As a researcher in the area, I've found Li-S batteries to be one of the more obtainable future battery improvements. They have their problems, but none so fundamental that they couldn't be overcome, and the improvement in energy density is pretty great
@@dianapennepacker6854 : Increased fire risk is likely one, and contamination concerns are another very important one. As a foot note, lithium-air would be a fuel cell rather than a battery... which is where the contamination concern comes from. In essence, you need to either have a very reliable filter, or you have a serious risk of contamination altering your chemistry in ways that prevent the system from being restored to it's initial state, thereby causing behavioral problems. This is an important subject, and must be respected by engineers in order to produce a genuinely viable technology.
@@dianapennepacker6854it's one shot nature? I could be wrong but the battery would need to be replaced once it's discharged. Unless I am drastically wrong about lithium air batteries
Just out of curiosity - might it also be possible to replace Lithium with Sodium to get Sodium-Sulphur batteries, which then really don't use any rare elements of the periodic table?
@@JustHaveaThink Have you looked at Silicon Anode batteries? How about a totally new battery architecture that involves stacking 100 small 3mm high cells per mobile battery that is entering production 2024 with mobile customers.......ENOVIX.
@@JustHaveaThinkcan you do a research about cell size standardization benefits? It is so eazy to upgrade a battery when size is the same in all car models and because of that a better price.
Ev manufacturing has become an enabling industry to so many other technologies. As costs plummet and energy density raises so many more applications for batteries are being used. For example a practical e-scooter was not possible when the iphone came out.
We need to be sure the politicians and manufactures don't turn these into dystopian profit and control machines. Already laws proposed to limit speed, remote shutdown, and monitoring. Planned obsolesce is already here. DIY repair is gone.
@@RS-ls7mm Personal EVs are ultimately just harm reduction. The real EV potential is in mass transit. A train can move at least 10x the passengers per hour (20,000+ vs 2,000), when compared with personal vehicles, in a 3.5m corridor. You can fix some of the low density problems by strategically converting parking lots into apartment buildings.
@@jamesphillips2285 "harm reduction". Not sure you understand where the resources for the EVs come from. Most people (mostly westerners) are so insulated from where the resources come from they don't see the tremendous suffering and exploitation. Its only to get much worse as EVs demand 4 times the resources to make (not including infrastructure).
Charging a 100kWh battery in 6 minutes from totally empty to full takes... drumroll... 100kWh of energy. You probably meant some serious *power*, 1MW on average in this case.
@@christopherleubner6633 even if it is possible, I read that New York for example uses 5500 Megawatt on average. That is 5500 fast charging cars at the same time. It would not be impossible since there are 2million cars in New York. So if 0.28% of the cars in New York would fast charge at the same time, it would consume as much energy as the whole city usually does. (my country is a bit confusing cause we say energi at wh/ joule, and effekt for watt, so that is why I write the wrong word :P )
Thank you for the update. By the way I like your style of "follow up every so often". I hope you continue to follow up with battery and energy companies.
Dave, speaking of disruptions, an affordable home storage battery would lead to huge increases in solar and EV adoption as well. Tesla Powerwalls and their primary competitors are still selling for Rolls Royce prices in the US, about $1,100 per kWh installed. Too rich for most people’s pocketbooks! The price of home and small businesses-scale battery storage needs to drop by 75%!
The sooner the price drops for household batteries the better. That way more people are involved. This will reduce the need for generating capacity and make wind and solar more functional.
The U.K. government has, at last, decided to zero rated household storage batteries. A bit on the late side for me as I’ve now 2 power wall batteries but at least it’s a start.
Does home storage really drive solar and EV adoption? I always thought it was mostly the other way 'round. That is, solar and EV are their own value proposition, but the value prop for a home battery is greatly enhanced if you have those other things to use it for.
The amount of time I've spent listening to/watching reports on renewable energy vapourware that eventually comes to nothing is heading into multiple days of attention. However, Dave's reports are usually good value in this respect, with at least a skeptical view of industry boosterism. Thanks.
The energy density and power improvements are great... As long as we can get sufficient life out if them. A 5x energy density improvement is about what we need to make electric small aircraft viable. They would go from a 30-60 min duration to a 2.5-5 hour duration. This gets us from recreational local to regional air travel.
@@danmallery9142 Unfortunately, that's not how batteries work. Their charge rate is always an absolute number, regardless of their size. It's called the "C-rate", with a value of 1C meaning "one charge takes one hour", 2C meaning "two charges take one hour", and so on. The hypothetical battery talked about in the video has a 10C charge rate, so 10 full charges per hour, or one full charge per 6 minutes. This is independent of the size of the battery. A 1 kWh battery will charge in 6 minutes, and a 100 kWh battery will also charge in 6 minutes. The difference is that the latter will accept 100 times the power from the charger in order to pull that off.
@@streetwind. OTOH a bike could have a ridiculously oversized battery, and charge many kilometers of range per second. A waste of money? Yes. Possible? Also yes.
I raised $$ for Zeta when it was called TUBZ 6 years ago. My old Broker Dealer had to drop them after we raise 3mm because of the actions of the CEO. Let's see what progress they can get with this Grant they announced. Certainly not the 160mm in revenue they projected would hit by 2024...oh wait is it 2024 yet? I love the scientists but not management. Like all companies, it's management that makes all the difference.
you are right, this development IS UNSTOPPABLE. what we don't know is, how fast this development goes forward. i suspect, that we don't see huge disruptions coming from a magic battery. it is more likely to see more linear innovation steps at a usual rate. a few percent more energy density and a few percent less cost per kWh every year. that does not sound sexy but it still creates growth and is fine enough for me.
Fully agree with you. Also, in a matter of a few years (I'd say 3-5 years), EVs will become clearly cheaper the ICEv, not just to own, but also to buy.
@@gianluigicassin868 yes. one example from germany: VW Tiguan ICE starts at 37.000€ VW ID.4 EV starts at 43.000€ ==> difference 6.000€ possible cost reductions in the following years: 2024: -1800€ 2025: -1600€ 2026: -1400€ 2027: -1200€ equals -6000€. bingo.
@@gianluigicassin868actually they're hitting parity this year and by next year, maybe the year after, they will start to be a little cheaper than an equivalent ICE car. ICE prices are actually increasing while EV prices are decreasing, but most people looking at the comparison assume ICE prices are staying the same which is why they predict 4 - 5 years before parity. As EV production increases exponentially, prices will come down further due to efficiency of scale. However, the opposite is true for ICE vehicles - falling production as sales switch from ICE to EV will mean prices for ICE will actually start to go higher, faster. The widening gap, plus people seeing the resale value of their gas cars plummet at the same time sticker prices are going up, will result in an unstoppable feedback loop that will quickly result in ICE vehicles simply no longer selling in enough volumes to cover the cost of the factories making them, at which point they'll simply close the money-losing ICE factories.
CATL (largest battery maker in the world) recently said they were going to cut prices in half within a year. If that happens, it would be a BIG change. Battery performance, which is already pretty impressive among the best batteries, will probably be on an evolutionary path, but with the amount of firepower now aimed at battery research, I really can't rule out a revolutionary improvement.
