Lots of promising new battery technology

After today posting "Electric vehicle reality check", thought perhaps a good idea to do another post with a more positive slant:

https://bkhome.org/news/202212/electric-vehicle-reality-check.html

Lately, have been reading about promising new battery technologies. Some of them will alleviate the environmental disaster that is lithium mining and processing. Some are safer, faster to charge, more recharge cyslces, deeper discharge, etc.

For stationary storage, there is the Gelion battery, which can never catch fire, can be discharged to 0%, environmentally friendly and low cost:

https://createdigital.org.au/australian-developed-stationary-battery-safer-and-greener/

...they have started small-scale production at a factory in Victoria, Australia.

For an alternative technology for stationary storage, how about this; gravity storage using 35-tonne blocks:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/17/new-battery-technology-could-be-a-game-changer-for-regional-australian-communities

There are always new announcements of fantastic battery technologies for electric vehicles, but what has caught my attention is sodium-ion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZdWxWtQBHs

...how much of this is hype?

Actually, what got me interested in sodium-ion batteries was a post by this guy, in his "Just have a think" series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHNELRnJ_4Y

...he does sober, unbiased, non-hype assessments.

It was on the news here a few days ago, someone's house burnt down, when they left a lithium-powered skateboard on charge. Spontaneous combustion and explosion of lithium-ion batteries is quite common, so we really do need an alternative.

I guess as 2023 progresses, we shall see how true the uptake of sodium-ion battery becomes. If the YouTube posts are to be believed, the Chinese company CATL is already building huge battery production plants in China and Europe, with cars due to hit the streets in 2023.

Interesting times, hey!   

Tags: tech