High Energy Density Lithium Sulphur Battery Development

[777]

The future for bigger cars is hydrogen and for lighter cars are battery. The sources for electricity will be nuclear reactors. My country is a small one (Romania, E.U.) but we are working at the future of the nuclear E.U. reactors, recte, A.L.F.R.E.D. with lead reactors,http://www.alfred-reactor.eu wich will be much more safely. https://www.nuclear.ro/en/index.php
In the same time, at just 1 mile away from my house, again we are working at the fusion nuclear reactions with the biggest laser from the world (10 Petawatt) at ELI-NP. https://www.eli-np.ro

Don't dream at "power flower" , the future will be atomic.

 

[Doodski]

The future for bigger cars is hydrogen and for lighter cars are battery. The sources for electricity will be nuclear reactors. My country is a small one (Romania, E.U.) but we are working at the future of the nuclear E.U. reactors, recte, A.L.F.R.E.D. with lead reactors, wich will be much more safely. In the same time, at just 1 mile away from my house, again we are working at the fusion nuclear reactions with the biggest laser from the world (10 Petawatt) at ELI-NP.

Don't dream at "power flower" , the future will be atomic.

This company developed technology to extract hydrogen in-situ.
http://proton.energy/

 

[Blumlein 88]

The future for bigger cars is hydrogen and for lighter cars are battery. The sources for electricity will be nuclear reactors. My country is a small one (Romania, E.U.) but we are working at the future of the nuclear E.U. reactors, recte, A.L.F.R.E.D. with lead reactors,http://www.alfred-reactor.eu wich will be much more safely. https://www.nuclear.ro/en/index.php
In the same time, at just 1 mile away from my house, again we are working at the fusion nuclear reactions with the biggest laser from the world (10 Petawatt) at ELI-NP. https://www.eli-np.ro

Don't dream at "power flower" , the future will be atomic.

They've already had the Big Bus. Atomic powered bus capable of non-stop journeys across the entire country.

 

[777]

Eco humor

 

[Eirikur]

Coal used for electricity generation has been almost totally phased out in Alberta Canada. It's in progress right now and has been for 2 years. We've gone to natural gas at ~ 1/2 the emissions.

Not so in the Netherlands, we're switching off natural gas plants in favor of burning American/Canadian trees... does get us closer to the paper truth of UN environmentalism. I am very grateful that I can support this subsidized lunacy with my tax money (as opposed to jail for not paying tax).

Changes in Dutch (tax) laws also make it unwise to invest in solar power now; there is no real upside to it with ~9 years to break even on the investment, and even longer if anything breaks or needs serious maintenance before that time.
I'd still install them if I could have significant local energy storage at a reasonable cost, but we're still waiting for the salt-water batteries promised about 10 years ago...

 

[Frank Dernie]

The Toyota Mirai Hydrogen fuel cell car was one of those I considered when I changed my car in April 2018. Its range was too short and the nearest refuelling almost 20 miles away.
I looked into both plug in hybrid and all electric. The all electric have amazing performance but I didn't like the Tesla interior and the others at that time had too short a range.
I had a test drive in a Jaguar i-Pace at the weekend since a used one was a good price at a dealer 5 miles from here. It was absolutely brilliant, fast, good handling a super interior etc. I went home to think about it but in the end the battery deterioration makes no sense for somebody like me who does 6000 miles a year since with my current PHEV I travel mostly electric anyway and in summer at least all the charges are from our own solar cells. I last filled the tank in September in Wales...
So I reluctantly decided to be sensible and stick with my original analysis that plug-in hybrid is the best for me.

 

[MediumRare]

The future for bigger cars is hydrogen and for lighter cars are battery.

There is a lot of chatter about hydrogen for heavy trucks herein the US. but there is a fundamental issue to be overcome: You always need power (eith natural gas or electricity) to make hydrogen, thus it is inherently less efficient than just using the power directly. So the real issue is energy storage. Gasoline, after all, is just a way to store and transfer energy. There is no car so heavy that it cannot use current battery technology (Cf Tesla and Rivian pickup trucks).

Only long-haul trucks (currently carry about 200 gallons of diesel) will need more energy than batteries in the next few years can provide. Given there are 3 million diesel-burning trucks on the road today in the US and operating cost is a huge factor, there will probably be diesel long-haul trucks until glass or flow batteries are commercialized.

 

[mhardy6647]

Batteries -- heck, all energy sources -- suffer from the impassive iron grip of thermodynamics.

Remember, the First Law says You can't win.
and the Second Law says You can't break even.

 

[mhardy6647]

They've already had the Big Bus. Atomic powered bus capable of non-stop journeys across the entire country.