To bad people aren't focusing on lithium air solid state. I don't know why. It is the end all be all of chemistry as far as power density goes. Has to be a reason, but I can't find much. There was a break through last year with it, but that was it. Still didn't compare.
Thanks for another excellent video. As EVs continue to grab market share, the potential revenues for the manufacturers of their batteries are substantial and that is driving huge amounts of investments. I traded in my 2013 Tesla with 315,000km and 85% of battery capacity on the original battery in December. That means that batteries which were already very good for purpose 10 years ago will only get much better and less expensive over the coming years. That is great news for those of us who see the need to rapidly reduce emissions in any way possible.
Re buying used EVs: we need objective tools to assess the health of EV batteries. Buyers of used EVs tend to be lower income and we'd hate them of all people to get screwed.
It makes me wonder if all this technology is interchangeable as modern history indicates not.....whilst I applaud these advances....human intervention has the ability to prolong the introduction of sushi advances......
I bought my first EV last week, and have just spent the last 5 days driving it about 1k miles. Only downside was the huge time spent queuing for chargers- i had to wait a total of 3 minutes for a charger to free up over the whole period... utterly outrageous and clearly, driving long distances is impossible without having to burn gallons of foreign oil.
Great channel. People have no issue with progress. And how I travel. If a battery powered vehicle can offer me what a diesel does. For less than 5k. I'm all in. Of course second hand is what I'm interested in. Longevity. Multiple owners. Long term use. I heard someone say solid state batteries would have allowed a 5min charge. Similar to a petrol station stop. Now.. You may argue 'but you can plan in a stop at a charger' Well. There's the thing. I value my time more than anything else. More of it. Is not guaranteed. And the time I do have. Is a finite resource. I'm in my 40's. I refuse to waste hours sitting in a car waiting to continue on with my journey. And I'm not buying a car that costs the same as a house in North West England so I don't have to charge mid journey. I'm not insane. So seeing battery research and development is great! The future looks bright. Net Zero target dates being met. More chance of winning the lottery without a ticket.
Dude keep doing what you're doing, you have great content, and whether some people like it or not, solar, wind and battery technology is a REALLY big deal and is going to drive economies for decades, so it's also important.
Thanks for this update on a promising technology. I'm retired now but one of the companies I followed as a industry analyst were Oxis Energy in the UK. They were working on LiS battery technology which looked promising and I met some of them at a conference in 2017. Sadly, they went into administration a couple of years ago through lack of funding. In Europe the leading company seems to be Theion Gmbh in Germany. Their approach uses 'crystal structures' to overcome the problems you mention here. Their website points out that sulphur is an industrial bi-product, ironically mostly from refining crude oil..
Great video Dave. You've got your work cut out keeping up with all the progress I think. I'm sure you'll agree its a great situation to be in. All the best.
Thank you another entry in your "Where are they now?" series! It's really interesting to see how these technologies are coming along, and a little hopeful. If one consumes a steady diet of green technology channels it's easy to become a little cynical after a while, when none of the promising technologies seem to make it into everyday life. Your series directly counters that cynicism by showing us what's been happening since the technologies were last featured - both the challenges they're facing and the progress they've made. In this video I really loved your explanation of how lithium sulphur batteries work. To be honest it's been a while since the first video, and I was a bit fuzzy on the details. The way you explained them was just beautiful, with the words and animations working together. I love how you make the complicated details seem simple to us. So I guess there's no definitive answer for sulphur batteries yet. They're still in devlopment. There have been some extraordinary claims made by different firms saying they've solved the expansion and polysulphide shuttle problems, but none of them have been commercially tested yet.
There is a reason nitrogen, sulphur, sulfide, carbon, and nitrogen are regulators of epigenetic quality control and electron transport chain stability. It's about time we paid attention to biology when making batteries.
Thank you for a helpful look at current battery tech. You were spot on with your final comment there as I personally despise electric cars and you forced me to comment on it 😎. But they have their uses and im glad they exist for several reasons, one of them to help push forward battery tech
I've loved your channel since I first discovered it ... umm .. quite a while ago (no idea when) These reviews of technologies you have looked at before are absolutely fantastic! The rate of progress is extremely hopeful and definitely positive in a world where 'doom & gloom' seems the order of the day: I am loving this "2024 Sustainable Technology Review" series. I hope that you look at some of the wonderful - and possibly wacky - ideas of alternatives to battery storage for energy - heavy weights over mineshafts, algae, sand batteries etc
Thanks again, Dave--Good news in research and progress toward saving the planet, and ourselves. BTW, Thank you for continuing your narration at a reasonable pace: Some of my favorite TH-cam sites have allowed the pressures of time and money to lead to such fast-talking that I can't keep up. I do use the close caption option, and yours (or the service you use) is better than most, even better than Hossenfelder and Dowd. Some sites are entertaining just for their absurd close-captioning renditions, but that is ultimately distracting and usually requires me to watch/listen another time.
I feel that the advances are slower overall than giant leaps, so it would be good for you to review the various factors over time that affect renewables. e.g. how has battery density grown from where it was back in 2000 to now, or when did all the different battery technologies first become to production ,etc. Great vid as always. Thanks for the effort you go to.
Another great one. With such energy density, new opportunities would open, not just cars with longer range. Just... It's been announced so many times already, that I am a bit skeptical about revolution and expect more evolution. Not that it's bad, just making the expectations a bit more realistic.
Thing is we might have to ditch long distance cars anyway at some point. Majority of driving happens to be done within very reasonable range of new proposed battery technology.
It will probably be more evolutionary - they'll probably have to make sacrifices to get the longevity needed which will bring down the charging speed and energy density, meaning that at first Li Su batteries will probably only be marginally better than current batteries. It just means a new arc is introduced that extends the theoretical maximum out further than current battery chemistries. Once the maximum for Li Su batteries is starting to be reached, they'll have some new revolution that will extend that arc yet again.
@@Pecisk No, there's no reason that we have to give up long distance cars. We already have that problem solved with electric vehicles; it's done with fast chargers and decent sized batteries. No one is going to buy a car that can't go as far as they need, and there are a lot of parts of the world where people need to drive hundreds of km.
@@Peciskthing is we need to ditch cars entirely. Replacing gas with batteries doesn't solve the underlying problem that it's terribly stupid to use a 2 ton box of polluting metal and rubber to transport one dude and 5kg of groceries
@@person8064 I completely agree that using a car for virtually every trip to the local super market or any other destination within a few km's is wasteful to begin with, especially when driving alone, but to change that you need to have access to better alternatives like (electric) bikes, which means proper infrastructure like bike-lanes, sidewalks and other safe and convenient non-car means of travel. But that doesn't take away the need for people to travel longer distances for work, family or vacation, and the freedom and flexibility of a car is unmatched in that area. So ditching cars entirely...? I'm an optimist but that's just not going to happen I'm afraid... As such, conversion to EV's that will ultimately be cleaner, more efficient, more comfortable, last longer and may even outmatch fossil fuel cars on range at some point is definitely a good strategy IMHO.
