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High Energy Density Lithium Sulphur Battery Development

SIY

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However, my colleagues and I have engineered a new design for these batteries which allows them to be charged and discharged hundreds of times without breaking down. We hope to have a commercial product ready in the next 2–4 years...

We hope to have a commercial product ready in the next 2–4 years. We are working with industry partners to scale up the breakthrough, and looking toward developing a manufacturing line for commercial-level production.

Translation: "We're trying to raise money."
 

Blumlein 88

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If one in five of these battery breakthroughs made it out of the lab in just the last 10 years we'd already have Tesla's with 1000 mile range using batteries so small and/or inexpensive the price of a model 3 could be slashed $20,000. PLUS: everyone would have a solar panel over their garage for cheap which could supply all the needed power for their car due to solar power advances.
 

Wes

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Translation: "We're trying to raise money."

more likely is that they already got grant or contract money -- this is the result of their research
 

MediumRare

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If one in five of these battery breakthroughs made it out of the lab in just the last 10 years we'd already have Tesla's with 1000 mile range using batteries so small and/or inexpensive the price of a model 3 could be slashed $20,000. PLUS: everyone would have a solar panel over their garage for cheap which could supply all the needed power for their car due to solar power advances.
Actually, the cost reductions in batteries in the past five years have been amazing. You will see a very rapid switch to electric cars and commercial vehicles under 20,000 lbs. in the next two to three years - although the range will be about 275 miles for the mid-market. I'm told by people in my company that the next generation of batteries will come to market in two years; in vehicles in three to four years. Regarding solar, I just got a quote for solar on my house in Chicago. Without subsides - and with Chicago's very cheap electricity - there is a 7% IRR. With the available subsidies the IRR is 21%. Every new house that isn't behind a high-rise should be built with solar on it now.
 
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mhardy6647

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We make all of our own juice here about 8 or 9 months out of the year (on net metering, not off grid).

DSC_1532 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

Mrs. H and I both suffer from too much range anxiety to own a pure-play electric vehicle, though -- although she did have a hybrid (which she loved) for many years.
 

Ron Texas

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BMW just announced they are discontinuing V12's the quad turbo I6 diesel and 3 cylinder 1.5 L diesel. They also indicated they would be manufacturing diesel engines for at least 20 years and petrol for 30 years. The world is changing, but not as fast as some would like. Improved battery technology is nice, but electricity has to come from somewhere and there are limits to how much solar and wind can be used.
 

pozz

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Friend of mine is doing work on repurposing batteries of hybrid vehicles once they've been depleted.
 

Ron Texas

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Friend of mine is doing work on repurposing batteries of hybrid vehicles once they've been depleted.
I hate to throw anything out. Likely these batteries can be used for stationary storage after they are no longer useful for motor vehicles. On my street two houses were just built with reclaimed brick. The masons did a great job, tons of new brick did not have to be baked and old stuff stayed out of the landfill. No subsidies were required.
 

pozz

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I hate to throw anything out. Likely these batteries can be used for stationary storage after they are no longer useful for motor vehicles. On my street two houses were just built with reclaimed brick. The masons did a great job, tons of new brick did not have to be baked and old stuff stayed out of the landfill. No subsidies were required.
I'll have to ask him again what applications he found. He's an EE by trade.
 

Blumlein 88

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Actually, the cost reductions in batteries in the past five years have been amazing. You will see a very rapid switch to electric cars and commercial vehicles under 20,000 lbs. in the next two to three years - although the range will be about 275 miles for the mid-market. I'm told by people in my company that the next generation of batteries will come to market in two years; in vehicles in three to four years. Regarding solar, I just got a quote for solar on my house in Chicago. Without subsides - and with Chicago's very cheap electricity - there is a 7% IRR. With the available subsidies the IRR is 21%. Every new house that isn't behind a high-rise should be build with solar on it now.
Yes, and I expect it to continue. I however detest these regular "breakthroughs" which probably don't even make it to market 5% of the time. I don't detest them actually, and they are the price of finding what works. I detest the reporting as if it is a done deal, and things are about to improve dramatically right away. They've been at this kind of reporting ever since I can remember.
 

MediumRare

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electricity has to come from somewhere and there are limits to how much solar and wind can be used.
What do you think the limit is?

On a related note, interesting to note that in the UK coal dropped from over 40% of electricity in 2012 to 2% in 2019. Change can happen faster than we might expect.
 

Doodski

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What do you think the limit is?

On a related note, interesting to note that in the UK coal dropped from over 40% of electricity in 2012 to 2% in 2019. Change can happen faster than we might expect.
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.
 

pozz

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Ron Texas

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What do you think the limit is?

On a related note, interesting to note that in the UK coal dropped from over 40% of electricity in 2012 to 2% in 2019. Change can happen faster than we might expect.

Wind turbines require 1,000 times more land than a nuclear power station, about 500 more times than natural gas. Offshore turbines have proven too expensive to be useful. There has been a huge decrease in coal use in the USA due to the availability of cheap natural gas. This switch was accomplished entirely by market forces. What I don't want is to see trillions more spent on subsidies while electricity prices triple. So far $3.5 trillion has been spent on subsidies for wind and solar with the result being about 2% of the world's power portfolio converted. It doesn't take long to run out of money. Power prices in Germany are 3 times the US average due to renewable subsidies.
 

SIY

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Yes, and I expect it to continue. I however detest these regular "breakthroughs" which probably don't even make it to market 5% of the time. I don't detest them actually, and they are the price of finding what works. I detest the reporting as if it is a done deal, and things are about to improve dramatically right away. They've been at this kind of reporting ever since I can remember.

My skepticism in this regard comes from having been part of the massive huge world-changing plastic battery breakthroughs in the late '70s and early '80s. "The battery technology of the future and always will be."
 

MediumRare

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Wind turbines require 1,000 times more land than a nuclear power station, about 500 more times than natural gas.
Ah, but we have plenty of land. Look at wind power in Iowa, Indiana, Texas,for example.

This switch was accomplished entirely by market forces. What I don't want is to see trillions more spent on subsidies while electricity prices triple.
Agreed, but that is a political question totally separate from the science of what is and will be possible. Regarding that figure, where did it come from? Seems high by a few orders of magnitude. https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/03/16/how-much-do-renewables-actually-depend-on-tax-breaks/
 

DDF

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I'll have to ask him again what applications he found. He's an EE by trade.

Watched a documentary touching on reuse in farm applications, where the reduced capacity and voltage weren't critical to the machine operation and the extensive outbuilding roof area free from obstruction readily supported solar panels.
 
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