4 ms·

One day, one of the 'potentially disruptive' battery technologies is going to get developed all the way to production. Surely. Right?

• ajuc 10y ago
  It already happened. Many times. Lead car batteries were disruptive. Li-ion batteries were disruptive (see all the mobile devices).
  • rkangel 10y ago
    Fair point, although they weren't such big news when they happened. I feel that since Li-On batteries there has been a lot of press for interesting academic work to could potentially lead to the next step change in performance, with no results as yet. I understand well the long path from lab to product and the low likelihood of success for any one technology, but there have been enough of them now that surely one of them will stick?
    • slfnflctd 10y ago
      There are probably a good dozen very promising and radically different approaches I've read about in recent years, from compressed air storage, to liquid metal, to MXene clay, to salt water, to 'carbon enhanced anodes' in a tweaked lead acid battery, and many more... In late 2013, it looked like we were on the cusp of finally breaking through the cost per kWh barrier in a matter of months, and I got so excited I started a business built around the anticipation of just one of these things panning out. Then? Crickets. One company I invested in is now a penny stock, and just announced a product which costs twice as much as the Powerwall for the same storage (oh, and it's probably worse in about every other way, too). I might cry if I had any tears left to shed over this. To be honest, I've started to wonder if any breakthroughs that may have happened in this field are being suppressed for some kind of political reason(s). You would think that couldn't go on indefinitely, though.
• deleted 10y ago
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• jonathanstrange 10y ago
  Well, I guarantee you that no company will ever develop a battery that lasts 200 years. Not because it's not technically feasible, but because they wouldn't sell enough batteries. Pretty simple.
  • hacknat 10y ago
    The research company probably would never, but after a patent expiration some lowly commodity company probably would (if it made them even a little bit of money).
  • vorotato 10y ago
    You don't think a phone manufacturer would do this if it were affordable enough?
    • ende 10y ago
      How do phone manufactures get their customers to upgrade so often?
      • bkmartin 10y ago
        They make everything else better. If there was a battery that lasted for such a long time then phone would have them and we would just swap from one handset to another when we switch phones. Plus, people are really good at breaking phone screens yet they are trying to come up with one that is shatterproof. If you could use "lifetime" battery it would make someone very rich even if for a short while...somebody would definitely work that business angle.
        • ende 10y ago
          I agree someone would, but it probably wouldn't be Apple or Samsung.