Many thanks for your consistency and considerate reporting on these technical topics. Please continue. They are a breath of hope in an world struggling to change.
I bet Lyten has 'discovered' scalable process to cook graphene up in big batches. Not too long back, Thinking an' Tinkering did a vid exploring a peer-reviewed 'countertop' experiment where a kitchen blender was used to process graphite into graphene
Thanks for the update Dave. I’ve learnt not to get too excited about new cell chemistry until the vendor publishes independently verified charge/discharge data and warrants the cycle life & total energy storage capacity. I’m guessing we won’t see this information until the manufacturers are ready for volume production.
I love watching your videos on utube and look forward to meeting you at the everything electric London show on 28 March 2024, I am lucky enough to travel down in Tesla s free energy for life vehicle so will not have pay the money making ulez zone charge. I am interested in seeing the development of the solid state battery so soon better vehicle charging in the future, see you at EE London.
I’m hoping the expanding field of high-density batteries leads to lower prices and more options for electric bikes. EVs are great (I wish I had one), but they are still cars with most of the problems cars bring (low density suburban sprawl, particulate pollution from tires, city planning that prioritizes parking over people, traffic injuries and fatalities, etc.). I would love to use my bike for more errands, but my town has lots of hills and almost no bike lanes. More good, affordable electric bikes would make it much easier to minimize car trips.
Happy Sunday! The last point, about transition from fossil-fuel to electric vehicles...I can't help but think of the number of wars, police actions, what have you, that _may not_ have been waged had we got smart at the first oil embargo when we got our bell rung by the oil-producing states a half century ago. It would be a much different World today had we took notice and started the transition sooner instead of continuing to put money into the hands of despots.
I was told that there were many people who opposed the Gutenberg Press because it was disruptive. There will always be short sighted and narrow minded people who oppose progress.
@@johnlarson111it is. Look what phones have done to our society. It literally is killing us and taking away our freedom. That sure sounds like the devil to me
The historical term is Luddites. Or the British Aristocracy (some of them). These days it's the "American Aristocracy", the families of the 1850's robber barons who are still very rich. And by buying the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) and the Republican Party, they have GUARANTEED that the US will lose this technology race (no matter what Biden does with his IRA). Personally I am quite happy with that; if it weren't for Tesla the US would have no hope of retaining their global dominance through more than another decade (the shortsighted will disagree with me, and that's OK!). I am also eagerly looking forward to the SECOND year of El Nino "heat domes" in the US Sunbelt - can we get 30 straight days above 110F in Phoenix? Will be GREAT for the housing industry (you can't roof in that temperature it will literally KILL you). (Oh wait, US Weather Service: "Temperatures soared to 110+ degrees for a record 31 straight days from June 30 to July 30." Maybe you can go for 60 days?). Still denying climate change? STILL saying it was just "summer"? Please ... MOVE to Phoenix. I sure am glad I didn't take that job in Scottsdale! Or the one in Dallas ... And for you 'Murican "haters", obviously I am wrong ... those two degrees were a waste of time as I clearly didn't learn ANYTHING about Physics or statistics, did I? Your GED is much better! We should know by November (hurricane season FTW).
You've left me with an irresistable urge to tell you that the irresistable urge line, and the types it was directed at, made me laugh like a drain. Well said. Fingers crossed for LiS cells.
Looks like we really changing soon from valley of tears (where are all these fantastic laboratory results and breakthroughs) into the pay off phase at which they can really make a difference and help in the transition. With several different approaches i am very positive that we can still see improvements even after their first launch. So the gambler would say last chance to place your bets.
I so want this idea to work. EV technology is exciting and something everyone has access to via vehicle purchases. There are obvious issues with charging stations needed but the same was true when the IC engine for the new idea of cars driven by gasoline was new. This too will happen. I also understand that the roads were first built for horses and people and not for vehicles so some change in thinking has to happen.
Exactly, and just as the first horseless carriages were despised and mocked by those who lack vision, anything not powered by the 19th century technology internal combustion engine will face similar backlash. Those types of people tend to think stubbornly in terms of what "was" up to and including current issues to be overcome, and embrace these concepts as "will be"... all the while, never opening up their minds enough to see that it is a work in progress and that it has great potential. If these sorts of people had their way, horses would still be the main technology of transportation. They love to put the laughing emoji on posts concerning EVs. I give them a mental laughing emoji as I drive past the gas stations and see them regularly dumping $65 to $95 in their tanks. (I charge every 10 days or so in my garage over night, and since I generate a surplus of solar electric, I don't even have an increase of a utility bill)
Several industries are eagerly awaiting this sort of development, particularly the electrical aircraft manufacturers. The only thing stopping them receiving approval is the combustion fears around current tech. So we can expect a exciting revolution in flight almost immediately.
I really enjoy your channel and how you present the information in a simplistic manner and with self deprecation. A welcome change to the religious zealots that preach about EVs.
Not only cars. Busking with electric instruments. I want my little tube amp for street music. Thats a huge problem for current batteries that makes them too heavy. 🚀🏴☠️🎸
I’m fully supportive of electrification as much as possible. I will however miss the combustion engine in all its variations because that is/was something I could tinker with in my garage to my great satisfaction.
As always Dave, seeing is believing. I'm waiting for the first commercially viable solution that hits the market. But I must admit that Li-S looks very promising indeed. I do hope it also makes cars cheaper because right now they are out of my reach al together. I think it is worth while to wait bit for a better battery solutions to be marketed before buying one for the home f.i. Thanks for this unbiased update Dave.
Always super-excited to learn about the progress of battery technology, especially when companies seem to have found a solution that has X amount the energy density of current Li-Ion batteries and can be mass-produced very soon. However, proof is in the pudding and I very much look forward to the first EV's enter the market with 200 kWh batteries and weight still under 2000 kg. Sure hope that will be the case in 2025 or so...
Hmm, carbon + Sulphur + a metalic salt should make a good bang. So like many just around the corner next great break through in battery technology and chemistry this will join the ranks of 'in the next 5 -10 years'.
Another very interesting video Dave, great to see your work in keeping us informed... Only one not picking point, you showed a virtual demo of an early Eviation Alice electric plane, the later one modified in 2021 had its first flight in September '22... Surely better to use the real thing than an early mock up? Hopefully these developments will give the Eviation Alice a decent shot at making an impact on the aviation industry?
@@JustHaveaThink Battery electric aviation is one of those thorny issues that might be worth exploring? There are already small steps with the Pipistrel battery electric trainer certified and in production as an example of perhaps the most promising development. The Eviation Alice is another promising example that is ... still in the pipeline although there are already quite a few pre orders. Also on the transport side, the Aptera is a more down to earth example of a direction the ground based transportation industry should be looking, worth exploring? We might be some way from a SpaceX battery electric starship though.... Perhaps comments for your Patreon page? ;)
I’m a country boy with a big truck and a bigger tractor. I’ll never be an EV owner but I would love to see the urban transportation industry to be as close to 100% EV as possible… purely for environmental reasons. I know, I’m sounding awful hypocritical, but even if EV technology is only sustainable in urban environments (shorted commutes, smaller lawns, etc.), the reduction in fossil fuel emissions would be massive.
