IBM creates breathing, high-density, light-weight lithium-air battery
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Re: IBM creates breathing, high-density, light-weight lithium-air battery
#2Sorry to be skeptical, but I can't help but think:
Number of "battery breakthrough" news I heard in the last 15 years: >100, Actual battery breakthroughs: 0
Re: IBM creates breathing, high-density, light-weight lithium-air battery
#3This is slightly off topic but simply stated I just love IBM these days. There aren't many corporations that dedicate as much focus on research and yet, for a large corp. they also keep their nose surprisingly clean (these days). While we watch the swirling tech scandals ebb and flow they just quietly sit off to the side and keep changing the world.
Re: IBM creates breathing, high-density, light-weight lithium-air battery
#4Sorry to be skeptical, but I can't help but think: Number of "battery breakthrough" news I heard in the last 15 years: >100, Actual battery breakthroughs: 0
To add weight to your skepticism the article states, "Eventually (in another 10 years or so), li-ion batteries could be replaced with li-air batteries." !0 years is a long time-frame.
Re: IBM creates breathing, high-density, light-weight lithium-air battery
#5Sorry to be skeptical, but I can't help but think: Number of "battery breakthrough" news I heard in the last 15 years: >100, Actual battery breakthroughs: 0
The IBM videos about this project are much more careful than the breathless article from extremetech.
Re: IBM creates breathing, high-density, light-weight lithium-air battery
#6I think Paul Graham's goal to prevent Eternal September on Hacker News can be officially declared a failure.
Re: IBM creates breathing, high-density, light-weight lithium-air battery
#7Sorry to be skeptical, but I can't help but think: Number of "battery breakthrough" news I heard in the last 15 years: >100, Actual battery breakthroughs: 0
It's fair to be skeptical of all these announcements but I can't help but think that batteries have gotten better over the last 15 years. Whether these improvements were "breakthroughs" or not is a matter of interpretation.
Re: IBM creates breathing, high-density, light-weight lithium-air battery
#8Sorry to be skeptical, but I can't help but think: Number of "battery breakthrough" news I heard in the last 15 years: >100, Actual battery breakthroughs: 0
There have been quite a few battery breakthroughs at the lab level, especially in the past 3 or 4 years. That is massively different from scaling up manufacture and bringing to market.
Also, I suspect that investors in this sector are hedging their bets and waiting for a clear winner to emerge before spending the big money.
Re: IBM creates breathing, high-density, light-weight lithium-air battery
#9Sorry to be skeptical, but I can't help but think: Number of "battery breakthrough" news I heard in the last 15 years: >100, Actual battery breakthroughs: 0
To add weight to your skepticism the article states, "Eventually (in another 10 years or so), li-ion batteries could be replaced with li-air batteries." !0 years is a long time-frame.
Exactly. 10 years is way past the Technological Event Horizon, which is about 2 years.
Which means that unlike, for example, memristors, lithium air batteries most likely won't happen, and if they do happen, their happening will be a consequence of other research.
(Which is an argument why most research should be fundamental and open-ended, i.e. not directed towards specific outcomes.)
Re: IBM creates breathing, high-density, light-weight lithium-air battery
#10Sorry to be skeptical, but I can't help but think: Number of "battery breakthrough" news I heard in the last 15 years: >100, Actual battery breakthroughs: 0
They invented NiMh batteries that hold their charge for a while; now I can actually use them in game controllers and flashlights and such without needing freshly charged ones every time I've left 'em in the closet for a few weeks.
Not a density breakthrough, but a UX breakthrough for sure.