Tag Archives: battery

Can Zinc batteries save us?

Posted on February 17, 2019 by

Preface: The New York Times had two articles about zinc air batteries in September 2018.  Right now, finite natural gas is the dominant way of balancing unreliable, outright missing, or intermittent power from wind and solar.  So other energy storage … Continue reading →

Posted in Batteries, Energy Storage, Lithium-ion | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Peak Cobalt

Posted on April 14, 2018 by

Preface. I don’t think electric vehicles are going to happen for reasons specified in these related articles.  I’ve left out all the posts in Peak Everything dealing with important, rare earth, and lithium minerals from this list plus the posts … Continue reading →

Posted in Important Minerals | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

If we really cared about CO2, we’d reduce car size and weight, not make electric cars

Posted on December 8, 2017 by

Preface. Since my book “When trucks stop running: Energy and the future of transportation makes the case that it’s trucks that need to be electrified to keep civilization going, since biofuels don’t scale up, natural gas and liquefied coal are … Continue reading →

Posted in Automobiles, Electrification | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Given the laws of physics, can the Tesla Semi really go 500 miles, and what will the price be?

Posted on November 21, 2017 by

Preface: Most people think that electric truck makers need to tell us the specs — the battery kWh, price, performance, and so on — before we can possibly know anything about their truck. But that’s simply not true.  We know … Continue reading →

Posted in Electric Trucks, Electric trucks impossible, Fuel Efficiency, Lithium-ion | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Anyone who whines about airplanes should have to take the Oregon Trail

Posted on June 20, 2017 by

Source: Book cover of “Oregon Or Bust: True Short Stories from the Descendants of Oregon Trail Pioneers, Prospectors, Trappers, and Settlers in the Great Northwest Hardcover” by Gentry Ward Cutsforth (2012), XLibris. [ In addition, I recommend the Louis CK … Continue reading →

Posted in Airplanes, Lithium-ion, Transportation | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

How are energy storage batteries coming along? U.S. House hearing 2015

Posted on April 5, 2017 by

[ My favorite quotes from this U.S. House of Representatives session: THOMAS MASSIE, KENTUCKY. I want to say this has been a very enlightening hearing, and it confirms my personal experience, which is batteries are not sexy. Buckets of acid … Continue reading →

Posted in Batteries, Energy Policy, Energy Storage | Tagged , | Comments Off on How are energy storage batteries coming along? U.S. House hearing 2015

How is California’s AB2514 experiment with utility scale battery storage coming along?

Posted on December 3, 2016 by

[ This is an excellent article by Tod Kiefer about tests of sodium-sulfur batteries, which are the only kind of battery for which there is enough material on earth to make. Battery electric storage is meant to “replace nimble, fast-ramping … Continue reading →

Posted in Batteries, Battery - Utility Scale, Electricity | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Notes from “The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World” by Steve LeVine

Posted on December 2, 2016 by

[ My notes from 2015 “The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World” by Steve LeVine follow this introduction. I read this book because I’ve done extensive research on batteries and was surprised by all the … Continue reading →

Posted in Automobiles, Batteries, Energy | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Just 16,000 catenary trucks would use 1% of California’s electricity generation, all vehicles 2.5 times more power than available

Posted on August 22, 2016 by

We must electrify trucks since fuel from oil, coal, and natural gas is finite, and biomass doesn’t scale up.  Without transportation, electricity contraptions like wind turbines, solar facilities, and nuclear power plants can’t be built. A wind turbine, for example, … Continue reading →

Posted in Electric Trucks, Electric trucks impossible, When Trucks Stop Running | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Utility scale energy storage batteries limited by materials and few locations for pumped hydro, compressed air

Posted on August 14, 2016 by

[ Natural gas is finite, but aside from (pumped) hydropower, natural gas is the main way wind and solar are balanced now. Therefore, a tremendous amount of energy storage will be needed in the future as natural gas declines. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy Resources, Batteries, Energy Storage | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments