Now We’re Cooking With … Batteries

"Batteries still won't evolve as quickly as computer-based technologies. The reason: a battery is based on a chemical reaction, which is limited by the laws of physics and the periodic table."

I believe computer-based technologies are also limited by the laws of physics and the periodic table, or do computers now operate outside the physical world?

Hey Keith,

GM's allelectric EV1 was only a flop because GM didn't get behind the product. They had too many incentives from oil companies not to get behind it. A car that has as many moving parts as my bicycle doesn't break enough to require any maintenance work. Oil companies bought the battery company that made batteries for that car. The car was neversold it was leased and NO ONE was allowed to renew their lease. California backed down on its 0 emission initiatives and Bush directed everyone to hydrogen vehichles. Hey lets retool all the gas stations to keep my oil buddies in business instead of allowing everyone to plug there cars in at home.

In short, the car itself worked just fine. Lots of greedy money grubbing people with there fingers in the oil pie killed that car. If GM had been an innovator battery technology would probably be even better today than it is now and they might not need our tax dollars to bail them out!

I haven't bought a GM product since. I hope they do go out of business!

Hey,
GM's allelectric EV1 wasn't a flop. It was doomed from the start because GM didn't think there was going to be money in it....oil companies gave them incentives to kill it.....oh and oil companies bought up the battery company supplying batteries for that car. Oh yeah! they didn't sell any of the cars either....they leased em and didn't give any options to renew that lease. If GM ran with that car 10 years ago....battery technology would already be better than it is now and myabe GM wouldn't be asking for taxpayer money to bail them out cause they are too busy making gas gusslers in a time where gas prices are through the roof.

What I don't under stand is why there is not more attention paid to converting homes to low Voltage DC all the technology is available, we've had RV's and boats that self contained for many years, a few batteries in the garage with a solar or wind driven chargers on the roof and at a minimum all house lighting would be free and clean after the initial investment which is not all that great. Even the rewiring would be simple.

Everyone keeps wanting to improve battery capacity, which is a good idea, but the real answer to battery power and life is a cheap viable superconductor, and a good start in that direction is to develop conducting materials that offer less resistance to voltage, say even attaining 70% superconductivity would really help the electric car industry or anything powered by electricity.
The next step in battery power will actually be a form or a fisionable reaction, producing heat at first, then converted to power, and lasting 5 years between servicing. These ideas are indeed into the future, but attainable and will insure the survival of humans.........

And Altair Nano (ALTR), a Reno, NV based nanotechnology firm, wasn't even mentioned in this Newsweek article. They've pioneered a Lithium-Titanium battery that recharges in just TEN MINUTES and lasts FOUR times longer than Prius batteries ~ 20 YEARS. Recently, the company conducted an in-house test on their NanoSafe(tm) batteries and found that after 15,000 (not a typo) deep charge and discharge cycles, the product retained over 85 percent of its charge capacity. In theory that would push the life of these batteries beyond 40 years if you recharged everyday, though, the company admits that under real-world wear and tear a battery life of 12 to 20 years is more realistic.

The catch - our national electric grid can't handle a million special 440 volt 'quick charge' recharge stations. But Altair Nano is also demonstrating utility scale "load leveling" batteries as the first step in fortifying the utility grid.

It's well past time for some REAL federal guidance and research money on breakthrough tech like this. But, we sheeple would rather throw $Trillions at Zombie Financial Corporations' Black Holes of insolvency. Since we won't pursue developing the moon as a solar energy resource and beaming the energy back to earth, I'd gladly sacrifice our Human space program for the next 15 years to fund electric utility upgrading and advanced battery research.

As President-elect Obama said last week, "when oil prices drop we go into a trance."

They're gonna have to come up with something beyond glorified golf carts if they want to switch me over. The Chevy Volt is a joke. 40 miles one way? And then you have to have a power outlet at work to recharge? What is it, 5-6 hour recharge? And your employer will supply this and pay the utility bills?

What they need to come up with is the equivalent of what we have for gasoline today. Removable battery packs or quick charge dispensers that take less than 10 minutes to recharge. And then have at least a 500 mile range. Right now the technology and power supply infrastructure just isn't there.

It is amazing to me that electric cars were being made in the 1890's and we are dumber now than we were then. I think all the engineers need to check out the past and start over. La Jamais Contente" set a world record for land speed - 68 mph in an electric car. Not impressive this was done in 1899. In 1900 there were 4,192 cars produced in the United States 1150 are powered by electricity, and electric autos represent about one-third of all cars found on the roads of New York City, Boston, and Chicago. Most of the cars had a top speed of about 15 MPH and a range of 20 miles. You must consider that the average gasoline powered car of the same time period had a top speed of about 25 mph and a range of 40 miles. It would seem that these high tech cars really have not improved one bit in 100+ years. So these engineers need to quit patting themselves on the back as being great innovators and realize that they are not even keep up with engineers of 100 years ago that had little or no facilities??? for research or development much less money. SAD.

Where did you get the idea that wind blows hardest at night? I've read this in so many different articles lately. The opposite is true. See the IWEA website for data. Or, just "get out more"--out of doors and out of the city, to experience the world first hand. A year or two on the planet, and you'll realize winds usually rise in the morning, die in the evening, leaving the nights dead calm.

The weakest link in electric cars is support for it, we have cars now that will manage 250 miles between charges and that is sufficient for most driving that we do.
The public support wanes with the price of gas as we have seen over the past year. But you have to keep in mind both the Federal government and most state governments collect tax on every gallon of gas. So while government gives lip service to electric cars on occasion; expecting any real effort on their part is not likely to happen.
Then of course you have those who have a lot to lose in the private sector...the oil companies with record profits and a powerful lobby effort that will not just lie down and die.
Electric storage is the answer but it will take more than lip service and a casual interest to make it a reality.

This article: Asia leads the world in advanced-battery production, for both cars and gadgets. "The U.S. missed out on a great deal of the advanced-battery business over the last 10 years,
According to an article on Green tech six months ago, Toyota Motor plans to produce lithium ion batteries next year for a plug-in hybrid vehicle available in 2010. the plug-in hybrid will be "geared toward fleet customers in Japan, (the) United States, and Europe."A joint venture between Toyota and Panasonic EV Energy plans to begin production of lithium ion batteries next year and move to full-scale production in 2010. Using the battery, Toyota plans to introduce a small electric vehicle for mass production.Toyota's Prius, numbering a million sold, uses a nickel metal hydride battery. Lithium ion batteries, which are heavily used in consumer electronics, are being built into an upcoming generation of hybrid-electric and plug-in hybrid cars.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9966054-54.html

marley07: blah blah blah blah ................

I am all for doing things personally to help the earth, but mark my words now, global warming will be the biggest hoax the world has ever known.