Commercial aviation: fuel economy of planes?
…battery, at 300 Wh/kg battery energy density simply cannot exceed a range beyond 600km, even if the batteries comprise one-half of its mass at take-off. In theory, hydrogen has 3x…
Land intensity of energy transition: acres per MW and per ton?
…store up excess generation in batteries or as hydrogen, and re-release that energy when the wind is not blowing or the sun is not shining (note below). https://thundersaidenergy.com/2023/11/16/renewable-heavy-grids-dividing-the-pie As a…
Tesla: where’s the IP?
…where it has filed patents, it is more focused on pure EV technologies, such as batteries, electric circuitry, electric propulsion and digital features (chart above). Patent filings since 2019 have…
Prevailing wind: new opportunities in grid volatility?
…hour-by-hour data from 2020. EV charging and smart energy systems screen as the best new opportunities. Gas-fired backups also remain crucial to ensure grid stability. The outlook for grid-scale batteries…
Nickel, manganese, cobalt: sufficient reserves for the rise of EVs?
This data-file models whether there will be sufficient materials to build EV batteries. Specifically, will there be enough nickel, manganese and cobalt to build the batteries behind the vast rise of…
Vertical greenhouses: what future in the transition?
…in grids that are increasingly laden with renewables. They are much more economical at achieving this feat than batteries or hydrogen electrolysers (pages 7-10). The overall CO2 intensity of vertical…
Shifting demand: can renewables reach 50% of grids?
…efficiency losses are quantified for batteries and for hydrogen on pages 9-11. Demand shifting is a vastly superior solution. Pages 12-17 outline half-a-dozen demand-shifting opportunities that have been profiled in…
Quantumscape: battery breakthrough?
This data-file reviews 25 of QuantumScape’s 2019-20 patents, in order to substantiate its claims of a solid-state battery than can achieve c50-100% higher energy density than conventional lithium ion batteries,…
StoreDot: battery breakthrough?
StoreDot is developing “extreme fast-charging” batteries for electric vehicles, using a proprietary range of nanomaterial additives. It claims its prototype cells can charge 5-6x faster than conventional lithium ion. The…
Battery recycling: the economics?
This data-file models the economics of recycling spent lithium ion batteries, taking in waste cells at end-of-life, and recovering materials such as cobalt, nickel, manganese, copper, aluminium, lithium and steel….