kmguru
12-31-09, 01:11 PM
MIT researchers announce lithium ion battery breakthrough; Industry experts respond
Today’s lithium ion battery technology as it exists today is scarcely an ideal energy storage device. It’s relatively expensive. The chemical formulation that optimizes for energy storage has safety issues and is limited in how fast it can charge and discharge as well as in the number of charge/discharge cycles. The formation that’s optimized for charge/discharge time (some usually some form of LiFePO4 and referred to as “lithium iron phosphate”), has a higher power capacity and is much safer, but is quite poor at energy storage.
Imperfect though they are, as things stand now lithium ion batteries are also a necessary link in the attempt to build a new energy industry that includes alternate forms of renewable but intermittent energy sources, like solar and wind, that require some form of energy storage. Batteries play an even more important role in the quest for a practical plug-in electric hybrid vehicle (PHEV) (aka extended-range vehicle or ERV) that requires a battery that can enable at least 40 miles of driving before the car’s small internal combustion engine kicks in for longer distances. Improvements in battery technology are necessary before renewable energy and petroleum-free transportation can be a reality.
More: http://www.edn.com/blog/1470000147/post/1550041955.html?nid=3351&rid=4325702
Today’s lithium ion battery technology as it exists today is scarcely an ideal energy storage device. It’s relatively expensive. The chemical formulation that optimizes for energy storage has safety issues and is limited in how fast it can charge and discharge as well as in the number of charge/discharge cycles. The formation that’s optimized for charge/discharge time (some usually some form of LiFePO4 and referred to as “lithium iron phosphate”), has a higher power capacity and is much safer, but is quite poor at energy storage.
Imperfect though they are, as things stand now lithium ion batteries are also a necessary link in the attempt to build a new energy industry that includes alternate forms of renewable but intermittent energy sources, like solar and wind, that require some form of energy storage. Batteries play an even more important role in the quest for a practical plug-in electric hybrid vehicle (PHEV) (aka extended-range vehicle or ERV) that requires a battery that can enable at least 40 miles of driving before the car’s small internal combustion engine kicks in for longer distances. Improvements in battery technology are necessary before renewable energy and petroleum-free transportation can be a reality.
More: http://www.edn.com/blog/1470000147/post/1550041955.html?nid=3351&rid=4325702