'ArtM72' pid='57312' datel Wrote:FWIW my new Leaf (didn't want to buy a Tesla at today's IOC prices) is an engineering tour de force. While it has its range limitations they appear minor when it's used as a second car and you have a 7 KW level 2 charger in your garage. What I really like is its maintenance schedule which is limited to rotating the tires every 7,500 miles and having a battery health checkup yearly. The Bose sound system and heated steering wheel are pretty nice as well, not to mention the $0.025/mile fuel cost.
Congrats, Art. That's a cent per kilometer, as an American friend would say in these kind of circumstances, the next round is on you!
Heated steering wheel, haha. What will they think off next?
Aiming to completely overhaul the lithium-ion battery industry, MIT-based scientist Yet-Ming Chiang on Monday publicly unveiled his latest startup, called 24M. The company uses a novel battery composition based on a semi-solid material that eliminates much of the bulk of conventional lithium-ion batteries—which are typically made up mostly of inactive, non-energy-storing materials—while dramatically increasing the energy density. Chiang and 24M CEO Throop Wilder also say that they can reduce the time needed to make a battery by 80 percent and the cost by 30 to 50 percent.
Will This Be the Technology to Revolutionize Lithium Batteries? | MIT Technology Review
Last year, the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences demonstrated a flow battery concept in the laboratory that used organic quinone molecules as the basis for its electrolyte. It caused plenty of excitement. The most expensive component of flow systems is often the electrolyte. Many current and prototype systems use elements such as vanadium, which can be both expensive and difficult to source, so a widely available organic alternative has the potential to dramatically reduce costs for flow technology.
Harvard’s Organic Flow Battery Under Development in Europe : Greentech Media
The materials in most of today's residential rooftop solar panels can store energy from the sun for only a few microseconds at a time. A new technology developed by chemists at UCLA is capable of storing solar energy for up to several weeks—an advance that could change the way scientists think about designing solar cells.
Chemists devise technology that could transform solar energy storage
What if smartphones were cheaper and had significantly better battery life? That's the question asked – and answered – by a group of MIT researchers that have developed a revolutionary new lithium ion battery. Dubbed the 24M cell, it’s a more efficient power supply that promises to have five times the storage capacity compared to its conventional counterpart.
Smartphone batteries of the future will last five times longer
According to Chiang, the cost of his batteries will hit $85 (£55) per kWh by 2020. That’s in contrast Tesla’s estimated production costs, which are reported to be around $250 (£160) per kWh.
Smartphone batteries of the future will last five times longer
Samsung has recently made a breakthrough in battery tech that could see its new Galaxy S7 keep running for a full five days on a charge. Samsung's research and development arm recently announced that it had made a breakthrough with current lithium-ion batteries. It has reportedly been able to extend current batteries by double.
Samsung Galaxy S7 could offer weeklong battery life - Pocket-lint
Australia, the sunniest continent, is luring solar battery suppliers from Tesla Motors Inc. to LG Corp. as the global roll out of the technology for home and business power storage gathers pace. At stake is a domestic market that could be worth A$24 billion ($18 billion), according to Morgan Stanley. Australia leads the world in putting solar panels on roofs, and by 2040, about one in two homes are forecast to rely on sun power.
Sunniest Continent Lures Tesla as Solar Battery Race Accelerates - Bloomberg Business
A team of researchers at MIT and Tsinghua University in China have created an electrode made of nanoparticles that could improve cycle life of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
Nanoparticle electrodes offer capacity boost for lithium-ion batteries - Electronics Eetimes
In fact, since Tesla’s announcement barely a week has gone by without news of some new potential breakthrough. Here are eight of the top developments to emerge from labs worldwide over the last quarter.
8 Potential Battery Breakthroughs : Greentech Media
Because specific chemical products produced from CO2 through the ERC process are excellent fuels for the MRFC and other fuel cells, these technologies can be integrated to provide a novel energy storage solution. Due to the intermittent nature of many renewable energy sources (such as solar and wind power), energy storage is seen as the "holy grail" of clean energy. This is because energy is still required when the sun is not shining and the wind not blowing.
Mantra Energy Alternatives | Energy Storage
The key role energy storage will play in the electricity grids of the future -- and the vital importance of investing in and testing the various emerging battery storage technologies -- has been highlighted in a major report published by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency on Monday, which predicts a 40 percent to 60 percent price plunge for certain battery technologies by 2020.
