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technology?
The Telegraph
Matthew Sparkes19 hrs ago
University of Michigan spin-off - but they are yet to commercialise it. The
tricky bit is inventing a decent manufacturing process, rather than
developing the science - the concept is well established but they're not easy
to make cheaply.
The company claims to have produced a battery with an energy density of
1,100 watt hours per litre of volume, which would be around 50 per cent
better than lithium-ion batteries, but this has not been independently
tested.
Lithium-ion
This is the kind of battery already found in most consumer electronics and
electric cars. They include a flammable liquid electrolyte so can be
dangerous if damaged.
They were first proposed in the 1970s but it wasn't until 1991 that Sony and
Asahi Kasei launched the first commercial unit. Now they're everywhere.
There's lots of talk about potential replacements for lithium-ion, but so far
nothing has been up to the job. Gradual improvements in cost, storage
density and manufacturing economies of scale mean it's still the best
choice for many applications.
In fact, Tesla is currently building a $5bn "Gigafactory" in Nevada to build
them on such a scale that it will cut production costs by 30 per cent.
EvenApple is poaching battery engineers to create its own research
division. So it looks like the technology is here to stay for some time yet.
Lithium-sulfur
These batteries were used on the first solar-powered airplane flight in 2008
- PV panels powered the craft's propeller and also recharged batteries
during the day to maintain power throughout the night. Sion Power is one of
the companies working on these devices, receiving a $5m grant from the
US government in 2010 and $50m investment from BASF in 2012. It claims
that the technology could eventually see energy density of 2,600 watt
hours per litre of volume.
Supercapacitors