I know that same size re-chargeable batteries are able to last longer than they did a decade ago. And that batteries on cell-phones have shrunk significantly. I would like to know what has been the rate of improvement, so I can get some idea about the future of electric cars, laptops etc. in 5 or 10 years.
Thanks.
This article is a bit pessimestic and says 3% per year for battery improvement: http://chipdesignmag.com/lpd/blog/tag/battery/
Electrical Energy storage for vehicles comes as Chemical Batteries, capacitors, and ultracapacitors. Chemical batteries are better at Energy Density (power over time.) Ultracapacitors are a combination of batteries and capacitors and are better at Power Density (amount of power in a short time) Chemical batteries take some time to charge. Ultracapacitors can be charged very quickly making them ideal for regenerative braking energy storage and rapid charging. Ultracapacitors are also far more durable. You would likely never have to replace them in any device. You could take them out of old cars and put them into new ones.
Chemical batteries are a very old technology. The right chemistry may be a near term solution to electrical energy storage. Solving the problem with a new chemistry may give a much larger increase. Ultracapacitors are a very new technology and may ultimately be a game changer for energy storage. http://www.ideaspike.com/ultracaps.shtml
some good info here about batteries. (ref)
However IMHO the future of vehicles lies in producing ecologically acceptable fuels as a replacement for fossil fuels. So eg hydrogen fuel cell.
My resoning is that charging batteries (which is time consuming) will never be as quick and convenient as refuelling your car.
References :
http://www.durhambats.org.uk/batteries.htm
This article is a bit pessimestic and says 3% per year for battery improvement: http://chipdesignmag.com/lpd/blog/tag/battery/
Electrical Energy storage for vehicles comes as Chemical Batteries, capacitors, and ultracapacitors. Chemical batteries are better at Energy Density (power over time.) Ultracapacitors are a combination of batteries and capacitors and are better at Power Density (amount of power in a short time) Chemical batteries take some time to charge. Ultracapacitors can be charged very quickly making them ideal for regenerative braking energy storage and rapid charging. Ultracapacitors are also far more durable. You would likely never have to replace them in any device. You could take them out of old cars and put them into new ones.
Chemical batteries are a very old technology. The right chemistry may be a near term solution to electrical energy storage. Solving the problem with a new chemistry may give a much larger increase. Ultracapacitors are a very new technology and may ultimately be a game changer for energy storage. http://www.ideaspike.com/ultracaps.shtml
References :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYL6NyU1g3k