Article in Houston Chronicle today by Chris Tomlinson
on new solid state battery technology to replace lithium ion.
Projected deployment in commercial vehicles in 2023 timeframe. Projections of 245 million EVs by 2030. ( I think I saw before there are about 1.4 billion internal combustion engines in use in the world today.) Anticipated range of 750 miles, 30 minute recharge, and recharge duty cycle of at least 1,500x.
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Cracker Barrel Restaurant has a charging station in its parking lot on I-10 west.
Tesla has a nation wide on the interstate for people charge their cars.
I told my wife that my next car will be electric and autonomous. She has lots of oil stocks and is not happy with me about this.
Another note which I think these new batteries are better than the ones using lithium there was a big discovery of lithium in the United States and Tesla uses lithium in its cars. But they might change over. What is really cool in this area was I found a company that has come up with a way to make the internal combustion engine 4 times as efficient by making changes in each part of the process.
As with “hydrogen powered” cars, that never arrived, it will be interesting if this battery technology makes the leap to being truely commercial. Lithium ion is just borderline acceptable to me for transportation purposes. Too Limited Range and long recharge times for me personally.
I’d be interested in the name of that company or technology about the 4x improvement in ICEs.
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The test with the new battery that I have seen have it being shot with a 22 caliber piston with no ill effects. In other words unlike lithium it does not have the same danger as being combustible. Also it can go for 700+ miles without a charge which is to my mind a game changer.
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Pretty cool, and yes the mileage and recharge time are definitely impressive.
We’re one or two battery breakthroughs away from the energy industry getting flipped on its head. Houston energy companies need to be on the forefront of this instead of holding onto the status quo.
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There will still be a need for petroleum products for a long time to come. Even if all the vehicles became electric and solar the number of petroleum based products is staggering. Oh and as far as diesel is concerned, in the entire fleet of ocean sailing tankers and ships there are less than 10 out of many thousands that run on solar power. But the oil industry is certainly going to face a lot of consolidation in terms of the number of companies. Many of the fracking ones are up to their eyeballs in debt and will be bought out.
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Yes there will always be a need for petroleum, but most of these local energy companies live and die by the current state of consumption and prices…and the adoption electric vehicles and renewables poses an existential threat. Highly levered companies are particularly at risk as you said as the debt they take on is marked to the price of the underlying commodities. As we saw during the covid price crash, a lot of these companies cannot function if prices fall below certain thresholds.
As I understand, most of the big kids are making at least some investment in renewables.
That being said, batteries still have a long way to go in some industries. Most freight transport, as I understand it, is a long way away. Same with heavy machinery.
I’m not convinced we are very close to battery technology that will shift to everyone driving electric vehicles. Right now, it’s a luxury item and I think we are ways from it being available to everyone.
There are other issues too. Even if you get batteries in cars to a point they are affordable, can last more than a few hundred miles, and have a longer life, etc. You also have to figure out how to dispose of millions of batteries when the time comes.
And, you have to consider how you generate electricity. Solar and wind isn’t at the level to make a big dent in current demand much less the significantly increased demand that would come from many more electric cars. There are plenty of reasons for that and it has taken a lot of government subsidies to even get where we are at. So, at this point, you’d have to power any additional electric cars with fossil fuels (natural gas). Fossil fuels are also really cheap now which is going to cause issues with the economics.
There is still a ways to go, IMO. It will come but won’t be overnight. That said, transportation fuels do make up a significant chunk of fossil fuel demand so any decrease can be important.
How big are the new batteries compared to Li-ion, how much more/less do they weigh and are they more expensive/less expensive to manufacture…?
There is a reason people still use lead-acid batteries… They’re cheap and reliable.
A little off topic but maybe more than you realize…according to ERCOT, 21.5% of Texas’ energy last year came from renewables (wind, solar, hydro, biomass). Slightly more renewables than coal (20.3%).
Interesting breakdown of energy production by type:
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I didn’t realize wind (which is pretty much all of Texas renewables) was that high. That’s pretty close to solar and wind combined in CA.
Either way, that’s likely as much as they can squeeze out of it with current subsidies. Anything incremental would likely come from natural gas… especially at current prices.
Texas generates A LOT of wind generation already. So much than when the wind doesn’t blow during the peak hours, it creates supply constraints that blows up wholesale prices for the day. That’s the downside to renewables, but on most days, the electricity coming from the windfarms is cheaper than firing up a fossil fuel peaker plant
It’s more than I thought but it’s 20%. That’s about the same as CA when you combine wind and solar. Looks like the US is at about 17% renewables right now so right in line. I’d expect that number to be higher if it were possible and economic.
And, it’s still a long way to go from powering the state. 2/3 is coming from coal and fossil fuels.
Do you think the incremental energy needed to power millions of electric cars would come from more wind, solar, coal, nuclear, or cheap natural gas produced in the state? They are flaring natural gas in the Permian because they can’t get rid of it.
Why do haters/detractors always bring up “dispose of millions of batteries” when they know that its recycled, just like the billions of regular car batteries in use for decades? Factor in no oil changes for the life of the car, no transmission oil changes, differential oil changes, smaller coolant changes, and I’m pretty sure electric cars will be vastly better for the environment.
I’ve read there are concerns about recycling or disposing of them if many more electric vehicles are on the road even in places like Bloomberg.
To be clear, I’m not saying electric cars aren’t better for the environment. If nothing else, natural gas burns a lot cleaner than transportation fuels.
Not a hater either. I think it’s going to be a big part of our future. Just don’t think we are as close as some do.
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