Really interesting to see that this technology is progressing, I remember attending a lecture in the early nineties where a professor once stated that battery technology would never really progress because the US Navy had tried every avenue in battery technology for submarines in the 1960s and that their massive research bugets were collosal compared to the automotive sector, a silly argument of course because technology progresses and at least one tech genius has been born every week since the sixties. I do think the future of transport is 'less is more', some day a passenger car can run a hundred miles on a half liter of veg oil but on current tech this would only be achieved as part of a hybrid vehicle with regen brakes and a scavenging heat pump. As I see it the main problem is the manufacture of these vehicles would be economically unviable, just like a hydrogen fuel cell is, and these things won't happen in the third world at all until all the oil is gone. Pure EVs can't cover the deficit, and although I get the sentiment, the energy used in the manufacture of these vehicles makes a joke of any carbon neutral political fluff, there simply isn't enough renewable electricity globally, forget solar in Manchester! Better idea would be to shift the focus of green politics away from transport and have a good hard focus on agriculture which is twice as bad.
Thanks Dave! One day I hope that the daily deluge of "possibly" game-changing technologies will become articles about actual products that are in use. I'm semi-hopeful.
I remember seeing some info about lithium-sulfur batteries being "within 5 years of mass market adoption" about 2 years ago... Some of the updates from this year make that initial prediction seem more possible.
There's that phrase again, Dave...."could be". I am not 'a glass half empty' person really: chances are, one of these clever developments you inform of us will succeed.
For me EV is either potential rent car, or car I will use to travel to country side because public transport is sporadic there. However, I think reality check will follow at some point regarding how much actually we can grow that market and how useful it is for society. Renting cars is already all the rage and that trend will only grow because of cultural changes in next generations where owning a car is not seen as status symbol or required checkbox anymore.
Renting is so much more expansive than owning. We need a car on daily base, just like 75% of our neighbors, family and friends. We always owned our cars, while it is a lot cheaper in the end.
Energy density vs physical resilience Rarely discussed. When something goes wrong, what happens to all that energy ?? It has to go somewhere…. By all means we should continue to do the research, but when everything to make things go vroom are all in one place, then we have a slight problem when the unintended happens and it goes boom instead. All the stuff to make that happen is in one very tiny place. Anything conventional we burn, requires oxygen which we get from the air. To turn it off, cut the oxygen supply. Works for cars, jets etc. Not so much for rockets where tanks of oxygen are kept along side whatever fuel it combines with… With this technology, when things go wrong, how do you turn it off ???
Indeed. ICE cars aren't the problem - cars are the problem. Going electric will have very little impact on global warming, and certainly won't stop the continuing dependence on cars.
@@MidlifeRenaissanceMan Have you seen what happens to an ICE vehicle when it combusts, it's just as spectacular as an EV fire and usually also results in a destroyed vehicle before it can be put out. Fire fighting techniques for EVs are evolving, but the result will still be the same as with a fire in an ICE vehicle, the veihicle will still ultimately be dstroyed. All sorts of thing catch fire spectactularly, but know one seems to have any focus on those things with concern. BEV vehicles, so far as can be ascertained with limited statistical history, have the lowest relative incidence of fire. Hybrid/electric vehicles have the highest incedence of fire, while ICE vehicles are in between those two vehicle types. Other than the relative degree of difficulty and method of extiguishing an EV fire, the media has recently been all about whipping up a storm in a tea cup about EV fires. I hope you are not buying into that nonsense.
Have you looked into the company called Iontra? It is a USA based company that is significantly improving the way batteries, regardless of chemistry, are charged and improving charge and discharge rates as well as overall cycles life. I'd love to see you make a video on the tech and it's possible implications of the market as a whole.
Nice to hear there's lively competition among those trying to make the next generation of power cells. I don't care who gets there first, so long as the end result is more long-term sustainable than what is currently on the table.
I find my LFP based car to be quite comfortable in range and charge speed. If that was 2x the range and charge speed, that would get very close to my previous gasoline car in range, but I'd basically not have time to do any shopping or toilet runs while charging anymore.. I actually dont know what i'd prefer.. I kinda like the breaks XD
As a researcher in the area, I've found Li-S batteries to be one of the more obtainable future battery improvements. They have their problems, but none so fundamental that they couldn't be overcome, and the improvement in energy density is pretty great
Why aren't people focusing on lithium air when it has the most potential for energy density by a long shot?
@@dianapennepacker6854 Most metal air batteries are not rechargeable. Fixing that problem is very difficult.
@@dianapennepacker6854 : Increased fire risk is likely one, and contamination concerns are another very important one. As a foot note, lithium-air would be a fuel cell rather than a battery... which is where the contamination concern comes from. In essence, you need to either have a very reliable filter, or you have a serious risk of contamination altering your chemistry in ways that prevent the system from being restored to it's initial state, thereby causing behavioral problems. This is an important subject, and must be respected by engineers in order to produce a genuinely viable technology.
@@dianapennepacker6854it's one shot nature? I could be wrong but the battery would need to be replaced once it's discharged. Unless I am drastically wrong about lithium air batteries
Just out of curiosity - might it also be possible to replace Lithium with Sodium to get Sodium-Sulphur batteries, which then really don't use any rare elements of the periodic table?
thank you again for the ungrumpenly reports
on a grumpy world matters.
Very best compliments with you calm and realistic approach.
Especially when what we don't need is more dommerism views, we do need as much hope as we can get people to feel as we keep pushing!
Much appreciated
@@JustHaveaThink Have you looked at Silicon Anode batteries?
How about a totally new battery architecture that involves stacking
100 small 3mm high cells per mobile battery that is entering production
2024 with mobile customers.......ENOVIX.
@@JustHaveaThinkcan you do a research about cell size standardization benefits?
It is so eazy to upgrade a battery when size is the same in all car models and because of that a better price.
Always love your style. Fact based lower wattage and easy to follow commentaries aren't easy to find on TH-cam. Thank you.
I appreciate that!
Ev manufacturing has become an enabling industry to so many other technologies. As costs plummet and energy density raises so many more applications for batteries are being used. For example a practical e-scooter was not possible when the iphone came out.
Picked up from laptop batteries
@@rp9674 Yes laptop and phone batteries are what made practical EV's a possibility in a very similar way.
We need to be sure the politicians and manufactures don't turn these into dystopian profit and control machines. Already laws proposed to limit speed, remote shutdown, and monitoring. Planned obsolesce is already here. DIY repair is gone.
@@RS-ls7mm Personal EVs are ultimately just harm reduction.
The real EV potential is in mass transit. A train can move at least 10x the passengers per hour (20,000+ vs 2,000), when compared with personal vehicles, in a 3.5m corridor.
You can fix some of the low density problems by strategically converting parking lots into apartment buildings.
@@jamesphillips2285 "harm reduction". Not sure you understand where the resources for the EVs come from. Most people (mostly westerners) are so insulated from where the resources come from they don't see the tremendous suffering and exploitation. Its only to get much worse as EVs demand 4 times the resources to make (not including infrastructure).
