5 ms·

Breakthroughs for batteries could soon make them better

60 points by pingou 5mo ago

acidhousemcnab 5mo ago
https://archive.is/ReAtU https://archive.is/ReAtU You'll need to get your hands on Greenland first.
- deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
LoganDark 5mo ago
Everyone's been talking about breakthroughs for batteries for years. Until I see one on the shelf, it doesn't matter. Go make them better, and come back once they actually are! I've even seen ceramic batteries being tested on YouTube as long as 7 YEARS ago [0], but I still can't actually buy one. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJXRyWQgOY4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJXRyWQgOY4
- s0a 5mo ago
  been tracking this sector for years and we did hit a major inflection point in the last 12 months
  - LoganDark 5mo ago
    I would love to see one I can actually buy! Let me know once there's one I can actually buy. I've been having this issue for years of everyone being so excited about things that I can't actually buy. I don't care! I would love to be excited too, but it's just tiring now. I wish there were some kind of aggregator for exciting achievements that you can actually buy. I'm tired of all this premature hype!
  - gruez 5mo ago
    What actually changed?
    - DannyBee 5mo ago
      So random consumer who just bought a ton of batteries here: i don't follow the hype closely, nor am i a crazy battery dude, but i have tracked over the years the cost of doing battery backup vs generator, etc. It's definitely the case for me (and friends of mine), that between reasonably priced batteries, inverters,etc, doing good battery backup for the house (and peak demand shaving/etc, i use a lot of power and take advantage of time of use tariffs) is now less than half the price of a generator. Most of my friends spent 35-45k on a generator. I will have spent <20k on batteries + inverters. It would actually be even less, but i have 600amps of split phase for the house, and 150 amps of 480v 3 phase for the shop, so i need two different kinds of inverters. It is all literally being installed right now. I would actually go completely off grid, but i live in a historic area and have slate roofs so can't really do solar easily ;) As for what changed - 12 months ago this setup would have been almost double the price, just because of the availability (or lack thereof) of the right kinds of products necessary to achieve it. I know because i priced it :) Availability here isn't in terms of stock, but literally in terms of "variety and choice of product". For example - the availability of UL certified low cost 48v batteries in various sizes has skyrocketed in the past year. Lots of states require UL certification, assuming you are doing this in a permitted/etc way) Additionally, a lot more outdoor batteries are now available (my setup is outdoors but mostly protected). The availability of choices in higher kVA but still residential grade inverters has also skyrocketed, etc. As for why the price was doubled - before i would have needed 2x the number of inverters, and you really couldn't get a good 480v inverter except with high volt batteries that are wildly less available and wildly more expensive. On top of that, the batteries you could use that were UL certified and outdoor rated or could easily be done in outdoor enclosures was much lower than it is now.
      - intrepideng 5mo ago
        I would be interested in hearing more about the system you installed, if you don't mind sharing. I'll probably be taking the plunge in a year or two.
- konschubert 5mo ago
  I think CATL bringing sodium-ion to industrial scale should count as "on the shelf". https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/04/28/catl-secures-worlds-largest-sodium-ion-battery-order-with-hyperstrong/ https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/04/28/catl-secures-worlds-l...
  - LoganDark 5mo ago
    Hmm, that is industrial-scale which I wouldn't say is something I can really buy but that is cool nonetheless!
    - konschubert 5mo ago
      My point is that this is clearly out of the lab.
    - triceratops 5mo ago
      > something I can really buy What are you going to use them for? Consumer batteries are already good enough IMO. Cheaper batteries in large quantities are what we need more of.
      - layer8 5mo ago
        Smartphone batteries that last a month instead of just a day would be nice.
      - danaris 5mo ago
        I would agree if I could buy a AA battery that would power my toothbrush for a year. Or one that could be rechargeable with easily-available chargers reliably for a decade (and without having to drop 0.2V to achieve it...). Any kind of consumer power technology can only ever be truly "good enough" if it never causes any inconvenience or significant cost.
        BobaFloutist 5mo ago
        > Any kind of consumer power technology can only ever be truly "good enough" if it never causes any inconvenience or significant cost. I mean, that's not the case with current consumer power technology
- gosub100 5mo ago
  They will be delivered as soon as fusion power plants come online to charge them. I agree with you, I'm sick of hearing about the "developments" in batteries, nano materials, and fusion. Need an add blocker for these.
- ac29 5mo ago
  > Everyone's been talking about breakthroughs for batteries for years. Lithium iron phosphate has quietly gotten price competitive with lead acid and its wildly better tech. Not particularly sexy but its having a real world impact (LFP is commonly used for solar storage among many other uses).
