51–54 of 54 posts
Says Tesla who bet the farm on lithium-based batteries. There are better processes and chemistries hitting the market in the next year - they just need to reach volume.
I'd imagine there's all types of companies trying to solve this in different ways.
Says Tesla who bet the farm on lithium-based batteries. There are better processes and chemistries hitting the market in the next year - they just need to reach volume.
Curious, what kind of stuff is coming out that's better than Tesla? I'd imagine there's all types of companies trying to solve this in different ways.
A lot of thin film solar PV companies were quite sure that their costs would be lower than the incumbent, crystalline silicon, once the manufacturing volume got high enough. Most went bankrupt because their manufacturing volume never grew fast enough for their designs' advantages to overcome the handicap of smaller scale production. Tesla's chemistry uses cobalt, which is expensive, but I don't know if low raw material costs alone are enough for (e.g.) sodium ion batteries to win over something like lithium iron phosphate batteries.
Can anyone explain the logic behind having lots of small batteries, rather than the power company buying a Big Battery and offering this as a service? Two reasons occur to me: 1. Situations off the grid or with unreliable power (eg blackouts) 2. Transmission costs are high, so it's better to have the storage close to the source. Even in the second case, it seems like the power company could distribute these. I wonder…
My understanding is a primary limitation for these batteries is cooling. Cooling ability is relative to the surface area of the battery. One giant battery has much lower surface area than a bunch of small ones.
Also having a large number of batteries lets you put different cells on different recharge cycles to maximize battery life. You can use a small number of worn out cells for brief minute-to-minute fluctuations while you keep fresher cells on longer cycle that optimizes lifetime. With one big battery you're just stuck with whatever wear characteristics the usage curve gives you.