Charging a 100kwh battery in 6 minutes, that is some serious energy that will flow in those charging cables.
Charging a 100kWh battery in 6 minutes from totally empty to full takes... drumroll... 100kWh of energy.
You probably meant some serious *power*, 1MW on average in this case.
Would not be possible without extreme heat rejection.
The copper thieves are drooling. Copper thieves destroy public EV stations in LA almost as fast as they are repaired. These cables would be enormous.
@@christopherleubner6633 even if it is possible, I read that New York for example uses 5500 Megawatt on average. That is 5500 fast charging cars at the same time. It would not be impossible since there are 2million cars in New York. So if 0.28% of the cars in New York would fast charge at the same time, it would consume as much energy as the whole city usually does. (my country is a bit confusing cause we say energi at wh/ joule, and effekt for watt, so that is why I write the wrong word :P )
Probably it will be a much higher voltage and they will split in many sections
Thank you for the update. By the way I like your style of "follow up every so often". I hope you continue to follow up with battery and energy companies.
Cheers Julius
Dave, speaking of disruptions, an affordable home storage battery would lead to huge increases in solar and EV adoption as well. Tesla Powerwalls and their primary competitors are still selling for Rolls Royce prices in the US, about $1,100 per kWh installed. Too rich for most people’s pocketbooks! The price of home and small businesses-scale battery storage needs to drop by 75%!
Yes - using lead/acid certainly works, but requires a lot of generator in the winter...
The sooner the price drops for household batteries the better. That way more people are involved. This will reduce the need for generating capacity and make wind and solar more functional.
The U.K. government has, at last, decided to zero rated household storage batteries. A bit on the late side for me as I’ve now 2 power wall batteries but at least it’s a start.
Does home storage really drive solar and EV adoption? I always thought it was mostly the other way 'round. That is, solar and EV are their own value proposition, but the value prop for a home battery is greatly enhanced if you have those other things to use it for.
Tesla Powerwalls are a scandalous ripoff. You can buy a car with an 80kwh battery for the price of three Powerwalls.
The amount of time I've spent listening to/watching reports on renewable energy vapourware that eventually comes to nothing is heading into multiple days of attention. However, Dave's reports are usually good value in this respect, with at least a skeptical view of industry boosterism. Thanks.
Thank you!
Your videos are so helpful in understanding the new battery technologies. Thank you so much for keeping us informed.
Thank you. Glad you like them!
The energy density and power improvements are great...
As long as we can get sufficient life out if them.
A 5x energy density improvement is about what we need to make electric small aircraft viable.
They would go from a 30-60 min duration to a 2.5-5 hour duration. This gets us from recreational local to regional air travel.
Can't wait for the bicycle battery version!
I was thinking the same thing. Imagine an electric bike pulling up to a charging designed for electric cars and recharging its battery in 6 minutes.
@@ab-tf5fl and going another 100km with half the size of the batteries now.
@@ab-tf5fl Even better, 6 minute charging was for a car. A bike sized battery would probably take 20 seconds.
@@danmallery9142 Unfortunately, that's not how batteries work. Their charge rate is always an absolute number, regardless of their size. It's called the "C-rate", with a value of 1C meaning "one charge takes one hour", 2C meaning "two charges take one hour", and so on.
The hypothetical battery talked about in the video has a 10C charge rate, so 10 full charges per hour, or one full charge per 6 minutes. This is independent of the size of the battery. A 1 kWh battery will charge in 6 minutes, and a 100 kWh battery will also charge in 6 minutes. The difference is that the latter will accept 100 times the power from the charger in order to pull that off.
@@streetwind. OTOH a bike could have a ridiculously oversized battery, and charge many kilometers of range per second.
A waste of money? Yes.
Possible? Also yes.
My irresistible urge is to tell you to keep up the great work! You are one of the best!
I raised $$ for Zeta when it was called TUBZ 6 years ago. My old Broker Dealer had to drop them after we raise 3mm because of the actions of the CEO. Let's see what progress they can get with this Grant they announced. Certainly not the 160mm in revenue they projected would hit by 2024...oh wait is it 2024 yet? I love the scientists but not management. Like all companies, it's management that makes all the difference.
you are right, this development IS UNSTOPPABLE. what we don't know is, how fast this development goes forward. i suspect, that we don't see huge disruptions coming from a magic battery. it is more likely to see more linear innovation steps at a usual rate. a few percent more energy density and a few percent less cost per kWh every year. that does not sound sexy but it still creates growth and is fine enough for me.
Fully agree with you. Also, in a matter of a few years (I'd say 3-5 years), EVs will become clearly cheaper the ICEv, not just to own, but also to buy.
@@gianluigicassin868 yes.
one example from germany:
VW Tiguan ICE starts at 37.000€
VW ID.4 EV starts at 43.000€
==> difference 6.000€
possible cost reductions in the following years:
2024: -1800€
2025: -1600€
2026: -1400€
2027: -1200€
equals -6000€. bingo.
@@gianluigicassin868actually they're hitting parity this year and by next year, maybe the year after, they will start to be a little cheaper than an equivalent ICE car. ICE prices are actually increasing while EV prices are decreasing, but most people looking at the comparison assume ICE prices are staying the same which is why they predict 4 - 5 years before parity. As EV production increases exponentially, prices will come down further due to efficiency of scale. However, the opposite is true for ICE vehicles - falling production as sales switch from ICE to EV will mean prices for ICE will actually start to go higher, faster. The widening gap, plus people seeing the resale value of their gas cars plummet at the same time sticker prices are going up, will result in an unstoppable feedback loop that will quickly result in ICE vehicles simply no longer selling in enough volumes to cover the cost of the factories making them, at which point they'll simply close the money-losing ICE factories.
CATL (largest battery maker in the world) recently said they were going to cut prices in half within a year. If that happens, it would be a BIG change. Battery performance, which is already pretty impressive among the best batteries, will probably be on an evolutionary path, but with the amount of firepower now aimed at battery research, I really can't rule out a revolutionary improvement.
To bad people aren't focusing on lithium air solid state. I don't know why. It is the end all be all of chemistry as far as power density goes.
Has to be a reason, but I can't find much. There was a break through last year with it, but that was it. Still didn't compare.
Another great video - Thanks!
Thanks for your support Tim. Much appreciated.
Thanks for another excellent video. As EVs continue to grab market share, the potential revenues for the manufacturers of their batteries are substantial and that is driving huge amounts of investments. I traded in my 2013 Tesla with 315,000km and 85% of battery capacity on the original battery in December. That means that batteries which were already very good for purpose 10 years ago will only get much better and less expensive over the coming years. That is great news for those of us who see the need to rapidly reduce emissions in any way possible.
😂😂
Re buying used EVs: we need objective tools to assess the health of EV batteries. Buyers of used EVs tend to be lower income and we'd hate them of all people to get screwed.
It is a great business idea. Make a service/device that can do this for a low price.@@mv80401
That's a great battery outcome. Did you use super chargers much?
It makes me wonder if all this technology is interchangeable as modern history indicates not.....whilst I applaud these advances....human intervention has the ability to prolong the introduction of sushi advances......
