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On other hand, you can already source lithium batteries of cheaper varieties at below $100 per kWh in large wholesale quantities in China
Zinc/manganese has been around for decades; in fact, it's the standard issue disposable battery: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkaline_battery "An alkaline battery (IEC code: L) is a type of primary battery which derives its energy from the reaction between zinc metal and manganese dioxide." The new permutation which allegedly ups the energy density and allows it to be safely recharged supposedly uses a different el…
Can you explain what "woo" means in this context? I've seen it used a lot lately, but it's new to me.
Reminder: if an article about breakthrough battery tech touts one of energy density, number of cycles, cost, discharge/charge rate, while conspicuously not mentioning the others there is a good reason for that...
> the test battery was able to reach a storage capacity of 285 milliAmpere-hours per gram of manganese oxide over 5,000 cycles, while retaining 92 percent of its initial storage capacity.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160418145631.h...
According to Wikipedia, lithium ion batteries have an energy density of 100–265 Watt-hours per kilogram at 3.6 - 3.8 Volts with 400 - 1,200 cycles. Converting that to Amp-hours (Wh)/(V) =(Ah) means about 74 Ah/Kg in the best case scenario.
I'm not sure if the tech from University of Adelaide is the same as what was published by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and I wasn't able to find any info about discharge/recharge rate, but it looks like it compares very well to lithium ion in the other areas.
Reminder: if an article about breakthrough battery tech touts one of energy density, number of cycles, cost, discharge/charge rate, while conspicuously not mentioning the others there is a good reason for that...
I found an article from April 2016 that talks about an electrolyte breakthrough with zinc and manganese batteries: > the test battery was able to reach a storage capacity of 285 milliAmpere-hours per gram of manganese oxide over 5,000 cycles, while retaining 92 percent of its initial storage capacity. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160418145631.h... According to Wikipedia, lithium ion batteries have an…
Reminder: if an article about breakthrough battery tech touts one of energy density, number of cycles, cost, discharge/charge rate, while conspicuously not mentioning the others there is a good reason for that...
I found an article from April 2016 that talks about an electrolyte breakthrough with zinc and manganese batteries: > the test battery was able to reach a storage capacity of 285 milliAmpere-hours per gram of manganese oxide over 5,000 cycles, while retaining 92 percent of its initial storage capacity. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160418145631.h... According to Wikipedia, lithium ion batteries have an…
For actual apples-to-apples comparison you will want to compare actual battery assemblies -- the numbers reported from labs often exclude parts of the batteries. In this case they are comparing just the MnO2 cathode weight judging by the quote you posted. Some of the wikipedia numbers on Li Ion will also be from articles like this too, so who knows how it reflects on reality.
$1m is a tiny amount to bring a battery to manufacture. That number is about what it costs to set up production to have a LiPo battery in a specific shape for your electronics. If they had said $100m then I'd believe that there was finally going to be a serious competitor to the status quo on batteries.
Even if it was serious you'd have to wait for the patent-enforced monopolies to expire before there is significant benefit to us normal people. This is one of the reasons why everybody is running around with 18650 lithium ion batteries. It's all 1990's tech that has been evolved and improved on since then by numerous competitive businesses.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A kilogram of Zinc costs about $2.50[1] and is enough for an adult man for three months. There is no zinc crunch in the foreseeable future. Plus if it really became a problem you could recycle the zinc out of old batteries. [1] https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/zinc-price
1 kg for 3 months? Maybe 3 lifetimes..
1 kg Zn * 1000 g / kg * 1000 mg / g * 1 day / 11 mg Zn * 1 year / 365.2425 day * 1 male lifespan / 76.04 years = 3.27 lifetimes.
The amount of Zn in one US post-1982 penny is 2.5 g (ignoring the copper cladding), which is 0.62 of a year's requirement.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A kilogram of Zinc costs about $2.50[1] and is enough for an adult man for three months. There is no zinc crunch in the foreseeable future. Plus if it really became a problem you could recycle the zinc out of old batteries. [1] https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/zinc-price
1 kg for 3 months? Maybe 3 lifetimes..
Zinc is very important in the diet and its deficiency is very common. Our food is already becoming scarce in zinc, potentially needing supplements from mined minerals. But these are not projected to last very long either [1]. This doesn't make me very excited for using it for batteries at all. [1] https://www.iatp.org/documents/scarcity-of-micronutrients-in...