They have 10x a 21700 energy. Tesla will use battery pack 1/10th the current size. How is that terrible density? Not understanding ?
It has a catalyst electrode and drops into a pack. Levels of magnitude better then 21700. New teslas built with this 5498 cell will cost msrp 29k and have 300+ mile range.
I will buy one and charge with my solar array and drive for free.
It seems that the number 54 comes from “FX054” marking on the can, that sounds like a very wild guess if you ask me, granted it looks bigger than 40700 unless those are small hands.
[quote=idahofarmer]
They have 10x a 21700 energy. Tesla will use battery pack 1/10th the current size. How is that terrible density? [/Quote]
I don’t think the pack is going to be 1/10 the volume. There will likely be some packing efficiency improvements with the larger cell, but overall volume should remain similar. A 10x reduction in volume would require other worldly improvements in active material specific energy.
The point for them is $$ first. Fewer cells in an architecture with shared components will save time and money in production. I’m not qualified to even guess how much that may be, but I can say pretty confidently the energy density of the cell is not 10x current values.
I guess we will know possibly next week, here is another video posted just 16 hours ago. Talk about massive runtime capabilities in a flashlight! This would be a game changer in the flashlight world!
LiFePO4? Glad to listen at. LiFePO4 features an ultra-flat discharge curve, this means their drive trains' performance won't degrade as the battery discharges. This may not mean much in practice because drivers do not usually demand full engine power at all times, but it is worth saying.
On the other hand, hope this means someone with an open mind gets to improve LFP batteries energy density speaking. And when I say lads & lasses with an open mind, I allude to believers in everything's possible.
Because, in all honesty, lithium nickel and other classic “4.2V max” chemistries feature gradually diminishing output voltage curves, which was chosen to help powered device electronics measure battery state of charge (SoC), but it is a drawback in every other respect, particularly when high or top performance is required. Flat discharge curves or constant output voltage is considered quintessential by some (like me), as they model a voltage source. It also makes all available energy in a battery useable regardless of power output.
Providing an example to better ilustrate this, i.e. with a LiFe battery an electric vehicle will provide close to the same performance regardless of battery state of charge, versus with a li-ion battery, whose vehicle performance is sure to degrade as the battery gets discharged:
Or maybe they are using über boost-buck converters (guess not).
LFP needs improvements, in any case. Quite logical when you compare the relative development of LiFe by the big players (pretty scant) versus their development of all the remaining high voltage li-ion variants.
With three 40mm cells, with their wrappers on, the battery tube would have to be over 3.5 inches (90+mm) in diameter. Might make for a nice LT2 lantern. Imagine having a camp lantern that would last 3 weeks between charges? I’m in.
Coulomb counting is an accurate way to get that. I think coulomb counting is also used on smartphones and, despite they use high voltage li-ion cells, in my experience they already reached consistently excellent accuracy with such chemistries. With LiFe it's just a further refinement, if anything (they already have it, pretty sure).