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Battery technology has not kept pace with the advances of virtually all other forms of technology. We have to ask ourselves the question why if we are to move forward. There are some who believe the slow evolution of energy research is no accident. In university's anyone who dares to think outside the box concerning energy research takes a massive risk as an example Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann in 1989 ridiculed and virtually outcast from the scientific community for their research on cold fusion. Many think this was intentional character assassination since energy is a trillion dollar industry and today energy is a world power. What are your thoughts?
Because supercapacitor battery will kill very fast the whole internal combustion car industry. You can charge them in no time and cover a lot of miles in one charge. With now days lithium - ion batteries the case is different. They are expensive, they can catch fire easily etc. Supercapacitor batteries are reserved for military applications so far.
At the current time lithium ion batteries have a much higher energy density than super capacitors at 100 ... 265 mW·h/g. Super capacitors have a maximum energy density of 4 ... 9 mW·h/g.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercapacitor
This is far less than lithium ion batteries however super capacitor work done by the universities of Surrey and Bristol may have a serious game changer that push super capacitor energy density’s up to lithium ion energy density’s territory if they can push the patent through and reproduce the technology in to a practical reproducible manufacturing model. Let’s keep fingers crossed and see how that one plays out. I have heard such breakthroughs before that quietly disappeared.
1st there was the led acid battery and it is still widely used for many applications. Many of us who were experimenting with E-vehicles used them and accepted that our vehicles would not have high speed or long range. The automobile industry instead of marketing to the many customers who have shirt to medium commutes a simple utilitarian vehicle decided to use its psychological marketing to push for high HP and long range. This caused a move to lighter batteries. Lithium like oil is easily manipulated because there are only a few places to mine it and therefore it is easy for a few corporations to control access and pricing.
By lobbying the US government energy grants have gone mostly to corporations like GE and others to create lithium batteries. Alternatives such as Sodium batteries and others are under funded, so progress is slow.
Hi Rollin, my main concern is big corporations patenting new technology and then intentionally burying it. Shockingly this has been the case before with new technologies. I have got hopes for super capacitor technology mentioned by Kamen Rusev so I will have to keep an eye on Surrey and Bristol university research and patent regarding their new design super capacitor technology.
It is a real concern. I read a few years back of a man who worked for the US Navy developed a barium reactor which released no radiation. He was very close to making it complete, but he died and the Navy just scooped up all the materials and locked all the other workers and his son out of it.
Fortunately the internet has spawned more interest and courage for whistle blowers to expose hidden agendas and actions.
Batteries, as used in car is not a source of energy rather it is a reservoir of energy. This energy is reserved in the format of electricity in case of both storing and usage. The mechanism behind all these is electrochemistry. When chemistry comes into play, there is little we can do to influence/control it away from its natural dynamics to bring it to our advantage. All we can do is to make an optimization of the reactions taking place to get the best result.
Nano technology might be useful during fabrication of materials of a cell to bring the equilibrium of the chemical reactions in favor of our advantage.
In the periodic table, range of elements suitable for making storage cell is very small and reaction balance is predictable and we can’t go beyond that prediction. We are kind of got stuck by the nature in case of making improvement in battery technology.
It is a real shame to lose new technology in this way. Maybe now the internet is getting bigger reaching more people new discoveries will not be forgotten so easily.
I am quite shocked with the sheer level of money that goes in to energy research more new discoveries have not been made.
I don't understand how you can be shocked. How long have you been watching the Energy Production game? I began participating in the Homesteading and alternative energy mvmnt. Back then the focus was on trying to create site based individual energy production. In the late 70s and through the 80s Corporations such as GE lobbied to get all the grant money. That slowed the progress of the backyard mechanics/scientists and reduced any contributions of universities to almost nothing. The corporations focused on creating such things as solar farms to keep those monthly power bills coming. It was never supposed to be that way.
If you learn anything, believe, as long as the corporations control governments and universities, they will focus on solutions that keep their profits going. The only power we have is to take our own energy production in our hands and spread the knowledge to all on the web. Government reform would help, but look what Trump is going through trying to beat the establishment.
The energy production game is not my main area of expertise however I have noticed how much it has limited new technologies. Now there is more transparency with things like the internet growing it is harder for big corporations and governments to hide what they are doing. With more attention brought to this area it will put pressure on big corporations and governments to invest in new types of energy research.
They will invest and they are, but as I said they tend to invest in large scale solutions so they control the power generation game. Large scale solar and wind farms are very wasteful in distribution networks. Because of power loss in transmission, more power must be supplied therefore more resources used, which must be paid for by the customers.
It is up to those who are awake to spread the message of individual homeowner energy production solutions. When enough of us step out and go off grid, prices will drop and more people will join the crowd. I also think we need to increase mortgages to 40 years or more to pay for it making it possible for more homeowners.
As you said it seems like their main priority is keeping regulatory control, this is the main problem. They are willing to sabotage new ides and projects even character assassination to keep that control at any cost. This has clearly stunted and withheld the industry. It is simply too expensive a layout for most in society to invest in home battery banks and home power generation with the current technology's. We need new low cost alternatives like advances in super capacitor technology. I think that would make a big difference and appears to be the only thing on the horizon at the moment.
Stupid question.
We must feed the factory making batteries.
The stupid user will kill himself with a fuel battery, and relatives will sue.
People themselves manage to accumulate modern accumulators ...
No one will give you a mini-reactor or a fuel cell!
My pleasure ! If there is anything involving electrical engineering that you think deserves a conversation just open a question.
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