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RGR, a fun little game you are playing, so you can feel so superior.
Old Rocks said:I appreciate Mathew's posts concerning the technological efforts to improve solar and batteries.
Old Rocks said:And many people are starting to put solar on their roofs and wind has already acheived more than parity with fossil fuel, as will solar before 2020.
Old Rocks said:Then it is just a matter of altering our grid for the advent of a distributed grid. Much better for all of us, even those that are only consumers.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln engineers have doubled the efficiency of a prominent solar cell technology by unraveling the origins of a phenomenon known to hinder cell performance, stability and evaluation.
The researchers investigated a persistent problem with solar cells made of perovskite, which refers both to a type of atomic structure and any material that features it.
As a naturally abundant and inexpensive material, perovskite has gained significant interest among solar cell manufacturers and researchers in recent years. However, a certain class of perovskite-based cell exhibits photocurrent hysteresis – undesirable shifts in electrical conductivity that arise when applying increasing or decreasing amounts of voltage to a cell for the purpose of measuring its photocurrent.
Led by Jinsong Huang, associate professor of mechanical and materials engineering, the research group determined that this hysteresis results from the presence of "traps" that can ensnare electrons and consequently reduce electric current.
These traps also diminish the lifespan of perovskite-based devices and complicate measurements of how efficiently such devices convert sun.
Startup Seeo has developed batteries that store far more energy than conventional ones, which could extend the range of electric cars.
An experimental lithium-ion battery based on materials developed at a U.S. Department of Energy lab stores twice as much energy as the batteries used in most electric cars.
If the technology can be commercialized, it could give affordable electric cars a range of over 200 miles per charge, says Hal Zarem, CEO of Seeo, a startup that’s working on the technology. Today the cheapest electric cars, which cost around $30,000, typically have a range of less than 100 miles.
Alternatively, the improved storage capacity could be used to cut the size of battery packs in half while maintaining the current driving range, making electric vehicles considerably cheaper. A conventional battery pack with a range of 100 miles costs roughly $10,000.
Seeo, which is based in Hayward, California, recently raised $17 million from investors, including Samsung Ventures. It plans to start shipping batteries to potential customers for evaluation next year.
An experimental lithium-ion battery based on materials developed at a U.S. Department of Energy lab stores twice as much energy as the batteries used in most electric cars.
Seeo has DryLyte batteries which is entirely solid-state, containing no liquid or gel components in the polymer electrolyte. It is a transformational solid-state battery technology based on a nanostructured solid polymer electrolyte. However, their current energy density is not better than what is in the Tesla Model S.
A group led by Noritaka Mizuno, professor at the School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo has a new battery which uses the oxidation-reduction reaction between oxide ions and peroxide ions at the positive electrode. The group proved that peroxides are generated and dispersed due to charge and discharge reactions by using a material made by adding cobalt (Co) to the crystal structure of lithium oxide (Li2O) for the positive electrode, verifying a battery system based on a new principle.
The new technology can realize an energy density seven times higher than that of existing lithium (Li)-ion rechargeable batteries, increase capacity, lower price and enhance safety. It is expected to be used for batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) and next-generation stationary batteries. The peroxide battery has a theoretical capacity of 897mAh per 1g of the positive/negative electrode active material, voltage of 2.87V and theoretical energy density of 2,570Wh/kg.
At that time, the energy density is 370Wh per 1kg of the positive/negative electrode active material, which is about seven times higher than that of existing Li-ion rechargeable batteries using LiCoO2 positive electrodes and graphite negative electrodes.
Tungsten has extreme resistance to heat. It is the lowest risk material for the next step of our experiment. They need to eliminate evaporation of the electrode and the resulting impurities to get a jump in the density of our plasmoid, and in the resulting fusion energy output or yield. They have firm experimental evidence that tungsten does not erode under the condition FF-1 is currently running.
They will confirm or refine the theories and technique, paving the way for the beryllium extrudes. Beryllium electrode are expected to be ordered in January, with delivery in the first half of 2015.
LPP Fusion is also preparing for the switch from using deuterium as a fuel to their final aneutronic fuel, hydrogen-boron or pB11. They have checked their 250-gm supply of decaborane—the compound of hydrogen and boron they intend to use. Chief Research Officer Dr. Hamid R. Yousefi has selected the safety equipment they need, such as glove boxes to handle the material, whose vapor is somewhat noxious. They are in the process of designing and purchasing the equipment needed to heat the device to approximately 120 C, needed to create the vapor pressure to fill the vacuum chamber. While it is still months before they are ready to run with decaborane, we will be ready to make the transition with as few delays as possible.
The new Tungsten anode and cathodes are expected to solve an arcing and contamination problem. Solving those problems should boost the power from the boost the power produced by the LPP fusion device by fifty times.
Then they need to up the current to get a further ten times gain and then 20 times gain by going to heavier proton-boron fuel.
Elon Musk got on Twitter last night (or early this morning) to announced a Christmas present for Tesla Roadster owners. The Tesla sports car, with a new upgrade, can travel 400 miles without recharging. As Musk noted in the tweet, that’s enough to get from Los Angeles to San Francisco without taking a break to charge.
In a follow-up post published today on the Tesla Motors blog, Tesla explains that this is simply the result of sharing with the Roadster what the Model S battery has developed into. Tesla was also careful to point out that this is not the result of upgrades that will work their way up to the Model S, Model X, Model 3, etc. The first, summary line of the blog reads: “The Roadster 3.0 package applies what we’ve learned in Model S to Roadster. No new Model S battery pack or major range upgrade is expected in the near term.”
The battery in battery-electric vehicles is the essence of electric vehicles’ fall from grace early in the 20th century and its rise again this century. At the stage batteries were at for decades, electric cars simply couldn’t have long range and be affordable. That has quickly been changing, thanks especially to lithium-ion batteries. Tesla, since its first car (the Roadster) to today, has even seen (and helped to bring about) a massive improvement in the technology. The Roadster is just being brought up to today’s level of battery development.
However, Tesla is also improving the Roadster’s range and efficiency with aerodynamics and better tires. Here are the three key improvements summarized by Tesla:
1. Batteries
The original Roadster battery was the very first lithium ion battery put into production in any vehicle. It was state of the art in 2008, but cell technology has improved substantially since then. We have identified a new cell that has 31% more energy than the original Roadster cell. Using this new cell we have created a battery pack that delivers roughly 70kWh in the same package as the original battery.
2. Aerodynamics
The original Roadster had a drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.36. Using modern computational methods we expect to make a 15% improvement, dropping the total Cd down to 0.31 with a retrofit aero kit.
3. Rolling Resistance
The original Roadster tires have a rolling resistance coefficient (Crr) of 11.0 kg/ton. New tires that we will use on the Roadster 3.0 have a Crr of roughly 8.9 kg/ton, about a 20% improvement. We are also making improvements in the wheel bearings and residual brake drag that further reduce overall rolling resistance of the car.
Overall, this comes to a 40–50% improvement in range, Tesla writes. However, Roadster 3.0, as Tesla is calling it, won’t be the final frontier of the Roadster. It is confident it will be providing more updates to its first, breakthrough vehicle.
But why would anyone WANT to go from LA to Frisco unless they were into the gay bath house scene?
But why would anyone WANT to go from LA to Frisco unless they were into the gay bath house scene?
They have. And they have determined they don't have an extra 100k to spend on a toy.Weird how the so called free market people come out against a business man like Musk. Shouldn't we allow the consumer to make this choice?
