UK firm claims Li-ion cell world record

UK firm claims Li-ion cell world record

Using silicon instead of carbon, Oxfordshire-based Nexeon has produced 18650 Li-ion cells with a capacity of 3.2Ah.

"Today’s commercial carbon-based Li-ion cells offer capacities of between 2.5Ah and 3.1Ah," said Nexeon. "3.2Ah was carried out at a realistic C/3 discharge rate and we have achieved even higher capacities with lower discharge rates."

Cycle life performance "exceeds that of the best commercial cell when tested under the same conditions," claimed Nexeon.

By optimising this first generation of silicon anodes (see photo below), the firm is expecting 4Ah 18650 cells next year.

Nexeon's key intellectual property is a structured silicon that is claimed to get around the anode expansion problems that have previously ruined silicon Li-ion cells

Now thats cool stuff. Batteries are what are holding everything back, electric cars etc... Although they could have built an electric car worth a crap yrs ago. Do it yourselfers have converted cars that do better than Chevy's new volt using old tech lead acid batteries.

Its unfortunate they stopped developing electric cars 100 or so years ago , if you think about how much time and money has gone into developing gasoline engines .

Even recently very little money has gone into developing electrics .

How long before DX starts selling 5000mAh bright red Ultrafires?

I'm surprised they're not already there or are they?

Re: 5000 mah Ultrafires - I saw some 4000 mah 18650's on ebay. Lol.

Very interesting development. Wonder what they will cost?

The Volt isn't an electric car, it's a plug-in hybrid.

The Mitsubishi iMiEV came out in January it has a range of 100miles and if a suitable recharge point is availlable can be recharged to 85% in 30minutes.

All the major car companies are busily developing electric cars at the moment, there are several good examples being released this year and assuredly more to follow.

I still think the biggest problem for electric cars is not batteries, it's the wierd attatchment some people have towards their woefully insufficient gas guzzlers.

While that's great, they are comparing their experimental cell against other peoples commercially availlable cells. That seems like a rather unfair comparison.

A lot.

At first. At least until some Chinese contract manufacturer figures out how to duplicate the nanostructure of the silicon without using a chip fab to do it. As long as you need the same sort of investment as a chip fab takes ($billions) to make the electrodes, these are NOT going to be affordable.

And never rule out the effect of lots and lots of tiny incremental improvements when a lot of poor and smart people try to figure out how to become rich and smart people.

GM says under ideal conditions it can do 50miles on a charge. The reason it's a hybrid is because Toyota sold a lot of hybrids and GM fancied some of that money.

I've no idea what the stats are for the US, but in the UK a recent report shows people drive an average of 21miles a day.

As for what's wrong with an "American V8" pretty much everything....and that's not just because petrol/gas is about $9 a gallon here.

Thats probably the average driven here too. I'm in a rural area so 50+ miles for people around here. Americans like to drive on weekends is the problem and cant afford one car just for driving to work, so i dont think they will catch on well until the range is up to 150 miles.

Wow Piers, didnt catch the $9 BUCKS A GALLON!!! If gas was that much here society would grind to a halt. Everything would change for sure. We depend so much on the trucking industry for everything and that is where some type of electric vehicle would be needed first. I think the motor technology is there already for it, but wow, I could not imagine 9 dollar a gallon gas and diesel would be even higher.

This thread kind of got off track REAL quick!

Just because it's an American V8 doesn't mean it's a gas guzzler... I'm currently driving a 15 year old Lincoln with a V8 rated just under 300HP and it gets as good or better fuel economy than any of my previous V6 or 4-cylinder cars. On a highway trip, I average 26MPG while 21-25 is the best I got with any of the others. I know that's not great compared to newer vehicles and is nothing compared to hybrids and VW's TDI engine but I am impressed.

This is my perspective coming from a rural North-East Texas dweller:

I like the idea of electric vehicles, but requiring a specialized charging receptical limits its utility. For example, a weekend trip to visit family will involve at least a 200mile round trip. Even our regular weekly trip to go grocery shopping would exceed the 50 mile range. Without the ability to recharge whereever I am, electric vehicles will not be a viable option. Hybrids are much better, but are limited by less cargo space and no towing capacity. Until the technology progresses further, I would still, even in a best-case scenario, need a second vehicle for towing a boat, pulling a trailer, and various utility uses.

That said, I would love to own a small electric motorcycle capable of being recharged from any standard 110V outlet. That would make an outstanding work-commute vehicle for me. I have a short drive to get to work, and then several ~20-minute-or-less drives between sites. It wouldn't need to be big or fast; just as long as it can get me to my destination.

As much as I love my classics, I must say it's a shame only very little progress on electric vehicles has been made in the last decades.

I wouldn't mind having an electric car for daily transportation. They have some serious drawbacks, tho- the biggest being their pricetag.

My intrest in electric cars mostly came from my other hobby of flying electric R/C planes. The jump from brushed to brushless motors was big and then it was followed by the jump from NiMh to Li-Poly which was just huge, twice the capacity and half the weight!

Electric cars use much of the same technology....just supersized!

Motor wise there's no problem at all, they are very efficient and can be scalled to what ever size required. The best thing is that you don't need gears because they produce an almost constant and high amount of torque at any speed.

Anyway...rambling again :P