Battery Innovation

SubLGT · Sep 7, 2017

It seems that every week there is a press announcement from a university or other research organization touting a "breakthrough" in battery technology. But these "breakthroughs" rarely seem to materialize in commercially available batteries.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2017/09/20170907-nwu.html

...The path to bringing more efficient, effective, and economical batteries to market over the last 25 years is overwhelmingly littered with failure…

...Now, however, in a recent paper published in MRS Energy & Sustainability, Vinayak Dravid, the Abraham Harris chaired professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering...propose an updated model of US battery commercialization…

...With more economical and energy-dense batteries holding the potential to solve contemporary energy challenges—such as balancing the intermittency problems of renewables and making possible electric transportation fleets—the researchers believe applying the pharma-inspired development pipeline to batteries can breed rich, transformative technologies...

markr6 · Sep 7, 2017

Yeah I always have to laugh at these. The research may indirectly lead to something down the road, but they never seem to go anywhere. Just a nice headline for the engineering/technology publications.

Timothybil · Sep 7, 2017

Yeah, a lot of it is just part of the 'Publish or Perish" mindset, but as many of those researchers find out, it's along way from the lab to the manufacturing plant, and many otherwise good discoveries just don't make it for one reason or another.

magellan · Sep 10, 2017

No doubt there's some truth to it, but this announcement strikes me as even less impressive than most because it's really just about better marketing rather than improvements in the basic science or technology.

Enderman · Sep 10, 2017

Just ignore all these "new battery technology" articles.
When a new battery technology actually enters the consumer market then you can start caring about it.
Otherwise it's just a waste of time and hope.

magellan · Sep 11, 2017

Right on.

KhazukX · Sep 11, 2017

I'm still waiting for some of those atomic batteries described by H. Beam Piper in his sci-fiction novels.

Seriously, if only battery technology could match half the progress being made in other fields- what wonders we could have had by now.

Battery Innovation

SubLGT

Flashlight Enthusiast

markr6

Flashaholic

Timothybil

Flashlight Enthusiast

magellan

Honorary Aussie

Enderman

Enlightened

magellan

Honorary Aussie

KhazukX

Newly Enlightened

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