- yCombLinks 5mo ago
  They are better and keep getting better and cheaper. Iteratively rather than one giant leap, but undeniable.
kaon_2 5mo ago
"Distinguishing hype from reality is not easy. But recent developments mean that ambitious promises could be fulfilled. " Just like AI is changing the world before our eyes, this may be just such a technology. Maybe I will come to resent them when they are omnipresent, but a person-transporting drone (EVTOL) flying on a solid state battery would be transformative in connecting people, and I cannot wait to see it happen. The EU has committed 500bn in inter-european railway investment by 2050. Maybe it will be entirely disrupted? Who knows.
- DanielHB 5mo ago
  I have been thinking this for quite a while now, electric planes will kill a lot of rail routes. However I am still skeptical about the EVTOL form factor for mass scale transportation, at least on the short or medium term. I think we are going to see a lot of fragmentation in modes of transport where we have jets going from international airports for long range, small electric planes in small airports for that 50-300km distance low-frequency destinations. And rail only for high-frequency destinations. In fact I imagine that electric vs jet planes math will get so crazy that it might kill some international hubs that are too far inland, companies will want people off jets into electric propeller planes as fast as possible.
  - kvdveer 5mo ago
    If flying ever becomes efficient energy-wise, this may happen. However, right now, flying is very energy inefficient, so anything that doesn't need to be flown, is transported overland to save costs. A change of fuel won't change it, unless the underlying energy usage changes fundamentally. Better batteries do not impact energy usage, only the means of energy delivery.
  - lacewing 5mo ago
    > I have been thinking this for quite a while now, electric planes will kill a lot of rail routes Why? If you have an existing rail network, trains are bound to be cheaper than planes and can get to more places (including convenient centrally-located stations in most major metro areas). Plus, air travel is generally miserable unless you have a private / chartered plane. Crowds, long lines, security screenings, opaque and abusive pricing models, etc. This is not something we couldn't fix, but over the past 30 years, it's gotten a lot worse, not better; electric planes don't automatically change that. In contrast, rail travel in Europe is almost universally pleasant and hassle-free.
fnord77 5mo ago
solid state batteries - perpetually only 5 years away
- comrade1234 5mo ago
  Mercedes has cars on the road now with solid state batteries. They're not mass-producing the batteries yet so they're only in test vehicles. Performance has been great.
  - fnord77 5mo ago
    Cool, just five years away from production
    - dalyons 5mo ago
      You can already buy cars with semi solid state, and full solid state goes into large scale production & cars in 2027. Not long to wait!
      - fnord77 5mo ago
        > You can already buy cars with semi solid state, In fact, you cannot. MG 4X: preorders. IM L6 "Lightyear Edition" - only a handful for sale. Nio - only at battery "swap" stations which are not open to the public.
        dalyons 5mo ago
        Wrong. MG4 solid state started deliveries last December in china https://electrek.co/2025/12/18/mg-delivers-first-mass-produced-ev-with-semi-solid-state-battery/ https://electrek.co/2025/12/18/mg-delivers-first-mass-produc... The mg4x is a different car (suv).
  - dalyons 5mo ago
    So do various Chinese manufacturers
epistasis 5mo ago
There are continual improvements in batteries all the time making them better, cheaper, and they are being deployed with exponential growth. Silly headline. Just say solid state, yet again, the thing that's always been around the corner while lithium ion and sodium just ship ship ship on a massive scale. If solid state works out, great, but it would no longer be a big breakthrough. Batteries are here and a major grid component today.
- strictnein 5mo ago
  The first quantum laptop will run on solid state batteries that were charged with electricity from a fusion reactor.
  - stavros 5mo ago
    And I'll still be waiting a year to play Half Life 3 on it.
  - phtrivier 5mo ago
    And the next version of Windows is going to make it much more secure, fun and easy to use !
  - pupppet 5mo ago
    Immediately upon being switched on it will cure cancer.
tiffanyh 5mo ago
With both battery tech and quantum, you have to separate out "commercial availability" vs "laboratory availability".
- johnea 5mo ago
  With regard to batteries: It's also important to separate "commercial availability" into "commercially available in the US" and "commercially available for everyone else" The US petroleum and automotive industries are spending many multiple millions of $$s to make sure the latest battery and electric car technology is not available inside the US. This is a good example: BYD Seal 08 debuts with Blade Battery 2.0: 1,000 km range, 5-min charging, 684 hp https://electrek.co/2026/04/27/byd-seal-08-blade-battery-2-1000km-range-beijing-auto-show/ https://electrek.co/2026/04/27/byd-seal-08-blade-battery-2-1... This is a car in production in China now, which has 640 miles of range on one charge (not many gas cars have that range) and charges 10-70% in 5 minutes. Of course, the chargers that perform that high speed charge are also not available in the US. With regard to quantum: let's just not drag that into a discussion of batteries.
