What is Digg?130 Comments
- Shananra, on 12/22/2007, -1/+176For the love of god, quit reporting all these massive leaps in battery technology and put one on the market already!
- notthemama, on 12/22/2007, -2/+112I'll consider it awesome when someone actually releases a product using this technology. We've been seeing such breakthrough announcements for battery technology for 10 years but batteries are still mostly crap.
- TJ11240, on 12/22/2007, -0/+74The biggest problem people have with electric vehicles is range. And now with new battery technologies like this, EV's could become more competitive with IC engines.
- krnldmp, on 12/22/2007, -2/+56Interesting. Last week it held 20x.
- TheAtomicMoose, on 12/22/2007, -4/+49The New and Improved Taser: Now with more viral videos per charge.
- SickMonkey, on 12/22/2007, -0/+21Battery packs are the heaviest and most expensive components in electric cars. If you can reduce their current weight by 90%, you would greatly reduce their cost while also increasing their range and efficiency. A 90% reduction in weight would result in a battery pack that weighs less than a full tank of gas. It also makes the concept of a 500 mile rechargeable car a reality.
- cw1242, on 12/22/2007, -0/+18To all those who are undoubtedly going to claim dupe---shut up. This article goes into much greater detail concerning the technology and processes. This type of technology is much more important than half the other crap that goes up on here so keep your self-righteous cynicism to yourself. How do you think stories make it to the front page---PEOPLE ARE INTERESTED. Just move on next time.
- GfunkGbuss, on 12/22/2007, -0/+15Converting to all fuel cell vehicles would be stupid versus all EV vehicles. We already have a system for transmitting electricity throughout the country, and if you combine them with renewable forms of electricity generation (such as off-shore wind farms), you'd be set for years.
- BigW, on 12/22/2007, -0/+15With batteries like these, I'm not so sure. EV's might be competitive with this kind of power source.
- EtherGnat, on 12/22/2007, -2/+16Comment abuse: This was on the front page two days ago. I only mention it because some may want to go back and read the discussion on that story: http://digg.com/hardware/Researchers_Extend_Lithiu ...
- bonj, on 12/22/2007, -3/+17Awesome, a full day's laptop charge without the bottle of methanol.
- stoanhart, on 12/22/2007, -0/+14Also cool is that these batteries apparently don't loose their capacity over time, like regular LiIon batteries.
I just wish someone, anyone, would bring one of these technologies to the market already! I've been hearing about these revolutionary 10x, 100x, 1000x better, faster, lighter batteries for five years now!
I want to convert my car into a DIY serial hybrid. I need a decent battery. I'm not going to blow a bunch of cash on expensive, low-density batteries that need replacement! - JP42, on 12/22/2007, -0/+13Fuel cells are a distraction created by politicians and oil companies. They are just to give the public the perception that progress is being made, while buy more time for the oil industry. They are 8 times less efficient than EV's right now and over a 100 times more expensive. EV's are the way to go:
http://www.evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=647
Also check out the documentary 'Who Killed The Electric Car?' - sesstreets, on 12/22/2007, -0/+12Cool, well, as long as maybe this new nanowire can prevent them from assploding.
- Feep, on 12/22/2007, -1/+11I'm pretty sure every engineering technology announcement posted on Digg since its inception could technically be classified as vaporware. I estimate about one in fifty will EVER see market realization...
Good luck, nanowires. - inactive, on 12/22/2007, -1/+10 Articles about battery technology are starting to remind me of articles about cancer cures. In both cases I have read over and over about some great new technology that is going to revolutionize everything and in both cases nothing ever comes of it. this must be the fourth new super battery I've heard about in the last decade. I hope this time it makes it to market.
And if parts of the battery swell 4x in size what does that do to the overall size when charged? - Farmer77, on 12/22/2007, -0/+9What's going to come first,
this Nanowire battery or Duke Nukem Forever? - SilverBlade2k, on 12/22/2007, -0/+9Amazing, but we all know what's going to happen to it. Whoever holds the patent for it will sell out to an Oil company, who will in turn just bury it.
- ashlocke, on 12/22/2007, -0/+8The question is, will they cost 10x-20x as much as the existing ones?
- DASK, on 12/22/2007, -0/+7Article misunderstands the science. It's just the anode with higher capacity. Without a change to the cathode, the battery will have about 15%-25% more gravimetric capacity.
- cw1242, on 12/22/2007, -3/+10I wouldn't know, I actually have a life.
- tbenathan, on 12/22/2007, -6/+12I do not believe this whatsoever; they have been talking about making battery improvements since the creation of the StarTac and there have been none since.
I'll believe it when I see it. Till then, it's vaporware. - elnerdo, on 12/22/2007, -2/+8The opposite, really. What people don't realize is that batteries are REALLY FREAKING DANGEROUS. The more energy you put into the battery, the more energy will be unleashed when it breaks. Think about how dangerous Li-ion batteries are already. Multiply that by ten.
- Xanium4332, on 12/22/2007, -0/+6it's been going for a whole week, so it's gonna have ran down a little...
