5 ms·

Wikipedia says round trip efficiency on rechargeable zinc-air cells is very low (~50%). Doesn't sound too promising for grid scale storage. https://en.wikipedi

• nielsbot 8y ago
  Does that matter if there is surplus power during charging times?
  • deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  • greglindahl 8y ago
    It does affect the economics. A lot of pumped water storage facilities only have a 50% efficiency, and they make sense from an economic standpoint.
• woodandsteel 8y ago
  The company says the batteries can be used in autos, which would seem to indicate they hve solved that problem. But who knows until we get some independent testing.
  • Retric 8y ago
    50% effecency could work with cars as it would still cost vastly less than gasoline. You could also have a hybrid system with a high cost high efficiency daily battery and a cheaper extended range one.
    • infogulch 8y ago
      The issue with cars is less efficiency, but more energy density. Li-ion is just at the point where it's energy dense enough to use in cars, and e.g. Tesla vehicles are considered very heavy. Any new battery tech needs to be at least as energy dense as li-ion if it's going to work in vehicles.
    • DuskStar 8y ago
      Except low efficiency tends to mean poor charging due to cooling issues. Much easier to shove 100kW into a battery when you don't have to worry about dissipating 50kW of heat...
      • Retric 8y ago
        Depends on how hot the battery can get. Normal cars already dissipate 50+kW of heat as gasoline engines are well under 40% efficient.
• pjc50 8y ago
  "as low as" 50%. NantEnergy ought to provide numbers but they're not turning up readily in searches.