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The researchers began by testing a glass formed from a mixture of boron, sulfur, and lithium (B2S3 and Li2S). But this glass had terrible conductivity, so they started experimenting with related glasses and settled on a combination that substituted in some phosphorus and iodine.
The iodine turned out to be a critical component. While the exchange of electrons with sulfur is relatively slow, iodine undergoes electron exchange (technically termed a redox reaction) extremely quickly. So it can act as an intermediate in the transfer of electrons to sulfur, speeding up the reactions that occur at the electrode. In addition, iodine has relatively low melting and boiling points, and the researchers suggest there's some evidence that it moves around within the electrolyte, allowing it to act as an electron shuttle.
Successes and caveats
The result is a far superior electrolyte—and one that enables fast charging. It's typical that fast charging cuts into the total capacity that can be stored in a battery. But when charged at an extraordinarily fast rate (50C, meaning a full charge in just over a minute), a battery based on this system still had half the capacity of a battery charged 25 times more slowly (2C, or a half-hour to full charge).
But the striking thing was how durable the resulting battery was. Even at an intermediate charging rate (5C), it still had over 80 percent of its initial capacity after over 25,000 charge/discharge cycles. By contrast, lithium-ion batteries tend to hit that level of decay after about 1,000 cycles. If that sort of performance is possible in a mass-produced battery, it's only a slight exaggeration to say it can radically alter our relationships with many battery-powered devices.
What's not at all clear, however, is whether this takes full advantage of one of the original promises of lithium-sulfur batteries: more charge in a given weight and volume. The researchers specify the battery being used for testing; one electrode is an indium/lithium metal foil, and the other is a mix of carbon, sulfur, and the glass electrolyte. A layer of the electrolyte sits between them. But when giving numbers for the storage capacity per weight, only the weight of the sulfur is mentioned.
Still, even if weight issues would preclude this from being stuffed into a car or cell phone, there are plenty of storage applications that would benefit from something that doesn't wear out even with 65 years of daily cycling.
Nic Cruz Patane
@niccruzpatane
Tesla vehicles are nearly 8 times less likely to experience a vehicle fire compared to the U.S. average.
11:09 PM · Jan 1, 2025
2022 data:
- ICE vehicles: 59.5 fires per billion miles driven
- Tesla vehicles: 7.3
///
How many fires were not caused by accidents?
And note how much more difficult lithium battery guess are to extinguish.
Video shows moment multiple batteries exploded at South Korea factory: https://youtu.be/eY7eUbFY2X0
nagle
13 Jan
There’s a lot to be said for lithium-iron-phosphate batteries. They don’t have a thermal runaway problem and will survive the “nail test”. Energy density per unit weight is lower, though. Energy density per unit volume is about the same, but the batteries are heavier.
Lower-end electric cars, such as the Tesla low-end models and most of BYD’s output, have already gone to lithium-iron phosphate. Probably a good idea.
johnwalker 13 Jan
nagle:
Two islands with four chargers each can charge eight cars. Charging stations may be able to replace gas stations on the same real estate.
Current standards for electric vehicle charging stations have the following maximum power delivery:
- SAE J1772 DC Level 2 — 400 kW
- IEC 61851-1 — 80 kW
- Tesla NACS — 250 kW
(Again, these are maxima under the standards: many installed charging stations are lower power. A typical Tesla V2 Supercharger provides 120 kW.)
Plans for future higher power charging standards include the Megawatt Charging System 1 (MCS) with a rating of 3.75 megawatts (3000 amperes at 1250 volt DC).
Let’s compare this to a gasoline pump. A typical filling station pump in the developed world delivers around 50 litres per minute (38 l/min in Safetyland), and gasoline has an energy content of around 7500 kcal/litre depending on its formulation (around 5000 kcal/litre for pure ethanol and 8600 for #2 diesel). Plugging these into Units Calculator, we get:
(50 litres/minute) * (7500 kcal / litre) = 26.15 megawattso even the proposed MCS (which is primarily intended for large commercial vehicles and buses) delivers only around 1/7 the power of a gasoline pump.