jillesvangurp 5mo ago
Batteries are quite good already. You can wait for the next big thing, or get something that works and scales right now. Battery production is now measured in multiple twh of capacity per year. That goes into vehicles of all types with any number and size of wheels, grid storage solutions, and domestic storage. People use them all over the world now. Including some developing economies. There are many quality attributes you can look at with batteries: cost per kwh, weight per kwh, volume per kwh, charge/discharge rates, longevity in charge cycles, operating temperatures, robustness, chance of flammability (near zero with some cell types), etc. Better is a meaningless qualification unless you express it in those. And what is best and what is optimal are two things. There's a reason LFP is dominating rather than NMC. It's good enough and a lot cheaper even though it has slightly less energy. For the same reason sodium ion is being put into some cars. It doesn't have the energy density. But it's cheap, operates in arctic and desert temperatures, and they last pretty long. When it comes to new battery chemistries, it takes time to go from a lab breakthrough to mass production. Sodium ion is now being mass produced. A few years ago there was only low volume production. And before that, the technology was stuck in various stages of the R&D pipeline at various companies. From a lab prototype in a university to an actual proof of concept might take several years. And from there to production many years longer. With solid state, there are about at least half a dozen technology companies that are moving from test samples to low volume production in the next years. Mostly the technology is proven and validated at this point. But it might still take until at least the end of the decade before we see any mass production. Building big factories costs billions and is super risky. Companies don't do that unless they are certain something will work. Solid state will have to compete on quality and price. High density solid state in cheap cars is not likely to be a thing for cost reasons. But they might be popular with drone and sports car manufacturers. The press is unfortunately a bit sensationalist on this front and it creates unrealistic expectations.
- samat 5mo ago
  I wish there were a media with articles like this
- phtrivier 5mo ago
  > When it comes to new battery chemistries, it takes time to go from a lab breakthrough to mass production. Sodium ion is now being mass produced. A few years ago there was only low volume production. And before that, the technology was stuck in various stages of the R&D pipeline at various companies. From a lab prototype in a university to an actual proof of concept might take several years. And from there to production many years longer. That's absolutely fine and understandable. But then, why do we keep hearing the word "breakthrough" ? I hate this word with all my heart. Batteries are still not ubiquitous. EVs are still expensive. The "breaktrough" that would be worth mentioning will be when people can buy an EV and never, ever, ever manage to build a scenario where there is _any_ range anxiety. Or when everyone has a battery in their garage, that's as inconsequential to buy as a fridge, and can store enough energy for them to go through the winter with 2 months of sunshine. I know we're far away from that. Fair enough. Godspeed to you if you're working on that, in the lab or in the factory. You or your grandkids will get there. Just, write the _breakthrough_ article then, please.
therealmacsteel 5mo ago
I doubt we have even scratched the surface of battery technology though.
- bluGill 5mo ago
  Battery technology is governed by the laws of physics and chemistry. I'm not an expert in battery technology, but I trust those who are to know physics and chemistry. We are likely asymptotically approaching a known limit. Perhaps someone who is an expert can tell us where those are.
  - jeffbee 5mo ago
    250 years ago nobody knew what the hell a battery was. It seems hubristic to assume we now possess ultimate knowledge of the universe.
    - bluGill 5mo ago
      While we don't know everything, what we don't know must fit without the things we already know. It seems highly unlikely there is something significant in this area we don't know.
      - jeffbee 5mo ago
        I don't agree with this philosophy at all. Current scientific understanding is not and need not be compatible with past scientific belief.
        bluGill 5mo ago
        Not belief, things we have exponentially observed. Either you need to explain why the observation was actually incorrect. Or you need to have a theory that explains the observation. We believe relativity is correct because we have lots of experiments and observations that show that it's correct. That doesn't mean relativity is actually correct. However, it means that if it's wrong, whatever actually is correct must somehow encompass what relativity predicts in the same way relativity currently does.
NoSalt 5mo ago
Who else is longing for the days of the "Shipstone"? https://www.google.com/search?q=robert+heinlein+shipstone+technology https://www.google.com/search?q=robert+heinlein+shipstone+te...

