Category Archives: Batteries

Hybrid electric trucks are very different from HEV cars

Posted on June 7, 2016 by

Preface. The National Research Council paper I review in this post explains why it is hard to transfer auto hybrid technology to trucks.  They are entirely different animals — medium-duty trucks weigh up to 10 times more, have up to … Continue reading →

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Electric truck & car range less in cold weather

Posted on June 4, 2016 by

Preface. What follows are two articles. The first has excerpts from Calstart’s study of the effects cold weather had on lithium and Sodium Nickel Chloride e-truck batteries. The second article is from Consumer Reports, which says that half of driving … Continue reading →

Posted in Automobiles, Batteries, Cold weather, Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Electrification, Trucks: Electric | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

The periodic table limits battery development

Posted on December 15, 2015 by

Preface. My book, When Trucks Stop Running, makes the case that civilization ends when trucks stop running.  The replacement for diesel fuel that everyone expects, especially because Elon Musk has told them it’s on the way, are battery electric trucks. … Continue reading →

Posted in Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Electric Vehicles, Lithium-ion | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Would Tesla, SolarCity or SpaceX exist without $4.9 billion in government subsidies?

Posted on June 5, 2015 by

[ Tesla has made no new battery breakthroughs. Batteries aren’t much better today than they were 200 years ago.  All Tesla did was build a better battery management system (BMS) by stringing tiny batteries together — thousands of them.  But … Continue reading →

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All Electric Trucks. Probably not going to happen. Ever. Why not?

Posted on April 14, 2015 by

There are “forms of transport that cannot be electrified — heavy-duty trucks and planes… Even if the electricity problem can be solved, it won’t address the needs of planes, trucks, ships and some industrial heating that cannot be electrified” (Long). … Continue reading →

Posted in Batteries, Lithium-ion, Trucks | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

What is the life span of a vehicle Lithium-ion Battery?

Posted on January 1, 2015 by

How long a lithium-ion battery will last depends on many factors Lithium-ion battery life is defined in studies as beyond its useful life when its capacity falls by 20 percent or more. Lithium-ion batteries start to degrade as soon as … Continue reading →

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Revolutionary understanding of phsics needed to improve batteries – don’t hold your breath

Posted on August 19, 2014 by

What this Department of Energy document shows is that we can’t make the necessary REVOLUTIONARY breakthroughs to electrify cars until we understand the physics of batteries, and points out that “battery technology has not changed substantially in nearly 200 years.” … Continue reading →

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American Physical Society: has the Battery Bubble Burst?

Posted on July 15, 2014 by

Aug/Sep 2012. Has the Battery Bubble Burst? Fred Schlachter. American Physical Society. APS News Vol 21, number 8. Phys.org Three years ago at a symposium on lithium-air batteries at IBM Almaden there was great optimism. The symposium “Scalable Energy Storage: … Continue reading →

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Electric Grid Energy Storage

Posted on April 30, 2014 by

Storing electricity Electricity can’t be stored. It has to be converted to something else.   Nearly all of the electric grid storage (95%) comes from pumping water up to a reservoir so the water can fall again and generate electricity. But … Continue reading →

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Renewable Energy can’t supply more than 30% of electricity without revolutionary battery breakthrough

Posted on April 13, 2013 by

Wind and solar are too intermittent to comprise much of electric grid power now, according to Steven Chu, former US energy secretary.  In 2010, Chu said, “Without technological breakthroughs in efficient, large-scale energy storage, it will be difficult to rely … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, Batteries | 1 Comment