The curse becomes a blessing. According to the website Interesting Engineering, Japan's Atomic Energy Agency has created a rechargeable battery using uranium -- depleted uranium -- as the active material in lieu of lead or lithium. The report said that the experimental battery achieved a voltage of 1.3, less than but within hailing distance of the 1.5V of a standard alkaline battery. As to rechargeability, "the battery was charged and discharged 10 times and the performance of the battery was almost unchanged," said the website. Cool. If this means a new plentiful source of battery stuff, it means cheaper prices for batteries down the road, and THAT has got to be a good thing. Except for a nagging point: isn't the depleted uranium supposed to be dangerous? Isn't that why there has been so much of a to-do made for decades now about where it is supposed to be stored? I'm not sure "inside batteries" is an answer that will appeal to everyone. ht...
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are reports now that Tesla is entering into an unlikely partnership, a plan to buy “blade batteries” from a Chinese company, BYD, for delivery in the second quarter of next year. This is a new generation of battery that may have a lot to do with the course taken by the electric-car industry. That has nothing much to do with this.... In the second quarter 2021, Tesla reported more than $1 billion net income, and earnings per share of $1.45, which beat analyst expectations of just $0.98. Tesla’s overall automotive revenue for the quarter was $10.21 billion. Critics have sometimes knocked Tesla for relying too much on the sale of regulatory credits as a source of revenue. A regulatory system in California, like analogous systems in Europe, give credits to automakers depending on how many EVs they manufacture. Those who don’t manufacture a sufficient number of EVs to keep the regulators happy can avoid penalties by buying ...
Adler Yacht, a Switzerland based company with its construction sites in Italy, recently unveiled the Suprema 76 foot motor yacht, a landmark move of the hybrid technology into yachting. The Suprema’s propulsion system consists of two Caterpillar C18 1,150 hp diesel engines, a 170 kWh lithium polymer battery, and two ATE 100 kW e-Units used to control operations and the transitions between the electric motor and the combustion engine. Those are specs I've lifted from ad copy. It sounds like an impressive piece of work. There have always been electric boats afloat [well, "always' here means since Edison's day]. It's one classic way of keeping a propeller turning. But the so-called "battery on board" systems have generally been limited to rivers and harbors. Battery tech historically hasn't generated the oomph necessary to take a vessel out into the open sea. That is changing, as the Suprema's hybrid system shows. The Suprema can t...