Now, even getting installation of five megawatt electrical service is a pretty big thing in most places (that is the consumption of a very large office building), so it looks like building out an infrastructure which will allow electrical vehicle charging times competitive with gasoline filling will require very substantial upgrades to the power grid and local distribution facilities.
Electrical engineers must learn to navigate industry codes and standards while designing battery energy storage systems (BESS)
Florida State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis on Tuesday said there have been 16 fires during and after Hurricane Helene attributed to lithium-ion batteries used in Tesla and other electric vehicles, golf carts and other vehicles and devices. //
For cultists worried about climate change, a roaring fire hitting 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit will change the local climate quickly and disastrously.
Typically, an EV fire burns at roughly 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 Celsius), while a gasoline-powered vehicle on fire burns at 1,500 F (815 C). It takes about 2,000 gallons of water to extinguish a burning gasoline-powered vehicle; putting out an EV fire can take 10 times more. //
A tractor-trailer carrying large lithium-ion batteries overturned and caught on fire on a highway near the Port of Los Angeles on Thursday, snarling traffic and leading to road closures and the shuttering of several terminals at the port.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement Thursday night that the fire was expected to burn for at least another 24 to 48 hours and that a roughly seven-mile stretch of California State Route 47, from the Vincent Thomas Bridge to Long Beach, would be closed in that period.
The Port of Los Angeles, the busiest port in the Western Hemisphere, said that several terminals would be closed on Friday.
…The explosion caused the batteries to ignite, causing a “thermal runaway,” a chain reaction in which heat develops extremely quickly, Capt. Adam Van Gerpen of the Los Angeles Fire Department told reporters.
Understand how BESS can be incorporated into electrical systems, and synchronized with generators.
Battery energy storage systems (BESS) have become essential in modern energy management, effectively addressing the intermittency of renewable energy sources and enhancing grid stability. This course provides a comprehensive exploration of BESS, focusing on benefits, diverse applications and the critical parameters necessary for optimizing performance.
Additionally, the course will delve into the synchronization and load-sharing of BESS with synchronous generator sets, offering a thorough understanding of how these systems work together to maximize efficiency and reliability.
When size and weight don't matter, lots of other battery chemistries can work.
According to the National Fire Prevention Agency, if an EV ever catches fire while you’re behind the wheel, immediately find a safe way to pull over and get the car away from the main road. Then, turn off the engine and make sure everyone leaves the vehicle immediately. Don’t delay things by grabbing personal belongings, just get out. Remain over 100 feet away from the burning car as you call 911 and request the fire department.
Also, you shouldn’t attempt to put out the flame yourself. This is a chemical fire, so a couple buckets of water won’t sufficiently smother the flames. EV battery fires can take first responders around 10 times more water to extinguish than a fire in a gas-powered vehicle. Sometimes the firefighters may decide to let the battery just burn itself out, rather than dousing it with water.
Once an EV battery catches fire, it’s possible for the chemical fire to reignite after the initial burn dies down. It’s even possible for the battery to go up in flames again days later. “Both firefighters and secondary responders, such as vehicle recovery or tow companies, also need to be aware of the potential for stranded energy that may remain in the undamaged portions of the battery,” says Thomas Barth, an investigator and biomechanics engineer for the NTSB, in an emailed statement. “This energy can pose risks for electric shock or cause the vehicle to reignite.”
Temperature and other driving conditions have an impact; Tesla doesn't meet range claims year round
Cell phones, cell phone battery charging cases, laptops, cameras, smart phones, electronics, data loggers, PDAs containing lithium batteries, games, tablets, watches, etc.
Devices containing lithium metal or lithium ion batteries (laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc.) should be carried in carry-on baggage.
Toronto-based Hydrostor Inc. is one of the businesses developing long-duration energy storage that has moved beyond lab scale and is now focusing on building big things. The company makes systems that store energy underground in the form of compressed air, which can be released to produce electricity for eight hours or longer. //
Unlike some other long-duration storage companies, Hydrostor has proven its technology. The company has operated a small, 1.75-megawatt plant in Goderich, Ontario, since 2019, which can run for about six hours at a time. Compressed-air storage existed before Hydrostor—plants in Germany and Alabama have been around for decades and use variations on this approach.
