Assault and Batteries

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Assault and Batteries

An Update 

on the development of the Battery

"The storage battery is, in my opinion, a catchpenny, a sensation, a mechanism for swindling the public by stock companies. The storage battery is one of those peculiar things which appeals to the imagination, and no more perfect thing could be desired by stock swindlers than that very selfsame thing. ... Just as soon as a man gets working on the secondary battery it brings out his latent capacity for lying."  Thomas Edison 1883

The Dual Carbon Battery

A Japanese company called Power Japan Plus has announced a completely new type of battery. The battery, they say, can be used in just about any application including in electric cars.

Called the Ryden or dual carbon battery. The claims being made for this new battery include:

• charges 20 times faster than current lithium ion batteries,
• doesn't heat up, so it doesn't require cooling and is safer in aeroplanes etc
• cheaper than other current batteries used in cars and trucks.

Reports suggest that this battery is completely new technology.

• The major component is carbon rather than nickel, manganese etc.
• It produces little or no heat unlike Lithium Ion batteries, which can cause fires.
• It is easily 100% recycled.
• It can be fully discharged without damage.100% deep cycle.
• It has a reported lifespan of 3,000+ charge/ discharge cycles.
• Current Nissan Leaf batteries take about 4 hours to charge, with this battery 20 minutes.

What is not made clear in the hype is the actual energy density of this new cell. How does the electrical storage capacity (W/h) compare on both size and weight with the latest Lithium Ion batteries? This question does not appear to have any answer - at least none that I can find.

The major hype is rife with how far an EV (Electric Vehicle) can travel with this new battery and other nice things it can do, but actual scientific test figures are thin on the ground, if there at all.

It is again a wait and see what happens game. Hopefully, sooner or later the hype will hold the truth.

Elon Musk's Giga-factory

Meanwhile Elon Musk is going ahead with massive investment in his giga-factory to produce at low cost and in high quantities current standard Lithium Ion batteries.

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In Memory of Charles Cros

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Charles Cros

In memory of Charles Cros a sad genius, inventor and poet. 1842 - 1888 died at 45 years old. Inventor of the gramophone, colour photography etc. He never received credit for his most important inventions.

I have written previously about Charles Cros, a sad man who's genius was ignored in his time. He became a victim of absinthe and died in poverty.

Charles Cros somehow touches something in me, He is the kind of bloke, given the right chance in life, could have contributed so much to the world. I admire his genius, and am saddened by his ignominious and untimely end. By way of a small tribute to this man I have attempted, through some enhancement techniques on an old photograph, to let him gaze, with a little more clarity, through the mist of some 142 years into a world which might have appreciated more his genius, and punished less his failings. May he rest in peace.

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