60 points by pingou 5mo ago

acidhousemcnab 5mo ago

https://archive.is/ReAtU https://archive.is/ReAtU You'll need to get your hands on Greenland first.

deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]

LoganDark 5mo ago

Everyone's been talking about breakthroughs for batteries for years. Until I see one on the shelf, it doesn't matter. Go make them better, and come back once they actually are! I've even seen ceramic batteries being tested on YouTube as long as 7 YEARS ago [0], but I still can't actually buy one. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJXRyWQgOY4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJXRyWQgOY4

s0a 5mo ago
been tracking this sector for years and we did hit a major inflection point in the last 12 months
- LoganDark 5mo ago
  I would love to see one I can actually buy! Let me know once there's one I can actually buy. I've been having this issue for years of everyone being so excited about things that I can't actually buy. I don't care! I would love to be excited too, but it's just tiring now. I wish there were some kind of aggregator for exciting achievements that you can actually buy. I'm tired of all this premature hype!
- gruez 5mo ago
  What actually changed?
  - DannyBee 5mo ago
    So random consumer who just bought a ton of batteries here: i don't follow the hype closely, nor am i a crazy battery dude, but i have tracked over the years the cost of doing battery backup vs generator, etc. It's definitely the case for me (and friends of mine), that between reasonably priced batteries, inverters,etc, doing good battery backup for the house (and peak demand shaving/etc, i use a lot of power and take advantage of time of use tariffs) is now less than half the price of a generator. Most of my friends spent 35-45k on a generator. I will have spent <20k on batteries + inverters. It would actually be even less, but i have 600amps of split phase for the house, and 150 amps of 480v 3 phase for the shop, so i need two different kinds of inverters. It is all literally being installed right now. I would actually go completely off grid, but i live in a historic area and have slate roofs so can't really do solar easily ;) As for what changed - 12 months ago this setup would have been almost double the price, just because of the availability (or lack thereof) of the right kinds of products necessary to achieve it. I know because i priced it :) Availability here isn't in terms of stock, but literally in terms of "variety and choice of product". For example - the availability of UL certified low cost 48v batteries in various sizes has skyrocketed in the past year. Lots of states require UL certification, assuming you are doing this in a permitted/etc way) Additionally, a lot more outdoor batteries are now available (my setup is outdoors but mostly protected). The availability of choices in higher kVA but still residential grade inverters has also skyrocketed, etc. As for why the price was doubled - before i would have needed 2x the number of inverters, and you really couldn't get a good 480v inverter except with high volt batteries that are wildly less available and wildly more expensive. On top of that, the batteries you could use that were UL certified and outdoor rated or could easily be done in outdoor enclosures was much lower than it is now.
    - intrepideng 5mo ago
      I would be interested in hearing more about the system you installed, if you don't mind sharing. I'll probably be taking the plunge in a year or two.
konschubert 5mo ago
I think CATL bringing sodium-ion to industrial scale should count as "on the shelf". https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/04/28/catl-secures-worlds-largest-sodium-ion-battery-order-with-hyperstrong/ https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/04/28/catl-secures-worlds-l...
- LoganDark 5mo ago
  Hmm, that is industrial-scale which I wouldn't say is something I can really buy but that is cool nonetheless!
  - konschubert 5mo ago
    My point is that this is clearly out of the lab.
  - triceratops 5mo ago
    > something I can really buy What are you going to use them for? Consumer batteries are already good enough IMO. Cheaper batteries in large quantities are what we need more of.
    - layer8 5mo ago
      Smartphone batteries that last a month instead of just a day would be nice.
    - danaris 5mo ago
      I would agree if I could buy a AA battery that would power my toothbrush for a year. Or one that could be rechargeable with easily-available chargers reliably for a decade (and without having to drop 0.2V to achieve it...). Any kind of consumer power technology can only ever be truly "good enough" if it never causes any inconvenience or significant cost.
      - BobaFloutist 5mo ago
        > Any kind of consumer power technology can only ever be truly "good enough" if it never causes any inconvenience or significant cost. I mean, that's not the case with current consumer power technology
gosub100 5mo ago
They will be delivered as soon as fusion power plants come online to charge them. I agree with you, I'm sick of hearing about the "developments" in batteries, nano materials, and fusion. Need an add blocker for these.
ac29 5mo ago
> Everyone's been talking about breakthroughs for batteries for years. Lithium iron phosphate has quietly gotten price competitive with lead acid and its wildly better tech. Not particularly sexy but its having a real world impact (LFP is commonly used for solar storage among many other uses).
yCombLinks 5mo ago
They are better and keep getting better and cheaper. Iteratively rather than one giant leap, but undeniable.