Hydrostor’s system uses a supersize air compressor that ideally would run on renewable electricity. The system draws air from the environment, compressing it and moving it through a pipe into a cavern more than 1,000 feet underground. The process of compressing the air produces heat, and the system extracts heat from the air and stores it above ground for reuse. As the air goes underground, it displaces water from the cavern up a shaft into a reservoir.
When it’s time to discharge energy, the system releases water into the cavern, forcing the air to the surface. The air then mixes with heat that the plant stored when the air was compressing, and this hot, dense air passes through a turbine to make electricity.
Buying cobalt doesn't make US firms liable for abuses in DR Congo, court rules. //
Apple and other major tech companies don't have to compensate victims of forced child labor that provided cobalt for the lithium-ion batteries used in many electronic devices, a US appeals court ruled. The lawsuit filed by former miners from the Democratic Republic of the Congo alleged that Apple, Alphabet, Dell, Microsoft, and Tesla violated a trafficking law that makes it illegal to participate in a "venture" that engages in forced labor.
"The plaintiffs allege the technology companies participated in a venture with their cobalt suppliers by purchasing the metal through the global supply chain," the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit noted in its ruling issued yesterday.
A US District Court previously dismissed the lawsuit, and a panel of three appeals court judges unanimously affirmed the dismissal yesterday. "Purchasing an unspecified amount of cobalt through the global supply chain is not 'participation in a venture' within the meaning of the TVPRA [Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008]," the ruling said. "We therefore affirm the district court's dismissal of the complaint." //
The plaintiffs' argument was a little more nuanced that, arguing not that buying cobalt in and of itself is the problem, but that these tech firms are demanding so much cobalt and at such cutthroat prices that they're inducing the mining companies into employing children to meet demand and margins because that's the only way they can satisfy the demand at the prices paid.
Legally it's still probably the "correct" outcome, but morally it's pretty hard not to find some fault with these incredibly profitable tech companies pretty knowingly using their market muscle to drive these sorts of atrocities. They could do better if they wanted to.
Q1. What kinds of batteries does the FAA allow in carry-on baggage (in the aircraft cabin)?
Q2. What kinds of batteries does the FAA allow in checked baggage (including gate-checked bags)?
johnwalker 5d
nagle:
Norway is far enough along in this area that actuals are available.
Norway is, of course, an outlier both in its electrical generation and consumption per capita.
Around 95% of electricity generation in Norway is from hydroelectric power, and it is the largest producer of hydroelectric power in Europe. This is the result of a policy which has been in effect since 1892, and 90% of generation capacity is publicly owned.
Norway’s per capita electricity consumption is 24,182 kWh/year, ranking second in the world after Iceland (51,304 kWh/year). This is more than twice the U.S. at 11,267 kWh/year.
With abundant hydropower, electricity is the most common source for home heating and hot water, which has contributed to developing a grid which can support electric vehicle charging.
This isn’t to discount the value of the experience in Norway, where around 80% of new vehicle sales are electric, but their circumstances are unusually favourable to electric vehicles compared to countries without abundant base load hydroelectric power.
Mettelus > johnwalker 5d
From Euronews.com:
The number of fully electric cars in Norway exceeded 3 million in 2022, and the share of EVs among the total number of cars rose to 76 per 10,000 in 2021, up from only 2 per 10,000 in 2013.
Although new purchases are 80%, the total percentage of EVs is still very small. Successfully charging less than a percent of the vehicles is not a good indication of how it will go when 80% of the vehicles need to be charged. One car out of 100 can be charged at the bookstore.
Also, just a side note. In the McKinsey report they use EBITA and as Charlie Munger advised: Whenever you see EBITA, substitute BS. //
civilwestman 3d
I must wonder as to two practicalities in a place like Norway. According to a brief search, EV batteries lose 12 - 30 % of their range in cold weather - before the heater is turned on. Then, it drops around another 40%. I guess Norwegians just like the “cool” experience of gliding around in green vehicles. Are mink blankets an OEM option I wonder, like the Tsarist Russian troikas?
johnwalker
nagle:
Two islands with four chargers each can charge eight cars. Charging stations may be able to replace gas stations on the same real estate.
