Why This Ultra Dense Battery Breakthrough Matters

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I would like to see an annual or bi-annual video going over the progress (or lack thereof) of some of the "breakthroughs" covered over the past years. I really enjoy these videos and consider myself a tech-optimist, but I'm also very skeptical of breakthrough technologies. I find that they often have very lofty promises that they almost always fail to realize.

This one actually seems viable, but any progress is good. 20 or 30% improvement can make a huge difference in the viability of a product.

Amprius was also used by the top 4 teams of the bridgestone world solar chalnge this year. Reportedly the teams that used amprius achieved at least 20% more energy capacity for a given mass of batteries compared to other battery types.

My biggest question is always what the durability/ longevity is like. If it can have a substantial increase in total life cycles, then I will be a lot more interested to see it breakout into the mainstream

Looks like it has a lot of potential for sure. But as you mentioned, time will tell. One thing I didn't hear was the expected cycle life, which would be a huge factor for the total cost of the battery. Thank you again for another great video.

You can make silicon nanowire cheaper: atomic layer deposition instead of "growing it directionally". You deposit lattices which are folded In a scrungy knotstructure. This would also allow swelling to occur without damage since the structures simply seek to "un-knot their not-knot" such that no stretching occurs. Bends would naturally reform through discharge cycles because of electron movement so the dendrite forms useful reformation of any weakness in bends

Many of you have never heard of Moses Lake Washington. There is a very large company, REC Silicon (Norway), that has been helping to support a growing population here. For many years there were serious problems with exports from here to China and so REC was in shutdown mode, but that has ended. In just the past 2 years a lot of companies have started to build here. It is in Grant County, WA and the electricity is cheaper than dirt thanks to the Grand Coulee dam as well as a half a dozen other dams on the Columbia River. The locals can't build things fast enough to accommodate the growth.

Another big sector you may have forgotten to mention is complexe rehabilitation. There are a LOT of battery operated devices in the medical space. PWCs, patient lifts, tracked ceiling lifts, CPAP machines, the list goes on. Having a battery thats super energy dense and charges fast (but also just as important, doesnt degrade abnormally fast) would be a godsend to people with disabilities in PWCs and MWCs w/ power assist! Depending terrain and other conditions, a Permobil and Quantum can avg 4-9miles on a single charge before it has to be down for 3-4hrs to get back to 100% If batteries like this allow a person to achieve double, if not triple, the range and only take about 2hrs to fully charge (or faster) that would be life changing for people with PWCs!

I'll believe this when I see it - I've seen too many companies making the same claims and none of them ever materialise.

I'm still rooting for graphene aluminum batteries but these are pretty cool too. The more battery types we can get on the market the better, I'm sure they'll all have use cases that they excel in

As a materials scientist and engineer I can only admire the challenges during the design and manufacturing these batteries, even the prototypes. One of my college studies Si anodes and batteries in general are very hard to consolidate. So congrats if these Si anode batteries ever gets commercialised.

I missed any data on charge/discharge efficiency (eg: 100% in and 80% out). It would also be a game changer for them to be able to grow the fibers on the plates, similar to mold growing in a petri dish. Thanks Matt.

Monro Live did a tour of their factory a few months ago, and he seemed impressed with what they were doing. It seems like tech is solid, but as always, it means nothing if you can’t scale to mass production. Prototypes are easy, production is hard.

it is frustrating that "the breakthrough" is always "just around the corner" ;) but silicon anode tech is pretty rad.

I'm curious about the physical durability. Like, would repeated drops or hits break the nano wires, and, if so, would those free wires cause issues.

As far as I understand, Amprius, SilaNano and OneD use silane gas as input material to make the silicon anodes. Silane is refined silicon in gas form. Today, China produces almost all silane for industrial applications. In America there's more or less one producer who has the capability to produce silane in mass quantities, a company called REC Silicon in Moses Lake, WA. If this tech pans out, the scale-up will be dependent on REC Silicon expansion.

Definitely worth continuing research and development. So many "wait-and-see" ideas for energy and energy storage right now. We need to mature these techs to see some that actually pan out.

The range issue is not an anxiety. It's a reality. Feel free to use a BEV in North Dakota like I did and make it work for 4 years, even on road trips at below -20 to Montana, when the range is cut in half or worse. Didn't get stranded due to running out of juice, but came close a few times.

When you said, "This is great not just for drone hobbyists", I really expected the military to follow not some search&rescue or research. Neither search&rescue nor research have free money to pay for 50% more range but military absolutely does! All eyes in European and US militaries are on how Russia and Ukraine are using electric-powered drones on the battlefield, with Russia leading in the larger loitering munitions (kamikaze drones) like Lantset and Ukraine leading in smaller FPV-drones and quadcopter bombers