- relaxeder, on 04/17/2009, -0/+6Cool, I can't wait to see this on shelves in fifteen years after the technology's been patented and all the dragged out infringement lawsuits are dealt with.
- Xanium4332, on 12/22/2007, -0/+6U'll short it out.
- Xanium4332, on 12/22/2007, -0/+6Amen to that, not only to batteries, but to everything...
- cowsgonemadd3, on 12/22/2007, -1/+6Dont get your hopes up until its being used....
- VincentVega12, on 12/22/2007, -0/+5They've raised the chocolate ration too!
- alienfubar, on 12/22/2007, -1/+6It doesn't matter how big they will make the battery.. for one reason or another my laptop will still die after an hour.
- Fordi, on 12/23/2007, -0/+3@apeweek:
Ok. You'd need 1500 of http://www.all-battery.com/index.asp?PageAction=VI ... hooked up 300 parallel/5 serial. Pain in the ass, and terribly expensive, but it'd work. Total cost, $19,488 (for 60 of the 25 packs of 14Ah with free shipping).
If you can rebuild your vehicle's electrical system to take other voltages or can put together a cheap DC-DC converter, you can use more esoteric combinations, for example, http://www.all-battery.com/index.asp?PageAction=VI ... has 252Wh on it alone. Still around $18k, but a lot less work to assemble.
In short, it's never goin to be cheap as long as you need it rechargable. - Evi1d33d, on 12/22/2007, -0/+3I think the internal size is just 4X smaller when not charged.
- inactive, on 12/22/2007, -0/+3"Imagine being able to use your iPod for a whole day!" Do you not interact with anyone that you have to have your iPod on for 12 hours at a time?
- Fordi, on 12/23/2007, -0/+3Give me the specs for those EV-size batteries, and I'll bet I can make higher capacity ones from stock cells.
- apeweek, on 12/23/2007, -0/+2I've been tempted to do this myself - cheap nimh AA cells have shown up on the surplus market from time to time (I drive an EV, a very old one - picture here: http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/775 )
Of course, we're talking about LOTS of little cells - each one has about 2 watt-hours - so a 26 kwh battery pack needs 13,000 AA-sized cells.
Cobasys (the company formed by the oil companies to manage the NIMH patents) still makes those large NIMH batteries very hard to get. Here's their FAQ page where they talk about how 'no distribution channel' exists for large NIMH batteries: http://www.cobasys.com/pdf/faq/faq.html
They pretend its because NIMH batteries are dangerous, but of course every other battery tech (much more dangerous than NIMH) is readily for sale. - inactive, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2"I prefer to interact with people who have something smart or interesting to say" is a sad excuse for "I have no friends because I think I'm better than everyone else"
- Jason4000, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2I would be happy with a battery at the current size that has a 1500 mile range. That would satisfy your long distance business guy and vacationer. Recharge it at the hotel and then you have more than a full day of travel with it. I would wonder if recharge times are proportionally longer because of this new found battery capacity.
- Fordi, on 12/23/2007, -0/+2Man, I know serial hybrid is cheaper to build (and much cheaper to convert to all-electric down the line), but they're horribly inefficient compared to their parallel kin. Basically, you save a little when you let the ICE help push, rather than converting its entire output to generator fodder (generators have a 20% loss, minimum).
- coolmanmax2000, on 12/23/2007, -0/+2Cold fission, which is to say, neither because its not going to happen
- spyd3rweb, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2Pocket nuclear device?
- Fordi, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2http://www.metacafe.com/watch/479447/laptop_batter ...
- Fordi, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2You think that until you see an EV pull off. I saw my first one start and go a few weeks ago, and I felt almost gypped by the lack of a 'chchchcvroomrumblerumblebrumble...'
- abadonn, on 12/23/2007, -0/+2Stories like this creep up every few months, I'll believe it when I see it at Target.
- Pritchard, on 12/23/2007, -0/+2People get greedy. Some prick has some sort of patent that prevents anyone from making a move. Stuff sucks like that at times.
- LowFuel, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2You're currently tied down to an outlet? That's kinda kinky.
- BluesFan, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2Who's laughing now energizer bunny!
- inactive, on 12/22/2007, -1/+3Perhaps Santa will deliver these to all the good little boys and girls in Christmas, seeing as it's already available on the market and works perfectly.
- apeweek, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2This is what happened to the NIMH battery. NIMHs were used in the original GM EV-1 car, but they quickly vanished from the market after the patents were sold to Chevron-Texaco. The few remaining electric cars with NIMHs are still going strong with over 100,000 miles on the odometers, but no replacement EV-sized batteries have been allowed to be made, until very recently (I think they know now that Li-Ions will steal the market if they don't relent.)
- PPCG4, on 12/23/2007, -0/+2Fancypants.
- masterofsw, on 12/22/2007, -1/+3I ride my bike on the road all the time. All modern cars are extremely quiet.
The only way I can hear them coming is from the road noise due to the tires, not the engine. -
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