Current standards for electric vehicle charging stations have the following maximum power delivery:
- SAE J1772 DC Level 2 — 400 kW
- IEC 61851-1 — 80 kW
- Tesla NACS — 250 kW
(Again, these are maxima under the standards: many installed charging stations are lower power. A typical Tesla V2 Supercharger provides 120 kW.)
Plans for future higher power charging standards include the Megawatt Charging System 1 (MCS) with a rating of 3.75 megawatts (3000 amperes at 1250 volt DC).
Let’s compare this to a gasoline pump. A typical filling station pump in the developed world delivers around 50 litres per minute (38 l/min in Safetyland), and gasoline has an energy content of around 7500 kcal/litre depending on its formulation (around 5000 kcal/litre for pure ethanol and 8600 for #2 diesel). Plugging these into Units Calculator, we get:
(50 litres/minute) * (7500 kcal / litre) = 26.15 megawatt
so even the proposed MCS (which is primarily intended for large commercial vehicles and buses) delivers only around 1/7 the power of a gasoline pump.
Now, even getting installation of five megawatt electrical service is a pretty big thing in most places (that is the consumption of a very large office building), so it looks like building out an infrastructure which will allow electrical vehicle charging times competitive with gasoline filling will require very substantial upgrades to the power grid and local distribution facilities.
nagle
There’s a lot to be said for lithium-iron-phosphate batteries. They don’t have a thermal runaway problem and will survive the “nail test”. Energy density per unit weight is lower, though. Energy density per unit volume is about the same, but the batteries are heavier.
Lower-end electric cars, such as the Tesla low-end models and most of BYD’s output, have already gone to lithium-iron phosphate. Probably a good idea.
Three people from three generations of the West family, ages 33 to 81, perished.
As has become common over three years, the cause was a battery charging an e-scooter, blocking exits.
So far, 17 of this year’s 93 fire deaths are from such batteries.
Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh calls it “devastating.”
Twenty-seven New Yorkers have died in these fires since 2021, the year after the city legalized e-bikes and similar devices. (No one had ever died in such a fire before.)
We’ve quickly reversed decades of progress. Between 2014 and 2020, the average number of annual civilian fire deaths was 66, including a low of 43 in 2017, the smallest number in a century.
Last year, though, fire deaths, at 102, exceeded 100 for the first time in 19 years, and we’ll likely top 100 deaths this year, too.
This represents a 51% increase, relative to the average before e-bikes became ubiquitous.
As the FDNY notes, e-battery fire deaths exceed electrical fire deaths.
The fire resulted in extensive damage throughout the bridge, including significant smoke and thermal damage, amounting to $3 million in total. The navigation systems, communication systems, and alarm systems on the vessel were irreparably damaged.
According to the NTSB’s investigation, the fire originated from an explosion of one of the cells in a lithium-ion battery used for an ultra-high-frequency handheld radio. //
Lithium-ion battery cell explosions are commonly caused by thermal runaway, a chemical reaction that can lead to the cell igniting and exploding. Thermal runaway can occur spontaneously if the battery is damaged, shorted, overheated, defective, or overcharged.
To prevent thermal runaways and subsequent fires, the NTSB advises crews to follow manufacturers’ instructions for the care and maintenance of lithium-ion batteries, properly dispose of damaged batteries, avoid unsupervised charging, and keep batteries and chargers away from heat sources and flammable materials.
The NTSB report also recommends that companies ensure that lithium-ion batteries and devices using these batteries are certified by Underwriters Laboratory or another recognized organization.
In the event of a lithium-ion battery fire, crews can attempt to extinguish the fire using water, foam, CO2, or other dry chemical or powdered agents designed for Class A (combustible) fires. If the fire cannot be extinguished, personnel should allow the battery pack to burn in a controlled manner while monitoring for nearby cells experiencing thermal runaway and extinguishing other combustible materials that may catch fire.