kaon_2 5mo ago

"Distinguishing hype from reality is not easy. But recent developments mean that ambitious promises could be fulfilled. " Just like AI is changing the world before our eyes, this may be just such a technology. Maybe I will come to resent them when they are omnipresent, but a person-transporting drone (EVTOL) flying on a solid state battery would be transformative in connecting people, and I cannot wait to see it happen. The EU has committed 500bn in inter-european railway investment by 2050. Maybe it will be entirely disrupted? Who knows.

DanielHB 5mo ago
I have been thinking this for quite a while now, electric planes will kill a lot of rail routes. However I am still skeptical about the EVTOL form factor for mass scale transportation, at least on the short or medium term. I think we are going to see a lot of fragmentation in modes of transport where we have jets going from international airports for long range, small electric planes in small airports for that 50-300km distance low-frequency destinations. And rail only for high-frequency destinations. In fact I imagine that electric vs jet planes math will get so crazy that it might kill some international hubs that are too far inland, companies will want people off jets into electric propeller planes as fast as possible.
- kvdveer 5mo ago
  If flying ever becomes efficient energy-wise, this may happen. However, right now, flying is very energy inefficient, so anything that doesn't need to be flown, is transported overland to save costs. A change of fuel won't change it, unless the underlying energy usage changes fundamentally. Better batteries do not impact energy usage, only the means of energy delivery.
- lacewing 5mo ago
  > I have been thinking this for quite a while now, electric planes will kill a lot of rail routes Why? If you have an existing rail network, trains are bound to be cheaper than planes and can get to more places (including convenient centrally-located stations in most major metro areas). Plus, air travel is generally miserable unless you have a private / chartered plane. Crowds, long lines, security screenings, opaque and abusive pricing models, etc. This is not something we couldn't fix, but over the past 30 years, it's gotten a lot worse, not better; electric planes don't automatically change that. In contrast, rail travel in Europe is almost universally pleasant and hassle-free.

fnord77 5mo ago

solid state batteries - perpetually only 5 years away

comrade1234 5mo ago
Mercedes has cars on the road now with solid state batteries. They're not mass-producing the batteries yet so they're only in test vehicles. Performance has been great.
- fnord77 5mo ago
  Cool, just five years away from production
  - dalyons 5mo ago
    You can already buy cars with semi solid state, and full solid state goes into large scale production & cars in 2027. Not long to wait!
    - fnord77 5mo ago
      > You can already buy cars with semi solid state, In fact, you cannot. MG 4X: preorders. IM L6 "Lightyear Edition" - only a handful for sale. Nio - only at battery "swap" stations which are not open to the public.
      - dalyons 5mo ago
        Wrong. MG4 solid state started deliveries last December in china https://electrek.co/2025/12/18/mg-delivers-first-mass-produced-ev-with-semi-solid-state-battery/ https://electrek.co/2025/12/18/mg-delivers-first-mass-produc... The mg4x is a different car (suv).
- dalyons 5mo ago
  So do various Chinese manufacturers

epistasis 5mo ago

There are continual improvements in batteries all the time making them better, cheaper, and they are being deployed with exponential growth. Silly headline. Just say solid state, yet again, the thing that's always been around the corner while lithium ion and sodium just ship ship ship on a massive scale. If solid state works out, great, but it would no longer be a big breakthrough. Batteries are here and a major grid component today.

strictnein 5mo ago
The first quantum laptop will run on solid state batteries that were charged with electricity from a fusion reactor.
- stavros 5mo ago
  And I'll still be waiting a year to play Half Life 3 on it.
- phtrivier 5mo ago
  And the next version of Windows is going to make it much more secure, fun and easy to use !
- pupppet 5mo ago
  Immediately upon being switched on it will cure cancer.

tiffanyh 5mo ago

With both battery tech and quantum, you have to separate out "commercial availability" vs "laboratory availability".

johnea 5mo ago
With regard to batteries: It's also important to separate "commercial availability" into "commercially available in the US" and "commercially available for everyone else" The US petroleum and automotive industries are spending many multiple millions of $$s to make sure the latest battery and electric car technology is not available inside the US. This is a good example: BYD Seal 08 debuts with Blade Battery 2.0: 1,000 km range, 5-min charging, 684 hp https://electrek.co/2026/04/27/byd-seal-08-blade-battery-2-1000km-range-beijing-auto-show/ https://electrek.co/2026/04/27/byd-seal-08-blade-battery-2-1... This is a car in production in China now, which has 640 miles of range on one charge (not many gas cars have that range) and charges 10-70% in 5 minutes. Of course, the chargers that perform that high speed charge are also not available in the US. With regard to quantum: let's just not drag that into a discussion of batteries.