Australian Gov’t Agency: Prepare for a Battery Storage ‘Megashift’ : Greentech Media
Researchers at The Ohio State University are claiming a new milestone for the world’s first solar air battery by reporting a 20 percent energy saving compared with traditional lithium-iodine batteries.
'Aqueous solar flow' battery lasts longer - Electronics Eetimes
Researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a manufacturing technique for platinum nanocages that can help building cheaper, more efficient fuel cells. Being used as catalysers, they increase sevenfold the material efficiency over massive platinum structures.
Breakthrough for really cost-efficient fuel cells in sight? - Electronics Eetimes
Meanwhile investment bank UBS urged investors to sell Tesla Motors shares, saying its share price reflected deliveries of 1.5 million cars in 10 years, which it thought was unrealistic. Other investment banks are cooling on Tesla too. MIT’s Sadoway said battery development has been disappointingly slow, and this will hurt sales of electric cars generally.
Electric Car Prospects Stall, Awaiting Promised Battery Improvements - Forbes
A new drop-in car battery replacement from Ohm Laboratories - called Ohm - is claimed to offer a smarter and lighter car battery for existing gas-engine vehicles. Weighing in at six pounds, compared to about 40 pounds for conventional lead-acid batteries, the Ohm car battery combines electrical double-layer capacitors (ELDCs) - or supercapacitors - along with a small LiFePO4 battery that keeps the supercapacitors charged when the engine is off. Onboard circuitry is included that monitors the battery's potential output, and packaging is about the same size as a standard car battery for drop-in replacement.
Smarter, lighter car battery replaces lead acid types - Electronics Eetimes
Automotive supplier Robert Bosch GmbH has shown an innovative battery technology for electric vehicles that could extend the range of these vehicles by the factor of two. It could be available for series production within five years, the company says. The technology has been acquired through the takeover of US-based start-up company Seeo Inc (Hayward, Calif).
Smart2.0 - Battery technology promises twice the range
Driven by the explosion of residential solar power, the market for home energy storage—which attracted little interest until earlier this year, when Tesla announced its Powerwall battery—is suddenly looking crowded. This week at the Solar Power International show, in Anaheim, a company called SimpliPhi Power is unveiling a lightweight battery system for homes and small businesses that offers a longer life span than other lithium-ion batteries and doesn’t require expensive cooling and ventilation systems. SimpliPhi’s bid comes a few weeks after another energy storage provider, Orison, released its design for a small plug-and-play battery system that, unlike the SimpliPhi and Powerwall options, does not require elaborate installation or permits for a home or small commercial setting.
In Every Dream Home, a Storage System | MIT Technology Review
The 130-page study, originally published last month, expects all battery technologies to drop in price. However, the largest reductions are forecast for Li-ion and flow-battery technologies, which are expected to plummet by 60% and 40%, respectively by 2020. Lithium-ion (Li-on) batteries will drop from $550 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in 2014 to $200 per kWh by 2020; and flow battery prices will drop from $680 per kWh to $350 per kWh during the same time.
As energy push accelerates, battery costs set to plunge 60% | Computerworld
Researchers at MIT and Samsung have developed an approach to battery design using a solid-state - rather than liquid - electrolyte, which could greatly improve battery lifetime and safety, as well as boost power density.
Smart2.0 - Solid-state Li-ion batteries promise safety, longer life
Researchers at MIT and Samsung have developed a solid electrolyte with the aim of improving both device lifetime and safety - while providing a significant boost in the amount of power stored in a given space.
Samsung partners MIT to create longer-lasting solid-state rechargeable batteries - Electronics Eetimes
Microsoft researchers show that batteries that can be more actively managed by software might make our devices last longer.
Smart Batteries Could Make Gadgets and Electric Cars Last Longer | MIT Technology Review
The rise of renewables is made more feasible by increasing opportunities in energy storage. Mr. Robo and NextEra Energy appear to see energy storage as a major growth opportunity in the future. Robo said energy storage is one of “three growth platforms” at the company and that the firm is “starting to make very good progress in our energy storage business.”
Energy Storage Just Got A Massive Vote Of Confidence | OilPrice.com