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Amusing

The StoreDot battery replaces graphite with semiconductor nanoparticles into which ions can pass more quickly and easily. These nanoparticles are currently based on germanium, which is water soluble and easier to handle in manufacturing. But StoreDot’s plan is to use silicon, which is much cheaper, and it expects these prototypes later this year. Myersdorf said the cost would be the same as existing Li-ion batteries.

If they did use germanium – the best and most common source is the fly ash from coal fired power plants…….

10 thoughts on “Amusing”

  1. “Existing Li-ion batteries use graphite as one electrode, into which the lithium ions are pushed to store charge. But when these are rapidly charged, the ions get congested and can turn into metal and short circuit the battery.”

    Really… Journalists and PR drones… [/facepalm]

  2. I read a similar article somewhere else. My immediate thought was; a cable capable of passing 600kW/h’d be some effin cable. A little different from the caravan connector in that photo. And that cabling’d have to be running right to the electrodes of the battery itself. Have you seen the size of the connectors used in the grid distribution system? And they have the advantage of handling 25kV & up. That W=V.A equation isn’t negotiable.

  3. It’s OK BiS, only certified electricians will handle the cables of death. Think of the jobs generated!

    If that comes up, for once I might agree with them. That’s a shed load of energy transfer.

    Never forget though that EVs are the way of the future. I read that every day. Don’t point out inconvenient facts.

  4. “Are they better?”
    That depends on what you mean by better. Twice the price and one third of the storage of lithium batteries are the downside to having very fast charging.

  5. @ltw
    It’s also what happens if you get an energy excursion. If you can put 50kW/h into a battery in 5 minutes, I’d want a good explanation why; if you can get 50kW/h into a battery in 5 minutes, why you can’t get 50kW/h out in 5 minutes. Or less. A lot less. The fuel tank of a petrol driven car contains about the same energy as one of those 500lb GP bombs Lancs used to scatter over German cities, would make a crater big enough to drop a bus in.. But petrol has the advantage, you can’t get all the energy out in one go. Excursions of electrical energy can produce temperatures up in the plasma realm. See arc welders.

  6. EVs are the future, and they have been since the 1940s. The great batteries that make them so are just 5-10 years away, and also have been since the 1940s.

  7. StoreDot is aiming to deliver 100 miles of charge to a car battery in five minutes in 2025
    (from the article)

    100 miles in an EV is ~30kWh, so that means charging at ~400kW. Let’s assume the charging is 90% efficient (it won’t be), then you’ve got 40kW of waste heat to dispose of somehow. Those batteries are going to get bloody hot.

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