I wouldn't admit this just anywhere... but...
I love that movie.

 

[SIY]

Batteries -- heck, all energy sources -- suffer from the impassive iron grip of thermodynamics.

Remember, the First Law says You can't win.
and the Second Law says You can't break even.

Second Law says you can only break even at absolute zero.

Third Law says you can’t get to absolute zero.

 

[Ron Texas]

Hydrogen takes energy to make and more energy to compress to where it could be used as a motor fuel. It can be converted to energy efficiently in fuel cells, but they are horrendously expensive now and even if mass produced they will remain pricey. Compared to electric charging, the infrastructure for hydrogen is a nightmare. Vehicle tanks operate at 300 bar and have to be reinforced. The small molecules penetrate tanks and leak over time.

Hydrogen might have a future as a low pressure utility scale energy storage medium.

Electric short range package delivery trucks probably have a future. The large diesel delivery vans are left running for the entire route. Electric drive is particularly efficient in this stop and go mode. Assuming enough range to complete the route, they can be charged overnight.

A lot of these ideas require a nearly limitless source of 24/7 clean electric power. It's not on the horizon, especially with the hysteria over nukes.

 

[Tks]

If we had a nuclear reactor for every battery breakthrough now, we'd have bankrupted the oil industry.

 

[JJB70]

I had a test drive in a Jaguar i-Pace at the weekend since a used one was a good price at a dealer 5 miles from here. It was absolutely brilliant, fast, good handling a super interior etc. I went home to think about it but in the end the battery deterioration makes no sense for somebody like me who does 6000 miles a year since with my current PHEV I travel mostly electric anyway and in summer at least all the charges are from our own solar cells. I last filled the tank in September in Wales...
So I reluctantly decided to be sensible and stick with my original analysis that plug-in hybrid is the best for me.

If I was given a blank cheque to buy any car I'd probably buy an IPace, it may not be the most exotic car or the most expensive to make a statement but it's bland of performance, practicality and comfort along with being clean is pretty much perfect IMO. I much prefer it to the Tesla Model S even if it is a bit SUV-ish.
On the other hand I also would probably be much better off with a PHEV. A range of 30 miles a day on battery would cover the majority of my driving and the engine would be there for my occasional long trips.

 

[Ron Texas]

If I was given a blank cheque to buy any car

Porsche Turbo, around $220,000.

On another note, one investment outfit I follow says lithium prices (lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide) are set to go up rapidly, about 37% by the end of this year and more in 2021. Production is expected to be 6 times what it is now by 2025. However, there is a 13 month lag between extraction and when the mineral enters the supply chain. Hydroxide is more energy dense, but is still in the development stage.

 

[Wes]

... there are limits to how much solar and wind can be used.

what are they?

 

[gikigill]

The BMW announcements basically translate to the fact that this is the last of their ICE engines.

Engine lines run for decades so the current breed will comfortably last till 2040 or so. They will be fine tuned and made better but this is it. They'll slowly transform to PHEV overtime.

It's costs billions to develop an engine so they want to run and get back their R&D spending as much as possible.

The Lambo V12 that exited in the Murcielago was developed in the 60s.

The Alfa Busso motor was developed in the 60s and retired in 2000.

The Merc V8s were developed in the 70s and retired in 2015.

 

[Wes]

battery deterioration ...

?? batteries have been lasting about 200k miles

hybrids make sense for most of us tho

You can also expect a huge increase in the numbers & types of EVs available in the next year or two

 

[Lac013]

I've worked for Audi for the last few years and we released the Etron this year but it didn't sell well. Audi is pushing out a whole new line of hybrids this year and next. They want to be 50% electric by 2025. The whole VW diesel scam actually helped them more than it hurt. VW became the largest car manufacturer during that time. The scandal forced there hand to start being innovative with PHEV and HEV for the future.

 

[Ron Texas]

what are they?

I suggest you do your own research with the view of finding the truth. None of this happy stuff with solar, wind and electric cars is market driven. It's a result of regulations. So this thread is dancing around a prohibition on discussing a certain topic. Considering who the OP is, that's real cute.

Please don't reply to this post. I'm sick of this nonsense and people with unrealistic expectations and fears.

 

[SIY]

If I was given a blank cheque to buy any car I'd probably buy an IPace, it may not be the most exotic car or the most expensive to make a statement but it's bland of performance, practicality and comfort along with being clean is pretty much perfect IMO.

If my wife wins the lottery, we'd probably get a newer Hyundai SUV. No excitement, just get me from Point A to Point B.

The big purchase would be a Cessna 172.