A car battery that won't need replacement for a million miles or 20 years, whichever comes first, might be coming to Tesla.
Last year, a team from the Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, who do research for Tesla, said in a paper that they had tested lithium-ion battery cell chemistry expected to be able to power electric vehicles (EVs) for more than 1 million miles and last at least two decades in grid energy storage.
Jeff Dahn and his research team presented testing results of “excellent moderate-energy-density lithium-ion pouch cell chemistry” that should be able to power an electric vehicle for over 1.6 million kilometers (1 million miles) and last at least two decades in grid energy storage.
The researchers from Dalhousie University have an exclusive agreement with Tesla, and they reported that they had designed battery cells with higher energy density without using the solid-state electrolyte that many believe is a necessary condition for enhanced density.I don't drive much - for all the appropriate reasons - but it would take me a mildly unrealistic 285 years to log a million miles. A million miles over 20 years, that's 50,000 miles every year. That sounds only slightly more plausible.
Of course the automotive application is really about Musk's strategy to transform Tesla into an energy company.
What we all dream of is an electric car that can drive long distances on a single charge which can be recharged in under 15 minutes and cost no more than your average economy car. There is a lot of battery research these days striving to meet that goal.
ReplyDeleteTeslas have great technology but are way out of my budget. Fortunately, electric cars have been around long enough to reach the resale market and deals abound. More importantly, when electric cars are no longer serviceable, such as after a crash, the batteries are being rescued and reused. There are markets for them as backups for solar panels and for inventors who convert cars and trucks to electric.
I grew up , in the UK, in the sixties with milk delivery done daily by operators using battery run milk carts.
ReplyDeleteDuring those years I honed my skills as an apprentice within the automotive industry with emphasis on electrical repairs.
The company I worked for did work for the Tetley brewery in Leeds UK.
Tetleys were a progressive company in that they tested all avenues for advertising and efficiency.
At one end of the scale they re introduced shire horse driven beer delivery wagons and at the other , their mechanics successfully produced a functional Austin Cambridge, conversion, battery driven vehicle which was used to pick up small items around town.
Battery driven vehicles are not new, neither is electric mass transit such as trams.
I think I can safely say that the use of electricity was destroyed by the petroleum industry so as to replace it with their own product.
Elon Musk is, to be polite, a odd person, but one that borders upon genius.
His belief in battery technology is well founded.
Battery technology leaps forward almost weekly, much to the chagrin of the fossil fuel industry whose product is little different to what it was 100 years ago.
TB
Toby, I think Musk is using Tesla as a testing lab for developing advanced battery technology. The automotive aspect of the company is a sideline. Either way, good on him.
ReplyDeleteTB, living in East Dulwich I used to see the milk man pull up in what I recall was a 3-wheeler milk float, deliberately small to navigate those narrow streets that often had parked vehicles lining both curbs. I found them cramped and I was riding a BSA Lightning.
ReplyDeleteDo you recall a small, 3-wheeler?
This throws shade at Moores latest film where lithium mining was a reason electric cars don't work. A million mile battery would require lithium extraction , but at longer intervals thus minimizing environmental degradation.
ReplyDeleteMost of the anti renewable vitriol in the movie used the same type of shallow, flawed thought.
@ Mound.
ReplyDeleteI do remember the three wheelers some of which guided along the road by a steering handle!
That delivery method is still viable in areas of concentrated housing.
Solar power generation also faces an up hill battle.
Many incentives to install panels have been removed and in some US jurisdictions they are taxed!
Such is the power of the fossil fuel industry.
TB
I just mowed for an hour with the ride-on I converted to battery electric. Now it's charging on the current from the solar panels . Life is good .
ReplyDelete@ Rumley,
ReplyDeleteI am impressed.
I would like to see how you did it?
I am considering a battery operated Stihl as my next mower but have a large area to cut.
TB
Trailblazer:
ReplyDeleteGoogle EVAlbum; go to by type; go to tractors and mowers;scroll to John McManus ariens.Contact info is there.
Trailblazer:
ReplyDeleteI remembered an easier way. EV album 3340.