I’ve been reading about various breakthroughs in battery world for past decade or so. So far none ended up in a consumer product.
I’ve been reading about battery breakthroughs for decades. And I remember when the latest in battery tech was alkaline, then Ni-Cd, then Li-Ion, and now LiPo. All of those have ended up in consumer products.
You skipped Ni-MH there, that was major for not having the memory problems of Ni-Cd. We still use those in AA and AAA rechargeable batteries.
Ni-MH production for EVs was effectively shutdown by Texaco and later Chevron through patent acquisitions.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_encumbrance_of_large_automotive_NiMH_batteries
Holy shit. I had no idea.
Chevron is pretty fucking evil for a lot of reasons, but we’ll add this one to the pile, I guess.
A little pedantic note, LiPo is still a type of Li-Ion (maybe I got that right)
and the bigger recent breakthrough was LFP (Lithium iron phosphate / LiFePO4)
And probably safe to call Sodium-Ion and solid state the next big phases of development
LFP is actually a relatively old battery technology, it’s only now that the patent is expired that it’s starting to breakthrough (outside of China, they somehow got a license if I understand it correctly).
LifePo4 batteries aren’t Star Trek levels of advancement, but they sure have changed my life and those of a lot of people I know.
But I do get your drift. It seems like everyday there’s some new breakthrough, and all we see of it is unnecessary AI.
QuantumScape is currently building the mass production line for a solid state battery and has been sending prototypes out to their auto manufacturer clients for testing.
This Undecided with Matt Ferrell video has a good breakdown.
Disclosure: I own 100 shares of QS
$5.05 a share. So for a mere $505 I could also own 100.
It takes around a decade to scale up a process. You’d be shocked at how long it takes to discover something, get investment, file patents, acquire licenses, construct facilities, manufacture the product, and sell to customers. And that’s what it takes to get to just the starting line of being in business.
The same thing happened with a lot of awesome things you’re using right now. But I understand your impatience.
This seems like a pretty big deal, right?
Wait… did they do all three?
“Global action requires working together to access critically important materials,” Meng said.
So… nope.
Fuck
But the materials are more easily accessible for sodium. It’s just supposed to have less capacity by volume.
Edit: that portion of the article you mentioned is talking about lithium ion
Probably not fast. You would have to setup tooling and manufacturing and supply chain. That takes years.
Any way to read the paper published without subscribing to nature?
Shirley Meng’s showing off her lemon jacket and big watch drip. Power on.
Calling BS
No batteries are ever anode free so you are right to call bullshit on this title …
Yet, what they meant was that, at the time of fabrication, there is no sodium at the anode side and only while charging the battery, sodium is deposited so creating the anode.Also BS because this is such a common BS article “Amazing breakthrough in batteries will change everything and is 100 times better!”
Always BS
But that’s not what it’s really claiming. I don’t think this technology would even replace lithium ion, it would be better suited for power grid or data center storage.