I bought my first EV last week, and have just spent the last 5 days driving it about 1k miles. Only downside was the huge time spent queuing for chargers- i had to wait a total of 3 minutes for a charger to free up over the whole period... utterly outrageous and clearly, driving long distances is impossible without having to burn gallons of foreign oil.
Thanks Dave. Your weekly glimmers of Sunlight amid the global warming gloom are very welcome!
Thanks for all the battery news!
Great channel. People have no issue with progress. And how I travel. If a battery powered vehicle can offer me what a diesel does. For less than 5k. I'm all in. Of course second hand is what I'm interested in. Longevity. Multiple owners. Long term use. I heard someone say solid state batteries would have allowed a 5min charge. Similar to a petrol station stop.
Now..
You may argue 'but you can plan in a stop at a charger' Well. There's the thing. I value my time more than anything else. More of it. Is not guaranteed. And the time I do have. Is a finite resource. I'm in my 40's. I refuse to waste hours sitting in a car waiting to continue on with my journey. And I'm not buying a car that costs the same as a house in North West England so I don't have to charge mid journey. I'm not insane.
So seeing battery research and development is great! The future looks bright.
Net Zero target dates being met. More chance of winning the lottery without a ticket.
Dude keep doing what you're doing, you have great content, and whether some people like it or not, solar, wind and battery technology is a REALLY big deal and is going to drive economies for decades, so it's also important.
Thanks for this update on a promising technology. I'm retired now but one of the companies I followed as a industry analyst were Oxis Energy in the UK. They were working on LiS battery technology which looked promising and I met some of them at a conference in 2017. Sadly, they went into administration a couple of years ago through lack of funding. In Europe the leading company seems to be Theion Gmbh in Germany. Their approach uses 'crystal structures' to overcome the problems you mention here. Their website points out that sulphur is an industrial bi-product, ironically mostly from refining crude oil..
Good on ya, Dave.
Thanks for another very interesting and informative review of battery technology developments.
Great video Dave. You've got your work cut out keeping up with all the progress I think. I'm sure you'll agree its a great situation to be in. All the best.
Thanks Jim 👍
Thank you another entry in your "Where are they now?" series! It's really interesting to see how these technologies are coming along, and a little hopeful. If one consumes a steady diet of green technology channels it's easy to become a little cynical after a while, when none of the promising technologies seem to make it into everyday life. Your series directly counters that cynicism by showing us what's been happening since the technologies were last featured - both the challenges they're facing and the progress they've made.
In this video I really loved your explanation of how lithium sulphur batteries work. To be honest it's been a while since the first video, and I was a bit fuzzy on the details. The way you explained them was just beautiful, with the words and animations working together. I love how you make the complicated details seem simple to us.
So I guess there's no definitive answer for sulphur batteries yet. They're still in devlopment. There have been some extraordinary claims made by different firms saying they've solved the expansion and polysulphide shuttle problems, but none of them have been commercially tested yet.
Thanks for your very kind feedback Kevin. Much appreciated :-)
Excellent channel - subscribed! Thx for making these vids which expand our knowledge of what can be achieved in the future.
There is a reason nitrogen, sulphur, sulfide, carbon, and nitrogen are regulators of epigenetic quality control and electron transport chain stability.
It's about time we paid attention to biology when making batteries.
Thank you for a helpful look at current battery tech. You were spot on with your final comment there as I personally despise electric cars and you forced me to comment on it 😎. But they have their uses and im glad they exist for several reasons, one of them to help push forward battery tech
This series is my fav rn on TH-cam
Cheers Kevin. Much appreciated :-)
I've loved your channel since I first discovered it ... umm .. quite a while ago (no idea when) These reviews of technologies you have looked at before are absolutely fantastic! The rate of progress is extremely hopeful and definitely positive in a world where 'doom & gloom' seems the order of the day: I am loving this "2024 Sustainable Technology Review" series.
I hope that you look at some of the wonderful - and possibly wacky - ideas of alternatives to battery storage for energy - heavy weights over mineshafts, algae, sand batteries etc
Thanks again, Dave--Good news in research and progress toward saving the planet, and ourselves. BTW, Thank you for continuing your narration at a reasonable pace: Some of my favorite TH-cam sites have allowed the pressures of time and money to lead to such fast-talking that I can't keep up. I do use the close caption option, and yours (or the service you use) is better than most, even better than Hossenfelder and Dowd. Some sites are entertaining just for their absurd close-captioning renditions, but that is ultimately distracting and usually requires me to watch/listen another time.
Yet another video offering a wonderful promise.
I'm not holding my dreath until it's rolled out in mass and has been running for a few years.
Absolutely fantastic , some positive progress on the get rid of oil and gas conundrum .
Thanks for your information on the latest battery technology and all you do. Not to mention a comfortable delivery!
Cheers Roger.
Great content Dave, and thanks for all the good energy you put into this channel!
Facts and analysis delivered in an approachable way, as always. Thanks so much for the hard work, Dave!
Thanks for all you do Dave! ❤ no Sunday without having a think 😉
Cheers Max.
Really interesting. Thank you for your excellent review of advances in various battery technologies.
Good update on what may be the 'next big thing' in batteries.
i've heard of sodium-sulfur batteries (that was DECADES ago) but lithium-sulfur is new to me.
Always relevant, always on-topic and always very informative. Thank you.
I feel that the advances are slower overall than giant leaps, so it would be good for you to review the various factors over time that affect renewables. e.g. how has battery density grown from where it was back in 2000 to now, or when did all the different battery technologies first become to production ,etc. Great vid as always. Thanks for the effort you go to.
Great video as always. Hopefullt Anything of all this magic battery technologies come thru... 🙂
Another great one. With such energy density, new opportunities would open, not just cars with longer range. Just... It's been announced so many times already, that I am a bit skeptical about revolution and expect more evolution. Not that it's bad, just making the expectations a bit more realistic.
Thing is we might have to ditch long distance cars anyway at some point. Majority of driving happens to be done within very reasonable range of new proposed battery technology.
It will probably be more evolutionary - they'll probably have to make sacrifices to get the longevity needed which will bring down the charging speed and energy density, meaning that at first Li Su batteries will probably only be marginally better than current batteries. It just means a new arc is introduced that extends the theoretical maximum out further than current battery chemistries. Once the maximum for Li Su batteries is starting to be reached, they'll have some new revolution that will extend that arc yet again.
@@Pecisk No, there's no reason that we have to give up long distance cars. We already have that problem solved with electric vehicles; it's done with fast chargers and decent sized batteries. No one is going to buy a car that can't go as far as they need, and there are a lot of parts of the world where people need to drive hundreds of km.
