There seems to be a lot going on behind the scenes in the battery sector - rumors that IBM is working on a battery which can do 500 miles per full charge. There is even talk of a battery which can do 1000 miles per full charge but it might not be rechargeable.
Do you think we are on the verge of a major breakthrough?
I’d LIKE to think so but I don’t. There have been rumors of improvements for years and they’re always just “a few years away”.
I suspect we’ll see incremental improvements over a few years but nothing revolutionary. There’s only so many chemistries you can use to generate electricity in a rechargeable, storage device. There’s plenty of financial incentives to make these improvements so I don’t think it’s a lack of motivation.
The other thing of course is that the technology has to be “affordable”. Even if there was something exciting (LiFEPO4 comes to mind), if it’s too expensive it won’t impact the marketplace except in very niche markets where cost is less important.
Just my opinion of course, I’m not a chemist or battery insider!
Al