Liquid Battery: recharge in seconds?

[Davetp]

I was at the supercharger by JFK airport in NYC.

Walking back to my model X I had to pass through the regular gas pumps. I thought to myself: “wouldn’t it be cool if you could just fill up your TESLA with already charged battery acid?”

For a minute I was counting the billions I would make with my brilliant idea....would my office be next to Elon’s?

I googled “liquid battery” and found this article (below). Sadly the idea has been thought off by someone else....but it seems really cool. Thought I would share

New Liquid Battery System Could Charge Electric Cars in Just Seconds

 

[Tam]

...already charged battery acid?”...

Acid might be too corrosive for a self-service fill-up.

I guess you have to find a liquid that can carry lots of energy.

Have you thought about 400-mile metal-air and conventional Lithium hybrid battery?

 

[Davetp]

Acid might be too corrosive for a self-service fill-up.

I guess you have to find a liquid that can carry lots of energy.

Have you thought about 400-mile metal-air and conventional Lithium hybrid battery?

I think it’s a very cool idea!

To me the concept of filling up a tank just has a certain ease to it...

I agree that using a battery acid “pump” could be a bit hairy....but is it really that much crazier than sitting in your TESLA while it gets super charged with 120 kWh right under your feet?

 

[BluestarE3]

So I'd still have to go to a "filling station" to add fuel to my car? No thanks. Rather just plug it in at night in my garage at home.

 

[mociaf9]

You'd also have to drain the "discharged" liquid as well, no?

 

[BluestarE3]

You'd also have to drain the "discharged" liquid as well, no?

Yes, I'd think so. Sounds messy.

 

[acoste]

This company claims to have it for 2-3 years now but something is not ok with it otherwise it would be a product.

nanoFlowcell -Home

NanoFlowcell - Wikipedia

 

[CRASHER]

Liquid battery can not charged in seconds, but it can be replenished with charged fluids. And yes you can charge at home as regular battery. Liquid battery is like supercharger but better. The fill nozzle will have 2 tubes. One to fill in charge fluid, and other to extract depleted fluid. Depleted fluid will be charged again for refilling in next vehicle. The fluid itself will not be corrosive. The whole concept is similar to swapping the used battery with the charged one, with the difference that the battery now is in liquid form, making swap easier and simpler like pumping the the gas.

 

[RDoc]

Flow batteries are a great idea, but so far don't have close to the energy density of lithium batteries. For stationary power though they're a possibility since the capacity can be huge.

 

[Rocky_H]

This company claims to have it for 2-3 years now but something is not ok with it otherwise it would be a product.

The "something" that is wrong with it is that it requires a trillion dollar nationwide infrastructure project of "filling stations" and tanker trucks to be constructed to transport and store and dispense the charged liquids. It is a huge, expensive, cumbersome undertaking that no one is interested in doing. The kickass thing about just charging directly with electricity is that the electrical distribution grid already exists. It is not that big of a project to add taps to it here or there with some equipment and cables, which can be added in most existing parking areas. Electricity is just way easier to access.

 

[CRASHER]

The "something" that is wrong with it is that it requires a trillion dollar nationwide infrastructure project of "filling stations" and tanker trucks to be constructed to transport and store and dispense the charged liquids. It is a huge, expensive, cumbersome undertaking that no one is interested in doing. The kickass thing about just charging directly with electricity is that the electrical distribution grid already exists. It is not that big of a project to add taps to it here or there with some equipment and cables, which can be added in most existing parking areas. Electricity is just way easier to access.

No transportation is required as liquid batteries can be charged on site @ refueling stations.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

No transportation is required as liquid batteries can be charged on site @ refueling stations.

That's what I envision as well.

One could keep the battery fluid in their car and charge at home like we currently do. When doing road trips or for people without the ability to charge at home, they could use charging stations that swap out the battery fluid. The 'used' fluid would be returned to a tank and charged back up, ready to be dispensed back to another vehicle. The charging stations would need some sort of tank or reservoir but they wouldn't all need constant refilling by large trucks since individual cars would be delivering the battery fluid. Think of it as Redbox but with battery fluid. You'd be able to pick it up anywhere and exchange it anywhere yet still be able to charge at home, work and regular Level 2 chargers.

 

[Rocky_H]

OK, minus the tanker trucks, but that's still a lot of single-purpose filling stations that would need to be built.

 

[acoste]

The "something" that is wrong with it is that it requires a trillion dollar nationwide infrastructure project of "filling stations" and tanker trucks to be constructed to transport and store and dispense the charged liquids. It is a huge, expensive, cumbersome undertaking that no one is interested in doing. The kickass thing about just charging directly with electricity is that the electrical distribution grid already exists. It is not that big of a project to add taps to it here or there with some equipment and cables, which can be added in most existing parking areas. Electricity is just way easier to access.

It has to be a technical problem, not logistics or network. Good idea finds money. Hyundai is ok to spend $7B on fuel cell cars, that have little infrastructure as of today.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Read what RDoc said above. Liquid batteries (flow batteries) can't store as much energy as a regular lithium ion battery. I don't know how much less they can store, but if you have to refuel every 50 miles, it isn't going to work...

 

[Rocky_H]

The thing I have seen on things like hydrogen or the liquid flow cell is that they seek to address what the general population thinks is the one negative thing about electric cars: Recharging takes too long.

So they go for the "refill" method, to fix problem A. But that is the only advantage that solution has going for it--being faster than electrical recharge, and only when road tripping. Meanwhile, they have made things worse in issues B, C, D, E, and F.

 

[acoste]

Read what RDoc said above. Liquid batteries (flow batteries) can't store as much energy as a regular lithium ion battery. I don't know how much less they can store, but if you have to refuel every 50 miles, it isn't going to work...

They claim 600Wh per liter which is decent. That would be better than Li ion batteries.