@@Peciskthing is we need to ditch cars entirely. Replacing gas with batteries doesn't solve the underlying problem that it's terribly stupid to use a 2 ton box of polluting metal and rubber to transport one dude and 5kg of groceries
@@person8064 I completely agree that using a car for virtually every trip to the local super market or any other destination within a few km's is wasteful to begin with, especially when driving alone, but to change that you need to have access to better alternatives like (electric) bikes, which means proper infrastructure like bike-lanes, sidewalks and other safe and convenient non-car means of travel. But that doesn't take away the need for people to travel longer distances for work, family or vacation, and the freedom and flexibility of a car is unmatched in that area. So ditching cars entirely...? I'm an optimist but that's just not going to happen I'm afraid... As such, conversion to EV's that will ultimately be cleaner, more efficient, more comfortable, last longer and may even outmatch fossil fuel cars on range at some point is definitely a good strategy IMHO.
I appreciate you work.
Thank you for the commentary.
Our pleasure!
Many thanks for your consistency and considerate reporting on these technical topics. Please continue. They are a breath of hope in an world struggling to change.
Very interesting presentation. I have been hanging my hat on LFP batteries. Cheers
Great video. There's article on Australian water battery with nano anode/cathodes this week. Keep reading aluminum salt sulfur too.
Thanks for the update. 🙏
you had me @ExpansionTolerance , i convulsively clutched at My Wallet.
I bet Lyten has 'discovered' scalable process to cook graphene up in big batches. Not too long back, Thinking an' Tinkering did a vid exploring a peer-reviewed 'countertop' experiment where a kitchen blender was used to process graphite into graphene
Pencil lead sounds so less sexier than graphene nano tubes.
Thanks for the update Dave.
I’ve learnt not to get too excited about new cell chemistry until the vendor publishes independently verified charge/discharge data and warrants the cycle life & total energy storage capacity. I’m guessing we won’t see this information until the manufacturers are ready for volume production.
Totally agree
Thanks for the terrifically presented information. There is hope!
Oh, I am with you on that.
Anything that moves us away from CARBON
I love watching your videos on utube and look forward to meeting you at the everything electric London show on 28 March 2024, I am lucky enough to travel down in Tesla s free energy for life vehicle so will not have pay the money making ulez zone charge. I am interested in seeing the development of the solid state battery so soon better vehicle charging in the future, see you at EE London.
I like the reality on this Channel. I can even understand what is being said. Great reporting.thanks
Excellent report on critical technology. Bravo, monsieur! 🎉😊
Thank you :-)
I’m hoping the expanding field of high-density batteries leads to lower prices and more options for electric bikes. EVs are great (I wish I had one), but they are still cars with most of the problems cars bring (low density suburban sprawl, particulate pollution from tires, city planning that prioritizes parking over people, traffic injuries and fatalities, etc.). I would love to use my bike for more errands, but my town has lots of hills and almost no bike lanes. More good, affordable electric bikes would make it much easier to minimize car trips.
Happy Sunday! The last point, about transition from fossil-fuel to electric vehicles...I can't help but think of the number of wars, police actions, what have you, that _may not_ have been waged had we got smart at the first oil embargo when we got our bell rung by the oil-producing states a half century ago. It would be a much different World today had we took notice and started the transition sooner instead of continuing to put money into the hands of despots.
I was told that there were many people who opposed the Gutenberg Press because it was disruptive. There will always be short sighted and narrow minded people who oppose progress.
there were people in America that thought the telephone and electricity were tools of the devil..
@@johnlarson111it is. Look what phones have done to our society. It literally is killing us and taking away our freedom. That sure sounds like the devil to me
@@johnlarson111dont forget the fossil-fuel addicted masses who think they have a right to drive wherever, whenever they want.
The historical term is Luddites. Or the British Aristocracy (some of them).
These days it's the "American Aristocracy", the families of the 1850's robber barons who are still very rich. And by buying the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) and the Republican Party, they have GUARANTEED that the US will lose this technology race (no matter what Biden does with his IRA).
Personally I am quite happy with that; if it weren't for Tesla the US would have no hope of retaining their global dominance through more than another decade (the shortsighted will disagree with me, and that's OK!).
I am also eagerly looking forward to the SECOND year of El Nino "heat domes" in the US Sunbelt - can we get 30 straight days above 110F in Phoenix? Will be GREAT for the housing industry (you can't roof in that temperature it will literally KILL you). (Oh wait, US Weather Service: "Temperatures soared to 110+ degrees for a record 31 straight days from June 30 to July 30." Maybe you can go for 60 days?). Still denying climate change? STILL saying it was just "summer"? Please ... MOVE to Phoenix. I sure am glad I didn't take that job in Scottsdale! Or the one in Dallas ...
And for you 'Murican "haters", obviously I am wrong ... those two degrees were a waste of time as I clearly didn't learn ANYTHING about Physics or statistics, did I? Your GED is much better! We should know by November (hurricane season FTW).
@@johnlarson111given the state of social media (a combination of telephone and electricity)can you honestly argue they were wrong 🤔
You've left me with an irresistable urge to tell you that the irresistable urge line, and the types it was directed at, made me laugh like a drain. Well said. Fingers crossed for LiS cells.
Another excellent video. Thanks.
Looks like we really changing soon from valley of tears (where are all these fantastic laboratory results and breakthroughs) into the pay off phase at which they can really make a difference and help in the transition. With several different approaches i am very positive that we can still see improvements even after their first launch. So the gambler would say last chance to place your bets.
looks promising, fingers crossed. thanks.
Great video, as usual. Thank you for your excellent work.
Keep up the good work!
I so want this idea to work. EV technology is exciting and something everyone has access to via vehicle purchases. There are obvious issues with charging stations needed but the same was true when the IC engine for the new idea of cars driven by gasoline was new. This too will happen. I also understand that the roads were first built for horses and people and not for vehicles so some change in thinking has to happen.
Exactly, and just as the first horseless carriages were despised and mocked by those who lack vision, anything not powered by the 19th century technology internal combustion engine will face similar backlash. Those types of people tend to think stubbornly in terms of what "was" up to and including current issues to be overcome, and embrace these concepts as "will be"... all the while, never opening up their minds enough to see that it is a work in progress and that it has great potential. If these sorts of people had their way, horses would still be the main technology of transportation. They love to put the laughing emoji on posts concerning EVs. I give them a mental laughing emoji as I drive past the gas stations and see them regularly dumping $65 to $95 in their tanks. (I charge every 10 days or so in my garage over night, and since I generate a surplus of solar electric, I don't even have an increase of a utility bill)
This sounds very encouraging
Several industries are eagerly awaiting this sort of development, particularly the electrical aircraft manufacturers. The only thing stopping them receiving approval is the combustion fears around current tech. So we can expect a exciting revolution in flight almost immediately.
Thank you
You're welcome :-)
I really enjoy your channel and how you present the information in a simplistic manner and with self deprecation. A welcome change to the religious zealots that preach about EVs.
I find your posts very informative and encouraging to we who are concerned about fossil fuel use. Many thanks for them. 👏👏👏
Love your videos. Thanks.
Glad you like them!
Not only cars. Busking with electric instruments. I want my little tube amp for street music. Thats a huge problem for current batteries that makes them too heavy.
🚀🏴☠️🎸
I have not realized that Lithium-Sulfur batteries were seemingly so close to successful commercialization. Thanks for the update!
Thank you!
