from Hacker News

MIT discovers batteries with indefinite lifetimes using solid-state-electrolytes

by xasos on 8/19/15, 5:13 AM with 74 comments

  • by ChuckMcM on 8/19/15, 11:39 AM

    I have "battery breakthrough fatigue" so announcing a lab result isn't really going to get me excited. A licensing deal and a factory being built, much more exciting.

    Interesting challenge of the terms indefinite and infinite. I read it as batteries that may die may not after every action (which would actually be indeterminate batteries :-)) rather than an infinite number of cycles.

  • by afsina on 8/19/15, 8:29 AM

    Wake me up when they have an actual reasonably priced working product in the market. This is getting tiresome as "breakthrough" news piled up but we are still using almost 10 year old technology.

  • by exodust on 8/19/15, 3:05 PM

    This is great. Batteries could at last hold sentimental value as we pass them on to our children. "my granddaddy gave this battery to my daddy, who gave it to me before he died" etc.

    Seriously, when I think about battery tech advancement, I think about all those millions of people doing it tough in temporary communities and camps with limited power resources and inadequate infrastructure. I don't get tired of hearing about new battery tech.

  • by seesomesense on 8/19/15, 9:08 AM

  • by Zarathustra30 on 8/19/15, 8:44 AM

    Toyota already made a prototype solid-state last year.

    https://ecs.confex.com/ecs/imlb2014/webprogram/Paper33467.ht...

  • by asuffield on 8/19/15, 10:22 AM

    My immediate observation is that "indefinite" means "unknown", not "unlimited". I'm not sure this is the word they wanted to use, but it may be a more accurate description.

  • by beltex on 8/19/15, 6:12 PM

    Exciting!

    ”My top advice really for anyone who says they got some breakthrough battery technologies is please send us a sample cell. Don’t send us PowerPoint, ok, just send us one cell that works with all appropriate caveats, that would be great. That sorts out the nonsense and the claims that aren’t actually true. Talk is super cheap. The battery industry has to have more BS in it than any industry I’ve ever encountered, it’s insane.”

    Elon Musk

    https://youtu.be/TzquC0USTEA?t=19m8s

  • by camillomiller on 8/19/15, 7:05 AM

    It's all quite generic in the press release. And, nobody even tries to answer the number one question: how long until batteries like this could eventually hit the market?

  • by intrasight on 8/19/15, 5:58 AM

    Not sure if this is the same "breakthrough" https://newsoffice.mit.edu/2015/yolks-and-shells-improve-rec... It was also discussed in The Economist this week. Batter tech has been stuck in a rut for a long time so it's great news that better tech is in the way.

  • by madaxe_again on 8/19/15, 8:28 AM

    Is there an article on this which says something other than the same thing four times? Yes, I get they're replacing a liquid electrolyte with a solid one, but that's all this piece says. What electrolyte? Oh, and is it really infinite power as the article says? Of course not.

    Willing to wager this is just a breathless piece on carbon-air tech.

  • by jeroen94704 on 8/19/15, 11:01 AM

    As I understand it, this does not mean you can power your laptop forever with a single charge, only that it can be recharged an indefinite number of times.

  • by treha on 8/19/15, 8:34 AM

    Looks like a fake article the rest of the site is not working..

  • by ohitsdom on 8/19/15, 2:13 PM

    Let me guess: 3-5 years from hitting the market?