Scientists Invent the Ultimate Off-Grid Battery

Discussion in 'Off Grid Living' started by OldDude49, Sep 10, 2016.


  1. OldDude49

    OldDude49 Just n old guy

    [​IMG]
    A deep-cycle forklift battery

    Apart from a method of generating renewable electricity–whether it’s wind or solar–the core part of any completely off-grid setup is the battery pack that saves the energy generated and allows it to be used when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining.

    Forklift batteries are popular for this, as are other types of chemical batteries. The Lithium-Ion batteries that power cell phones could be ideal because of their energy density, but their cost is way too much to make them viable (despite Tesla’s efforts with the PowerWall). So a modern battery with the qualities of Lithium-Ion but the cost of old-fashioned lead-acid is something of a Holy Grail for preppers.

    Well, it appears the wait is over for a next-generation battery that’s perfectly suited for overnight electricity storage and is half-the price of Lithium-Ion. The new Zinc-Ion battery developed at the University of Waterloo is also safer than the alternatives. Its ingredients are non-toxic, and it won’t ever explode.

    Lithium-ion batteries have much higher energy density (energy that can be stored per unit volume) than water-based batteries (making lithium-ion batteries attractive for smartphones and other compact devices), but water-based zinc-ion batteries are more feasible for grid-scale applications, where cost, safety, and life cycle are important, not size.

    The cell design satisfies four vital criteria: high reversibility, rate, capacity, and no zinc dendrite formation. It provides more than 1,000 cycles. Lithium-ion batteries also operate by intercalation (of lithium ions) but they typically use expensive, flammable, organic electrolytes.

    The bonus for manufacturers is they can produce this zinc battery at low cost because its fabrication does not require special conditions, such as ultra-low humidity or the handling of flammable materials needed for lithium ion batteries, the chemists say.

    “The focus used to be on minimizing size and weight for the portable electronics market and cars,” said Dipan Kundu, a University of Waterloo postdoctoral fellow and the paper’s first author. “Grid storage needs a different kind of battery and that’s given us license to look into different materials.”

    When you combine this new battery technology with the plummeting cost of solar, in about five years there will be little to no excuse for staying on-grid in rural areas.

    Hopefully the world stays intact long enough for me to pick up a bank of these for my solar array.

    Scientists Invent the Ultimate Off-Grid Battery - AllOutdoor.com
     
  2. techsar

    techsar Monkey+++

    You would post this 2 days before my pallet of batteries arrives ;)

    Hopefully, these become available at a decent price...and soon!
     
  3. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    Your Batteries will likely be worn out, and need to be replaced, by the time these make it to market.... It would be VERY Nice to have them by Next Spring, however.... As I will be replacing my 1200 AmpHour 24Vdc Bank, then.... It will be 6 years old.... about average for a Lead Acid WetCell Battery Bank.....
     
  4. Ura-Ki

    Ura-Ki Grampa Monkey

    I cant wait for the battery manufactures to come out with affordable Lithium Ion batteries! I have a tremendous amount of experience with Li-Ion Batteries in the R/C world, and I can tell you, the power density is beyond any thing ever before! I fly Scale R/C Jets, and the weight has always been a down side to performance and flight dynamics, Not any more, Now I can have very scale like Jet flight, and the take off's and landings don't risk damage near as much! I would love to see this battery tech move into the main stream of automobiles and home power supply!
     
    3M-TA3 likes this.
  5. OldDude49

    OldDude49 Just n old guy

    Well :LOL: would have posted it sooner but it wasn't around... :) dang slow net...
     
    techsar likes this.
  6. oil pan 4

    oil pan 4 Monkey+++

    The lithium batteries we have now are what "affordable" looks like.
    Lithium batteries were massively expensive in the 1990s and early 2000s. The last several years have seen the price level off.
    The only way lithium batteries are going to get cheaper is if demand lessens. But it seems like everyone wants them for everything.
     
  7. DKR

    DKR Raconteur of the first stripe

  8. arleigh

    arleigh Goophy monkey

    If I have learned any thing ,this one thing is most true.
    Industry uses big equipment or lots of small equipment that perform the same task.
    contrast.
    when service is required the big equipment shuts down operations till it is back on line.
    when multiples of small equipment need service they can be taken off line individually and production is not interrupted.
    Batteries with multiple cells are physically tied together so that if one cell fails for any reason that battery is being drawn down along with every other battery connected to it.
    I started with 12 volt deep cycle marine batteries ,and later went to 6 volt golf cart batteries, because they hold more energy .
    A lot of folk that started with big truck batteries for their motor homes went to 6 volt golf cart batteries .if a cell fails in one of the golf cart batteries ,it is easily isolated, and it is not as devastating to the system . That and the fact that i have lot of stuff that uses 6 volts DC.I don't ned to se special converters to step voltage down.
    Where as , if your relying on one big battery, and a cell fails, there is nothing your can do about it, till you replace the whole thing.
    A warranty does not put a new one on your door step the next day, especially when you are in the midst of a storm.
    Food for thought.
     
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