TOPCon: maverick?
A new solar cell is vying to re-shape the PV industry, with 2-5% efficiency gains and c25-35% lower silicon use than today’s PERC cells. This 12-page note reviews TOPCon solar…
Solar contacts: silver bullet?
…copper in the front contacts of solar cells. It diffuses into the silicon, where it is an “efficiency killer”. And it cannot readily be screen-printed. These issues are spelled out…
EV fast charging: opening the electric floodgates?
…as explained on pages 9. Hence an EV fast-charger is going to have 15-200 high-spec power MOSFETs. Silicon carbide is a crucial enabler, and has been accelerating since it was…
Vehicles: energy transition conclusions?
…which promise 2-3x higher power densities, even versus Tesla’s world-leading PMSRMs while surpassing 96% efficiencies (note here). And SiC power electronics that unlock faster and more efficient switching in the…
Global vehicle fleet: vehicle sales and electrification by region?
…for key materials used in batteries, motors and traction inverters, such as lithium, fluorinated polymers, battery-grade nickel, graphite, copper, Rare Earth Metals and SiC. Retirement rates of vehicles depend on…
Electric vehicles: breaking the ICE?
…also requires overcoming bottlenecks in lithium, fluorinated polymers, battery-grade nickel, graphite, copper, Rare Earth Metals and SiC. Mechanically, you can also multiply the number of vehicles discussed in this note…
Gas distribution: loss rates, leakage, unaccounted gas?
…and [sic] “there is no correlation between LAUF and emissions”. In the UK, the variation between gas inputs to the gas distribution network and gas that is ultimately metered by…
Lithium ion battery volumes by chemistry and use?
…mobility, hygroscopicity, charge-monitoring, voltage, density and [sic] longevity. These studies did not, however, clock LFPs’ lower costs. Maybe there is a lesson here about the importance of unbiased first-principles analysis,…
Moore’s law: causes and new energies conclusions?
…The first feedback loop is down to the laws of physics, unique to the semiconductor industry, as explained on page 4. It is hard to see how new energy technologies…
Energy intensity of AI: chomping at the bit?
…compute will increase 3-5x faster. Thus a range of forecasts is more sensible than a single point estimate. Transistors made of semiconductor materials, underpin all modern computing by allowing one…