Comments on: The Quest for a Better Battery

By: khooper

khooper — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:45:00 +0000

Talking About Mobiles, it seems like fuel cells would only work if we could figure out a way to use nanotechnology to make complex hydrocarbons. There is no way to fit enough single hydrogen atoms on board a car to make fuel cells a reality. A gas just takes up too much space.

By: Jena

Jena — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:31:16 +0000

not unless they have the battery!

By: Darryl

Darryl — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 19:18:52 +0000

And lets not forget about Valence’s Saphion Lithium ion Phosphate, which is a proven technology recently chosen by smith vehicles in the UK for use in their commercial delivery vehicles. And as far as safety, if you haven’t seen this video, it’s quite interesting

http://www.valence.com/technology/safety_video.html

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:58:03 +0000

Not sure what ADVILL means by “big numbers” but Altair has a battery that DOES NOT have safety (ie thermal runaway) issues.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 20:31:47 +0000

My Ford Escape already has a cooling and heating system in place for the hybrid battery. This vehicle has been already fitted with the newest lithium ion hybrid battery for research and current data is revealing very little heat buildup.

By: ADVILL

ADVILL — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:37:34 +0000

Chuck:

From my point of view the holy grail of lithium batts is finding a solution to "runaway" effect in this electro-chemical reaction, as you can see in the webs of the producers (A123, Valence, Saft etc), the problem to solve is handling a 75 lb mass of batts and keeping the charge rate and distribution of charge in the interior under control.

For that, they have different approaches, mathematical-electronic models, inhibitors, nano-approaches to the material etc.

At the moment NOBODY has a foolproof solution for big numbers.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:06:07 +0000

If heat is the major holdup in lithium bateries rush to the market place, why can't you just suck the heat away with a thermal conduit and utilize the heat whereever it is needed?

Chuck

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:13:41 +0000

Regarding the phrase "Toyota just announced their plans to offer a plug-in hybrid to commercial customers by 2010", I copy the following from another post:
"...
What Mr. Watanabe said, when he was commenting on a pair of new hybrids he said would appear next year, was this: "Our long-stated goal is to begin selling a million hybrids per year sometime during the 2010s."

He was saying that sometime in the coming decade, we anticipate selling a million hybrids a year, not that we anticipate doing so in 2010 or before. As you can see, what’s been reported and what Mr. Watanabe said are two different things.
..."

It's from Toyota Open Road Blog and it looks like Toyota can't make it by 2010.