NOVA: Search for the Super Battery

[TheTalkingMule]

Tonight(Wed 2/1) at 9pm on PBS. Should be interesting. Storage is the missing piece of the puzzle.

Preview

I'm assuming the gigafactory will be featured prominently and they include a piece on Aquion's salt water battery.

 

[f-stop]

Thanks! PVR set.

 

[Yarder]

Wow, what an interesting and informative show! It was well done all around. A good hunk on the Tesla frame and the two sizes of batteries that they are using.

 

[EVie'sDad]

Not as much about Tesla as I would have hoped, no mention of the powerwall or merging with solar city. I wished they had touched more on Tesla, or even talked to Elon about the evolution and development of the batteries and gigafactory.

However, it was an interesting program indeed. If the plastic hard battery tech gets more validation and adoption, it could do wonders for extending the range of the vehicles using the same size batteries but with solid batteries that won't explode!

 

[swaltner]

For those of us that didn't/can't watch PBS, this was posted to the PBS web site. Also available in streaming apps like the PBS app on Apple TV and I'm sure most other devices that they support.

Watch Full Episodes Online of NOVA on PBS | Search for the Super Battery

 

[nwdiver]

I started this thread a couple years ago... thought it might be interesting to revisit.

 

[f-stop]

haven't yet watched the NOVA episode but will shortly, thx again for the advance notice.
good thing I PVR'd it, as the online version on PBS' site doesn't seem to work outside the US...

BTW you might also find this other short video I linked to elsewhere a while ago on how they mine Lithium

 

[Bangor Bob]

Solid State is what VW, Toyota and I think BMW are trying to get to. GM was invested in a Solid State battery startup for a while too, until Dyson bought the whole company (Sakti3). And I think Bosch has some tieup with Seeo.

The major challenge with them has been power density - the solid electrolytes have had poor room-temperature performance limiting power output (and charging speed).

 

[Yarder]

Not as much about Tesla as I would have hoped, no mention of the powerwall or merging with solar city.

Yes, there wasn't anything specific on the Power Wall, but there was a good segment on storing power on a large scale. In some areas the wind turbines are most active at night, but that's when demand is low. So, the idea is to store the overnight energy for use in the day time for an entire region.