They hid the news in the title.
That is to say, replacing graphite with silicon—used in solar cells—not to be confused with silicone—used in house products.
Using a cheaper product would be significant if it hit mainstream and lowered the cost of batteries, while also not reducing current charge times of most EV’s.
Breakthrough tech is always being testing. Until it works well and can be scaled at low cost, it doesn’t matter for the mainstream.
scaled at low cost
This is the kicker. There are a number of great battery technologies out there, but they require materials like platinum or palladium. If you need to power a $250M satellite, that’s an acceptable cost. A $35k car? Not so much…
Yep. Cost is much, much bigger issue than the charging speed. I would argue that the current charging speeds are already fast enough, especially in the 800V architectures.
For 7 passenger and below passenger vehicles I totally agree however the space for hybrid chemistry batteries in ultra long haul EV’s still needs to be built out.
Heavy trucking, and the like along with towing either require more frequent stops or higher speed charging.
The problem I have with all of this …Is we are already at the limit for charging at home. It is not the car battery it is the capacity of the home power connections. And… the high capacity DC charging systems are not as prevalent as needed.
Today it is about the chargers, not so much the battery.
Yes a dramatically more efficient car will help… but these articles are all about batteries - and every bit does help. These articles I believe slow down adoption, by leading people to think a great improvement is just around the corner… “I better wait”
1: it really does seem that competition is heating up across the world in the battery space. I’m especially interested in what happens with battery miniaturization. I want my 2 week phone charge!
2: goddamn are 1st and 2nd gen EVs gonna depreciate hard. Can’t wait to buy a taycan for $5 in 2028
2: goddamn are 1st and 2nd gen EVs gonna depreciate hard. Can’t wait to buy a taycan for $5 in 2028
I dunno. At the current rate, 2028 new EVs might be a million dollars and old ones will retain their value. I hope I’m wrong, but holy shit are new cars expensive.
If you are wondering why every legacy automaker is seemingly acting bizarre and illogical, this is why.
What happens when every car on that list casually does 300HP with 1000 mile range? With innovations in battery and fabrication (i.e. gigacasting), will EVs be more difficult or significantly easier to develop than ICE? What happens to profit margins then?
The past 100 years have no hold over the future 10.
Mass production is still a huge hurdle for startups and a reason legacy automakers won’t be going away anytime soon. You can get some engineers and fabricators together to develop a new EV, but they’re going to need massive investments that can withstand several years of losing money to get it off the ground and produce any meaningful number of vehicles.
Production: Before the decade is out new EVs will be cheaper than used ICE vehicles and have comparable or better specs.
As the owner of an EV, I’m a bit worried about depreciation.
As a parent of several children who will be going away to college and likely need cars when they do, I’ve been making mental guesses about how long it’ll be before one of them gets an EV when that happens, because it’s much cheaper than ICE equivalents.
The one that’s going in 3-years? Possibly. 7 years? Quite likely. 11? I’d be shocked if they didn’t leave home with an affordable used EV.
What makes you say that? Newer EVs are getting cheaper and cheaper. Just look the Citroen e-C3 for example.
In the context of where I live. EVs and new cars in general are horrifically expensive in Canada.
OP is also completely ignoring that just like every other battery “breakthrough” you see on the internet every week, most likely this one is too expensive, doesn’t upscale, or most likely, both.
The Taycan is a great car and always will be. Maybe it does not have the range of a car from 2035, but it has lots of other good features.
Not any harder than any other vehicle. Check the resell of any previous generation vehicle.
it really does seem that competition is heating up across the world in the battery space.
Heating up? There’s been dozens of billions poured into battery tech research over the past decade. We’re just finally starting to see some real-world-applicable chemistries like sodium-ion and sulfur-selenium.
Like with many other technologies, cost and complexity of manufacturing is the major hurdle. Over on r/batteries, you’ll see the new “wundertech” announcements every few weeks, but the only really new chemistry that’s hit the markets recently is sodium ion, and b/c of energy density problems, that’s got a pretty limited use profile (e.g. fixed installations).
This battery tech doesn’t look that great, TBH, and it’s nothing new. Every battery can charge in 5 minutes - how much is can charge without damage is what matters, and this tech as it stands is no better than existing lithium.
2 - this is where the TCO analysis between a Corolla hybrid and an EV breaks down for me. A Bolt is cheaper after 8-9 years if you buy it BUT accounting for depreciation/leasing means it’s just not worth it, especially considering the convenience of the Corolla.
Even if the TCO is equal, there so many advantages to an EV that I wouldn’t want to go back to ICE
In general I’d agree. But a Corolla is as maintenance free as they come, and easier and cheaper to have repaired than an EV. I don’t particularly care for fueling it in the winter, but with a 570 mi range that would only be five minutes if once or twice a month. That leaves oil changes, but I just get those done when swapping winter tires (a necessity in Canada) so that’s no more inconvenience.
The pros are never having to charge 2-3 times on my 550 km road trips (availability and cost for chargers are still an issue in Canada). Not having to worry about finding charging when going on camping trips. No worries about the battery in winter. Less tire wear. Slightly cheaper insurance. Not having to install a home charger in my rental. Oh, and the Corolla is much better looking/equipped than a Bolt.
Hybrid wins easily for my use case.
1: it really does seem that competition is heating up across the world in the battery space. I’m especially interested in what happens with battery miniaturization. I want my 2 week phone charge!
Batteries have gotten much, much, much more energy dense in the last 10 years. Your phone has also gotten much, much, much more power hungry.
I wouldn’t expect any big leaps here. I don’t think there are any big leaps in technology on the horizon for small lithium-ion.
I want my 2 week phone charge!
Phone makers: Good news everyone! With this new battery technology we’re able to make the phone 2% smaller and the battery still lasts checks notes 9.5 hours!