jillesvangurp 5mo ago

Batteries are quite good already. You can wait for the next big thing, or get something that works and scales right now. Battery production is now measured in multiple twh of capacity per year. That goes into vehicles of all types with any number and size of wheels, grid storage solutions, and domestic storage. People use them all over the world now. Including some developing economies. There are many quality attributes you can look at with batteries: cost per kwh, weight per kwh, volume per kwh, charge/discharge rates, longevity in charge cycles, operating temperatures, robustness, chance of flammability (near zero with some cell types), etc. Better is a meaningless qualification unless you express it in those. And what is best and what is optimal are two things. There's a reason LFP is dominating rather than NMC. It's good enough and a lot cheaper even though it has slightly less energy. For the same reason sodium ion is being put into some cars. It doesn't have the energy density. But it's cheap, operates in arctic and desert temperatures, and they last pretty long. When it comes to new battery chemistries, it takes time to go from a lab breakthrough to mass production. Sodium ion is now being mass produced. A few years ago there was only low volume production. And before that, the technology was stuck in various stages of the R&D pipeline at various companies. From a lab prototype in a university to an actual proof of concept might take several years. And from there to production many years longer. With solid state, there are about at least half a dozen technology companies that are moving from test samples to low volume production in the next years. Mostly the technology is proven and validated at this point. But it might still take until at least the end of the decade before we see any mass production. Building big factories costs billions and is super risky. Companies don't do that unless they are certain something will work. Solid state will have to compete on quality and price. High density solid state in cheap cars is not likely to be a thing for cost reasons. But they might be popular with drone and sports car manufacturers. The press is unfortunately a bit sensationalist on this front and it creates unrealistic expectations.

samat 5mo ago
I wish there were a media with articles like this
phtrivier 5mo ago
> When it comes to new battery chemistries, it takes time to go from a lab breakthrough to mass production. Sodium ion is now being mass produced. A few years ago there was only low volume production. And before that, the technology was stuck in various stages of the R&D pipeline at various companies. From a lab prototype in a university to an actual proof of concept might take several years. And from there to production many years longer. That's absolutely fine and understandable. But then, why do we keep hearing the word "breakthrough" ? I hate this word with all my heart. Batteries are still not ubiquitous. EVs are still expensive. The "breaktrough" that would be worth mentioning will be when people can buy an EV and never, ever, ever manage to build a scenario where there is _any_ range anxiety. Or when everyone has a battery in their garage, that's as inconsequential to buy as a fridge, and can store enough energy for them to go through the winter with 2 months of sunshine. I know we're far away from that. Fair enough. Godspeed to you if you're working on that, in the lab or in the factory. You or your grandkids will get there. Just, write the _breakthrough_ article then, please.

therealmacsteel 5mo ago

I doubt we have even scratched the surface of battery technology though.

bluGill 5mo ago
Battery technology is governed by the laws of physics and chemistry. I'm not an expert in battery technology, but I trust those who are to know physics and chemistry. We are likely asymptotically approaching a known limit. Perhaps someone who is an expert can tell us where those are.
- jeffbee 5mo ago
  250 years ago nobody knew what the hell a battery was. It seems hubristic to assume we now possess ultimate knowledge of the universe.
  - bluGill 5mo ago
    While we don't know everything, what we don't know must fit without the things we already know. It seems highly unlikely there is something significant in this area we don't know.
    - jeffbee 5mo ago
      I don't agree with this philosophy at all. Current scientific understanding is not and need not be compatible with past scientific belief.
      - bluGill 5mo ago
        Not belief, things we have exponentially observed. Either you need to explain why the observation was actually incorrect. Or you need to have a theory that explains the observation. We believe relativity is correct because we have lots of experiments and observations that show that it's correct. That doesn't mean relativity is actually correct. However, it means that if it's wrong, whatever actually is correct must somehow encompass what relativity predicts in the same way relativity currently does.

NoSalt 5mo ago

Who else is longing for the days of the "Shipstone"? https://www.google.com/search?q=robert+heinlein+shipstone+technology https://www.google.com/search?q=robert+heinlein+shipstone+te...