Technology

58303 readers

16 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

167

Chinese battery developer unveils new tech with 1,300-mile range that could revolutionize EVs: 'An important piece of the puzzle' (www.thecooldown.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

115 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (3 children)

The real numbers we need to see are watts per volume, or watts per mass

You have to chase it down, following the link to electrek.co, but then it says: "the prototype cells house an energy density of 720 Wh/kg"

(of course, I'm just stating what is claimed, no idea how true)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Chase it down? It says 720 Wh/kg in the thumbnail image.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You're right, I didn't see it! I just saw a bunch of chinese writings, which I cannot read, so didn't bother trying to read even the only thing I could 😅

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Yeah, I'm really sick of the hype train, so that was the only info I looked for. Honestly, I was a little surprised it was that easy to find, and that is still no guarantee it's accurate.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

Battery density has been improving steadily for the last three decades.

Battery costs keep falling while quality rises. As volumes increased, battery costs plummeted and energy density — a key metric of a battery's quality — rose steadily. Over the past 30 years, battery costs have fallen by a dramatic 99 percent; meanwhile, the density of top-tier cells has risen fivefold

...

With regards to anodes, a number of chemistry changes have the potential to improve energy density (watt-hour per kilogram, or Wh/kg). For example, silicon can be used to replace all or some of the graphite in the anode in order to make it lighter and thus increase the energy density. Silicon-doped graphite already entered the market a few years ago, and now around 30% of anodes contain silicon. Another option is innovative lithium metal anodes, which could yield even greater energy density when they become commercially available.

What's more, the Chinese market is both the leading producer and consumer of battery technology. So its weird to reflexively doubt that a Chinese firm would release a new higher-efficiency battery design.

Given that this is a prototype, its entirely unclear if the model is cost-efficient to mass manufacture or efficiently scalable based on available resources. But I'm hard pressed to discount the claim on its face simply because its got "China" in the headline.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

I would instantly discount it based purely on not having third party verification or enough details for a third party to replicate.

[+] [email protected] -10 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Racist see China did something good and have to go out of their way to shit on China.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I think you are seeing this as racism when it is just some old good skepticism about a country that is famous for faking everything.

Maybe they really done what they say, or maybe it is just some proof of concept that need to be ported, if possible, to a viable product stage or maybe it is just a fake, we will see.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 7 months ago

Its not even like "China" invented a new battery tech. It's some battery plant in China which is the place where most batteries are created that's innovated on a design.

There are battery plants in Atlanta, Georgia and Heide, Germany who are pursuing similar advancements. They just don't have the money or the manpower equal to their Chinese peers.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

If that's true, 1300 mile range isn't the big deal. Going much over 400mi is pointless if we build proper charging infrastructure. Use wh/kg advancements to reduce weight, nor increase range.

The big thing is that we can build fully electric airplanes with that kind of wh/kg.

Big if, though. Batteries have been improving by 5-8% per year, and while we're not close to theoretical limits yet, this would represent an unprecedented leap all at once. That claim needs more to back it up than a press release.