Hey! Sorry for the weird heading. I live in a country where EV’s are everywhere and I keep hearing debates about the need and possibility for range increase. Today I overheard a discussion between two people about batteries in the near future.
Person A argued that the range increase and battery improvememts in EVs have been so great the last 10 years and this is indicative of it being a technology that will just keep on improving – and we just have to have some patience before the batteries and range will improve even more.
Person B argued that while thats true, a lot of the range improvememts now aday are due to more aerodynamic cars and that seeing as a battery is a chemical process, we are closer and closer to hitting the limit of batteries without any significant scientific breakthrough.
Im fairly uneducated in this field and find it hard to evaluate whos right. Person Bs arguements seemed more trustworthy, but it doesnt mean that hes right.
So my questions are: Who’s “right” and why? Will batteries in EVs keep improving significantly or have we already seen the biggest improvememts?
Thanks a lot in advance!
In: Chemistry
B is straight up wrong.
Battery tech is seeing a massive rate of progress, which is what has made EVs viable only recently. 20 years ago its not the case that EVs were not popular, it was just the case that they couldn’t really be made in a practical sense. Battery tech was barely above golf cart level. Ever since we have gotten better cheaper battery tech every year, with EVs becoming more practical and more affordable. And the progress certainly hasn’t plateaued yet.
It’s not one giant breakthrough kind of thing, it’s thousand different small breakthroughs and improvements adding up over the years. The basic chemistry of li-ion batteries was invented way back in 60-70ies. But you can say that about solar panels or integrated circuits, there is half a century of continuous development to get from basic idea to modern mature product. It’s like comparing Benz Patent-Motorwagen to a modern car, a car is a car, right? No it bloody well isn’t.
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