still a bit old at 94 for innovative research. Dr. Braga is a Materials Engineering and Materials Science specialist and that fits.
This is going to upset Elton Musk and his chocolate battery factory.

Investing in lithium might be worthless. I invest in copper for my view of growth in electric vehicles.

BEV’s are never going to be useful for much other than short-haul urban environments. They work well for delivery vehicles in moderate climates. Hybrids on-the-other-hand provide long range plus overnight recharge with much less battery weight. A CNG-fuelled hybrid that one could recharge and fuel overnight in the garage would be a popular option.

WalterF,
Thank you for the other article.

Still uses a highly reactive metal.
How does the glass hold up to vibration in long term use?

Having played with sodium metal, in public parks..the boom when you throw a chunk into into the duck pond is great fun.
OK I was an enthusiastic student..
So what will these batteries be?
Same old story, after 30 years in the electrical industry you show me a useful battery and I will show you a very nice bomb.
That said ,a battery that is hydrophobic may be an acceptable risk, if it delivers a useful improvement in capability.
However, I will believe it when I can buy one retail.
For whoever invents a battery equal in every way to a gallon of gasoline.. will become a billionaire.