“The result is an electrode that gives more than three times the capacity of graphite (1.2 Ah/g) at a normal charging rate, Li says. At very fast charging rates (six minutes to full charge), the capacity is still 0.66 Ah/g after 500 cycles.”
Just about every hand-held device from electronic nicotine to lap-tops uses Li-ion batteries. Golf carts, electric cars, etc.
h/t Instapundit
Time to order a Tesla?
Meh. I don’t trust scientists any more because of climate kookieness (etc.).
Especially Chinese scientists, considering the link right here at SDA about fraud in scientific journals recently.
That said, if it pans out, it’s great news.
Nothing says the Chinese will share the patent technology with Tesla or anyone else. I would hazard a guess and predict perhaps a Chinese Tesra rolling off the assembly line sometime in the future. Time will tell.
I’ve always been a bit confused about the 500 cycles thing.
In a nutshell, is that fully discharged (drained) and then recharged 500 times – or – discharged 5% and then recharged 500 times?
I’ve heard myths that you should take advantage of a rechargeable battery by allowing it to fully discharge before recharging so that you don’t use up it’s 500 cycles too quickly – which seems ridiculous.
I have various batteries that have been continuously plugged in for well over ten years that still behave like new with only occasional off-charge use.
When I see an electric *locomotive leaving Vancouver and arriving in Calgary on one charge, I’ll believe the article. Better yet, when I see an electric Boeing 777 leaving Vancouver and arriving in Halifax, NS. without a re-charge, I’ll burn my Fas Gas Litre Log and order a new Tesla.
”Long lasting batteries” fall into the same category as weight loss pills, snake oil and water from Lourdes that cures arthritis.
I remember a few years ago, I was driving an Olds 88 that was hard on batteries. A fast talking salesman in a parts store convinced me to buy a ”Chloride” battery that was supposed to last ”the life of the car.”
If any of you are familiar with the 1979 Olds, they had an optional ”high output” alternator. I was driving home in -30c weather in January, only hours after the new battery was installed. Suddenly, I began to choke. The car was filled with the most pungent odor I’ve ever experienced. I stopped, my alternator was smoking, and the battery was boiling over, not to mention that I had to walk a mile before the grader (snow plow) operator came along.
The parts store did refund my money, however the warranty on the Olds didn’t cover the alternator. I replaced the alternator and installed a Delco battery. Lesson learned. ”What’s good for GM is good for everybody.”
PS: What happened to ”Reader Tips??.” Don’t tell me, you were out camping and the battery on the I Pad went dead!!
We’ll need a few more advances like this before electric cars become practical in Canada.
Allan S >
“We’ll need a few more advances like this before electric cars become practical in Canada”.
True, practical also includes the ability to have “a choice”.
It’ll take one hell of an advancement for an electric car/ truck to practically pull a 38ft holiday RV up a long mountain road.
http://news.mit.edu/2013/nanowires-lift-liquids-like-tubes-0331
This is cool too though I think it was previously observable in things like towels and bath mats
I doubt you’ll ever see that. People don’t appreciate simply how much power it takes to move things. We’re still aways from a small electric powered economy car being practical in Canada.
As far as electric (battery) trains and airplanes, energy density of batteries would have to increase many many many times over what we currently have in order for that to be realistic. I don’t see it happening.
This should be very interesting.
Has anyone seen what it’s like to recycle batteries, especially the larger kinds used in vehicles?
From what I’ve seen, it is a very dangerous and very labour-intensive job. It makes oil recycling and tire recycling look like kindergarten projects. But we don’t really hear too much about that side of the story, do we. Just in case, here’s some sweetness and light from “How Stuff Works”: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/can-electric-car-batteries-be-recycled.htm/
Notice how they mention the need for liquid nitrogen for some lithium battery recycling.
We don’t hear about the rare earth metals used in making batteries and where those metals are mined. When we do, the tyrants, oh, sorry, greenies are getting worried: http://e360.yale.edu/feature/a_scarcity_of_rare_metals_is_hindering_green_technologies/2711/
(Note that the author of the article is from Pemberton, BC!)
So, are the battery proponents giving us only one side of the story? You know, propaganda? I think I trust used-car salesmen more.
Give me an electric vehicle that I can plug in on a lazy Sunday(and won’t cost me an arm and a leg) and will get me through the week.
I’ll take a look at it.
Right now, I can’t afford two cars.
One to do the basics and one to show that ‘I care for future generations’.
It ain’t gonna happen.
Re: the 500 charge thingy (with lithium batteries).
If you discharge them completely they will die real quick (if not instantly).
If you have had the batteries for 10 years – you have a quality charger … it probably starts charging at a 5-20% drop and stops when it reaches full. These batteries don’t have memory.
I have lots of batteries that I have charged before I needed to, and they last much longer the than 500 charges with little drop in in power.
Having said that – you are probably better off if you take the device out of the the charger every few months for a few months.
I’ll do you one better. Automated cars are close in the future. No doubt they will be allowed to drive themselves in parking lots. So why not have them automatically charge themselves too? Drive itself to charging station where the station automatically charges the car. Once it’s done it drives back to your spot.
Never have to fill up/plug in a car yourself again!
The solution for mileage may be CAR SWAP Stations. You just have to own, or rent, 6 or more cars. Those that already have them may be happy to see the suckers have a secondary market potential..
The scientist says they did something that improves X – 3 fold. The media reports 3 fold improvements in battery capacity, where the scientist said 3 x improvements that impacts 3.3% of the battery life, hence only a 10% improvement.
–
My grand-daughter will be able to play an extra week on her Wii,
But I ain’t driving her new Wii technology across Canadian snow in the Winter..
This is indeed a breakthrough in this technology. If this also eliminates or greatly reduces the sometimes catastrophic failure modes of the Li-Ion batteries (vis spendy Teslas going up in flames), it could actually revolutionize rechargeable battery power. You might be able to build much larger Li-Ion cells, and eliminate the ubiquitous battery packs made up of many (sometimes several hundred!) of the little “18650-sized” cells that have been welded together, and which require critical monitoring to prevent run-away reactions.
This improvement seems to help charging rates and battery life but not capacity. We still have a problem with capacity (which limits mileage in cars, for example).