You need to look at battery lab research on a 10-20 year time before it gets commercialized at scale.
Moreover, go look at your rechargeable batteries from 10 or 20 years ago. They’re heavier, less energy dense, have shorter lifespans, have much slower charge rates. A lot of those advancement started in a lab and look many years to make it to your laptop or car.
Well, it only looks like nothing because our power demands have increased as well.
Current Lithium Ion Polymer batteries are a far cry from the ones of a decade ago, despite being very similar tech.
The main issue with most of these alternative battery approaches are either low capacity, or low charge cycles. Finding a chemistry that both packs enough power in a small enough package to run devices for long term, and that don’t wear out quickly is difficult.
Writing headlines is a selection process. You write about all the useless but cool stuff while ignoring all the boring but important stuff.
Improving Li-ion by 1% doesn’t make headlines, but that sort of stuff has been going on in the background for a few decades already. That’s why current batteries are so useful and widespread.
Lab prototypes are sexy, even if they’re 50 years away from becoming commercially viable. Sure, these things can charge fast, or hold a huge capacity, but they also tend to die after 10 cycles. Fixing that is going to take a long time, just like it did for Li-ion batteries.
I’ve read news about better battery technology for YEARS, and then nothing. Repeat the cycle.
Let me know when it’s released to the public and actually usable.
How many years?
The amount of utility I accidentally extract from my phone over the course of a day on one charge is pretty incredible.
You’re expecting revolution. You’re getting evolution.
It doesn’t have to be better it just has to be Goodenough.
Goodenough died in 2023.
Yet his legacy lives on.
But the battery technology did improve in these years.
You need to look at battery lab research on a 10-20 year time before it gets commercialized at scale.
Moreover, go look at your rechargeable batteries from 10 or 20 years ago. They’re heavier, less energy dense, have shorter lifespans, have much slower charge rates. A lot of those advancement started in a lab and look many years to make it to your laptop or car.
Well, it only looks like nothing because our power demands have increased as well.
Current Lithium Ion Polymer batteries are a far cry from the ones of a decade ago, despite being very similar tech.
The main issue with most of these alternative battery approaches are either low capacity, or low charge cycles. Finding a chemistry that both packs enough power in a small enough package to run devices for long term, and that don’t wear out quickly is difficult.
Writing headlines is a selection process. You write about all the useless but cool stuff while ignoring all the boring but important stuff.
Improving Li-ion by 1% doesn’t make headlines, but that sort of stuff has been going on in the background for a few decades already. That’s why current batteries are so useful and widespread.
Lab prototypes are sexy, even if they’re 50 years away from becoming commercially viable. Sure, these things can charge fast, or hold a huge capacity, but they also tend to die after 10 cycles. Fixing that is going to take a long time, just like it did for Li-ion batteries.