Why can't we figure out a better way to store energy?!

After over 100 years we can't come up with something better?! Are we just collectively incapable of innovative thinking when it come to energy storage or is the battery/fossil fuel lobby that strong?

That car should be powered by a module no larger than a toaster that allows for over 500 miles of driving at over 80 miles an hour, recharges in 2 minutes or less and should be able to hold the energy for 30 days when the vehicle is not in use. It should last a minimum of 10 years, have no moving parts and weigh less than 10 pounds.

The energy storage module should be a smaller version of industrial size modules capable of keeping a major office building running for a week without any energy input at all. It should be part of an entirely new family of energy storage modules that put an end to engines, generators and anything that runs on fossil fuels.

Hybrid cars are a joke and should be seen as a technological embarrassement. That's the best we can do?!! And this, a 100 miles, at what 45 miles an hour - oh, I guess they'll put a speaker on it that makes wind noise so you'll feel like your moving faster. We can do better - and the day we stand up, stop whining and put our minds to changing this world, the better off we will be. If we don't, in the end we'll be fighting to plug in to the last working wall socket, powered by the last fossil fuel plant to drive on the last open road.

If we can't do better than this, we might as well go back to horses .

One reason (not the only one) is the siphoning of creative and technological talent to the military-industrial complex. Cut the military budget in half (or so; we really don't need to spend more than the rest of the world combined to deter others or fight terrorism) and watch a thousand technical innovations bloom!

It's all about the battery. Let's all hope and pray that the next battery break thru occurs sooner than later and we get NUMEROUS e-cars to choose from soon. I'm a drop top kinda guy myself. Let's hope the next cash for clunkers program to come around is only good when we trash our fossil fuel burners.

We do come up with things that are better -- all the time.

21 years ago, newly introduced nickel-metal hydride batteries were the bees knees, boasting a then energy density of 45 Wh/kg. Today, the best li-ions have an energy density of over 220Wh/kg. Even the more stable cells, like you find in the Leaf, are probably in the 140Wh/kg range. Energy density rises at about 8% per year and shows no signs of stopping.

Yes, we'd like some big leaps or a rate that rises as fast as computer performance, but that's not how things generally work. But the tech absolutely is improving every year.

People are certainly trying, but I guess it just isn't so easy to have a world-changing discovery. I tend to agree that there must be some better way to store electrical energy (or convert it to a more easily stored form that can be converted back rapidly when needed.) eestor was trumpeting their ultra-high capacitor, and I've wondered about all kinds of things like flywheels and wind power, etc., but probably it's just going to be some revolutionary new battery chemistry that someone will discover. The other end of the solution may turn out to be more tractable, and that is to reduce the need for people to travel long distances, so that batteries that can transport us 100 miles will be deemed more than adequate. With telecommuting and enhanced public transportation like high-speed rail, we may not feel much of a need for breakthrough energy storage technology for personal vehicles. Storage/parking could turn out to be more of a problem. If we can get out of the commute-in-your-own-car mindset batteries may just become less important.

prius said:

That car should be powered by a module no larger than a toaster that allows for over 500 miles of driving at over 80 miles an hour, recharges in 2 minutes or less and should be able to hold the energy for 30 days when the vehicle is not in use. It should last a minimum of 10 years, have no moving parts and weigh less than 10 pounds.

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I guess you are talking about this ?

Assuming EV cars "catch on" the rate of advancement will increase. Also assuming there is some form of capitalistic system that survives that incentivizes innovation in something other than financial products.

I am not familiar with the source and am not equipped to evaluate all the competing claims, but I found the attached summary interesting on the cost curve and life of automotive batteries.

http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/1090.html

prius said:

Hybrid cars are a joke and should be seen as a technological embarrassement.

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Oh, do you mean it? Especially in the PHEV variant, assisted hybrids via additional batt. pack - these can provide ~150mpg easily on shorter distances. Hybrids or PHEV variant is just a tool for a special task, if you plan to use it on >100mi highway roundtrips daily, it won't work, in that case get a modern euro-diesel or natural gas vehicle. Perhaps, there is a problem in the driver and broader societal arrangement if it compels him/her to commute these freaky distances and expecting to be it on the cheap or with no energy signature..

Yes, if we had spent that trillion on reasearch instead of Iraq war, I'm sure we would have better batteries by now.

Electronics industry has given false hope to people in every area. Things don't improve at the same rate in every field. Just because we have figured out how to put more transistors on silicon doesn't mean laws of physics have been suspended.

That car should be powered by a module no larger than a toaster that allows for over 500 miles of driving at over 80 miles an hour, recharges in 2 minutes or less and should be able to hold the energy for 30 days when the vehicle is not in use. It should last a minimum of 10 years, have no moving parts and weigh less than 10 pounds.

Click to expand...

Just because OP has this fantasy, doesn't mean it will come true.

Indeed, not even gasoline can do that, for all but the most hyper-efficient vehicles.