I’m fully supportive of electrification as much as possible. I will however miss the combustion engine in all its variations because that is/was something I could tinker with in my garage to my great satisfaction.
As always Dave, seeing is believing. I'm waiting for the first commercially viable solution that hits the market. But I must admit that Li-S looks very promising indeed. I do hope it also makes cars cheaper because right now they are out of my reach al together. I think it is worth while to wait bit for a better battery solutions to be marketed before buying one for the home f.i. Thanks for this unbiased update Dave.
The motor vehicle manufacturer BYD has their own battery system called a Blade Battery which looks promising.
Great presentation.
Always super-excited to learn about the progress of battery technology, especially when companies seem to have found a solution that has X amount the energy density of current Li-Ion batteries and can be mass-produced very soon. However, proof is in the pudding and I very much look forward to the first EV's enter the market with 200 kWh batteries and weight still under 2000 kg. Sure hope that will be the case in 2025 or so...
Hmm, carbon + Sulphur + a metalic salt should make a good bang.
So like many just around the corner next great break through in battery technology and chemistry this will join the ranks of 'in the next 5 -10 years'.
Another very interesting video Dave, great to see your work in keeping us informed...
Only one not picking point, you showed a virtual demo of an early Eviation Alice electric plane, the later one modified in 2021 had its first flight in September '22... Surely better to use the real thing than an early mock up? Hopefully these developments will give the Eviation Alice a decent shot at making an impact on the aviation industry?
Good point Peter. I had not spotted the footage that you mentioned.
@@JustHaveaThink Battery electric aviation is one of those thorny issues that might be worth exploring? There are already small steps with the Pipistrel battery electric trainer certified and in production as an example of perhaps the most promising development. The Eviation Alice is another promising example that is ... still in the pipeline although there are already quite a few pre orders. Also on the transport side, the Aptera is a more down to earth example of a direction the ground based transportation industry should be looking, worth exploring?
We might be some way from a SpaceX battery electric starship though....
Perhaps comments for your Patreon page? ;)
[The Poly Sulfide Shuffle was introduced by MIT students at a mixer during a physics conference at Cambridge in 1957.]
Many Thanks..... That certain would help!
I’m a country boy with a big truck and a bigger tractor. I’ll never be an EV owner but I would love to see the urban transportation industry to be as close to 100% EV as possible… purely for environmental reasons.
I know, I’m sounding awful hypocritical, but even if EV technology is only sustainable in urban environments (shorted commutes, smaller lawns, etc.), the reduction in fossil fuel emissions would be massive.
Here's to hoping. You ever hear of the EESU project? I'd high hopes at the time, but all seems quiet now.
Thanks a lot for these updates. Definitely good news. :)
Really interesting to see that this technology is progressing, I remember attending a lecture in the early nineties where a professor once stated that battery technology would never really progress because the US Navy had tried every avenue in battery technology for submarines in the 1960s and that their massive research bugets were collosal compared to the automotive sector, a silly argument of course because technology progresses and at least one tech genius has been born every week since the sixties. I do think the future of transport is 'less is more', some day a passenger car can run a hundred miles on a half liter of veg oil but on current tech this would only be achieved as part of a hybrid vehicle with regen brakes and a scavenging heat pump. As I see it the main problem is the manufacture of these vehicles would be economically unviable, just like a hydrogen fuel cell is, and these things won't happen in the third world at all until all the oil is gone. Pure EVs can't cover the deficit, and although I get the sentiment, the energy used in the manufacture of these vehicles makes a joke of any carbon neutral political fluff, there simply isn't enough renewable electricity globally, forget solar in Manchester! Better idea would be to shift the focus of green politics away from transport and have a good hard focus on agriculture which is twice as bad.
Thanks Dave! One day I hope that the daily deluge of "possibly" game-changing technologies will become articles about actual products that are in use. I'm semi-hopeful.
Thank you a lot for another nicely made, funny and interesting presented video ❤️♥️👍👍👍
Glad you enjoyed it
I remember seeing some info about lithium-sulfur batteries being "within 5 years of mass market adoption" about 2 years ago... Some of the updates from this year make that initial prediction seem more possible.
Thanks for another great video ❤
There's that phrase again, Dave...."could be". I am not 'a glass half empty' person really: chances are, one of these clever developments you inform of us will succeed.
For me EV is either potential rent car, or car I will use to travel to country side because public transport is sporadic there. However, I think reality check will follow at some point regarding how much actually we can grow that market and how useful it is for society. Renting cars is already all the rage and that trend will only grow because of cultural changes in next generations where owning a car is not seen as status symbol or required checkbox anymore.
Renting is so much more expansive than owning. We need a car on daily base, just like 75% of our neighbors, family and friends.
We always owned our cars, while it is a lot cheaper in the end.
Energy density vs physical resilience
Rarely discussed.
When something goes wrong, what happens to all that energy ?? It has to go somewhere….
By all means we should continue to do the research, but when everything to make things go vroom are all in one place, then we have a slight problem when the unintended happens and it goes boom instead. All the stuff to make that happen is in one very tiny place.
Anything conventional we burn, requires oxygen which we get from the air. To turn it off, cut the oxygen supply. Works for cars, jets etc. Not so much for rockets where tanks of oxygen are kept along side whatever fuel it combines with…
With this technology, when things go wrong, how do you turn it off ???
Renting is all the rage? LoL, I don't know where you live, but that isn't true in any place I know.
Indeed. ICE cars aren't the problem - cars are the problem. Going electric will have very little impact on global warming, and certainly won't stop the continuing dependence on cars.
@@MidlifeRenaissanceMan Have you seen what happens to an ICE vehicle when it combusts, it's just as spectacular as an EV fire and usually also results in a destroyed vehicle before it can be put out. Fire fighting techniques for EVs are evolving, but the result will still be the same as with a fire in an ICE vehicle, the veihicle will still ultimately be dstroyed.
All sorts of thing catch fire spectactularly, but know one seems to have any focus on those things with concern. BEV vehicles, so far as can be ascertained with limited statistical history, have the lowest relative incidence of fire. Hybrid/electric vehicles have the highest incedence of fire, while ICE vehicles are in between those two vehicle types.
Other than the relative degree of difficulty and method of extiguishing an EV fire, the media has recently been all about whipping up a storm in a tea cup about EV fires. I hope you are not buying into that nonsense.
First up if successful might be bicycles then scooters? Fine and clear video I much appreciate.
Have you looked into the company called Iontra? It is a USA based company that is significantly improving the way batteries, regardless of chemistry, are charged and improving charge and discharge rates as well as overall cycles life. I'd love to see you make a video on the tech and it's possible implications of the market as a whole.
Thanks Tim. I will look them up.
Great vid, as always.
Nice to hear there's lively competition among those trying to make the next generation of power cells. I don't care who gets there first, so long as the end result is more long-term sustainable than what is currently on the table.
I find my LFP based car to be quite comfortable in range and charge speed. If that was 2x the range and charge speed, that would get very close to my previous gasoline car in range, but I'd basically not have time to do any shopping or toilet runs while charging anymore.. I actually dont know what i'd prefer.. I kinda like the breaks XD