Quote: (05-03-2015 04:55 PM)Captainstabbin Wrote:
"The issue with existing batteries is that they suck."
But these are filled with standard lithium ion cells, right? Existing batteries...that supposedly suck.
Under heavy daily use, a few cells are expected to fail or become inefficient every few months. I have a lot of experience with Li-ion cells, and 5000 cycles is a wild claim - they MIGHT get that in controlled lab conditions, but I doubt it would get 1000 IRL. Same as your laptop battery, you'd have to replace it every year or two.
That, combined with the outrageous cost of solar power, means you're looking at 30-50 cents per kwh (national average is 12.5) - assuming it works the way they claim it can. And that's IF you have a house and yard large enough to both power your home during the day while charging the device for night use.
Then there's usage. Peak time for power use spikes 2-3 times in the late afternoon and evening - when the solar grid wouldn't be producing much, if any, power. The spikes are around 6-8 kw, so this battery pack would last about 1.5-2 hours. You'd need 3 or 4 packs to go off grid...good luck charging them.
I don't think there's much of a consumer market for this at all. Maybe for a boat, RV or hunting cabin where the batteries could be charged all week and used briefly on the weekend.
Until there's a radical change in solar (or wind) efficiency and battery energy density, the grid is the only real option.
I work in the electronics industry and while I'm not a battery expert, I generally agree with this assessment. Existing lead-acid and nickel-cadmium battery technologies have many advantages: they are a well-understood and time-proven technology, inexpensive for the power density they offer, better for the environment (elemental lithium is extremely toxic), future lithium scarcity issues, they don't explode if you look at them funny, etc.
This product is a solution looking for a problem, the problem being that the Gigafactory won't make it's return on investment via electric vehicle batteries alone. So a guy with ~5 billion invested into selling a certain battery technology says the other competing technologies suck. No fooling?