Climate in the 21st Century

Let's talk about average temperature changes in the US....

Home charging
A 220V 100amp electrical entrance that most homes have will provide about 22kW of power. If you charged an EV at night, you should be able to do it at about 20kW per hour and a 10-hour charge should give you about 200kWh of charge in your EV without having to rewire your house. So, this will put some constraints on the kind of EV you buy, your average daily commute range and how many miles per kWh your EV gets. If your subcompact gets 5 miles per kWh you'll get a thousand miles of range, provided the batteries arrive in a few years. Let's say your larger EV gets just 3miles per kWh, that's still 600 miles on an overnight charge. The point here is not about the batteries, they are coming, but how much energy you can put in them overnight from a 100-amp standard issue residential entrance and how much range you could expect from a 10-hour overnight charge. It turns out quite a bit, most ICE cars won't get 600 miles on a tank of gas. When on the road you can pay through the nose and fast charge if ya wanna go distant places, no different than an ICE car, but charging will be a bit slower than filling up.

In an EV, a sodium battery made with this material would last for 20 years of normal use, 11 years of daily charging to full and flattening and still have over 90% capacity. Not bad for the first iteration of a test and it looks like this material can be incorporated into existing production lines. If this pans out and there are no bottlenecks it could revolutionize the battery industry for EVs and especially energy storage.

Think a car with a 10- or 20-year warranty on the cheap battery pack would sell?


UP Catalyst CO2-derived carbon nanotube electrode material boosts cycle life in Na-ion batteries
11 March 2023
Tests conducted by Titirici Group, a multidisciplinary research team based at Imperial College London, have found that a novel carbon nanotube electrode material derived from CO2—produced by Estonian nanotech company UP Catalyst (earlier post)—enhances the cyclability of sodium-ion batteries.

The results showed 93.75% capacity retention after exceeding 4000 charge and discharge cycles. By contrast, the batteries that are currently in widespread use become depleted after just 800 cycles while experiencing a significant reduction in capacity. UP Catalyst’s electrode material also exhibits excellent stability and improved energy density, making it a promising candidate for large-scale energy storage applications.

We are thrilled with the results of these tests and the potential they hold for the future of energy storage. UP Catalyst is committed to reducing the carbon footprint of battery manufacturing and promoting sustainable energy solutions. The development of this new electrode material is a significant step towards achieving these goals, as it not only enhances battery performance, but also helps to mitigate the impact of carbon emissions on the environment.

—Gary Urb, CEO of UP Catalyst​

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This also means that sodium-ion battery technology could approach and exceed the performance of lithium-ion batteries at a much lower cost and higher efficiency and safety levels. As battery giants like CATL have claimed to have solved the sodium-ion batteries’ energy density problem—the only downfall compared to Li-ion batteries—there is nothing stopping large manufacturers from turning towards mass production of new generation sodium-ion batteries.

HiNa Battery Technology in China, Tiamat in France, Altris in Sweden, and Natron Energy in the US are all commercializing sodium-ion batteries indicating a shift in energy storage technologies. UP Catalyst has now come up with a sustainable electrode material for the battery composition that increases the battery characteristics even further.

UP Catalyst uses a molten salt carbon capture and electrochemical transformation method to reprocess the CO2-rich flue gases from heavy industry emitters, biogenic origin and even direct air captured (DAC) CO2. From every 3.7 tons of CO2, one ton of carbon material is produced.

Not here in the Rockies they won't.
Cold is a major issue at this time if they can address that then it may work.

bugzbean said:

Not here in the Rockies they won't.
Cold is a major issue at this time if they can address that then it may work.

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Sodium batteries perform very well in the cold, and they put them in Li-on battery cars for this purpose. They also don't need a cooling system that adds bulk and weight, so even though the cells are a bit bigger, the overall size and weight of the battery pack is the same. Also, the cab heater will be a heat pump, 3 watts of heat out for every watt of power put in and if they extract heat from the electric motors, it will be even more efficient, over 5:1.

Having a home power bank and a car battery last over 20 years will mean home energy solar generation and storage, energy independence for home and transport will appeal to many people.

That would be a wet dream come true!

bugzbean said:

That would be a wet dream come true!

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You have to sell it to work and to do that it has to give people an advantage, you can't make your own gasoline, but you can make and store your own electric power. There is a reason every automaker is betting the farm on EVs and it's not just climate change, in 5 or ten years it will be a lot more economical and practical. EVs require less a maintenance have fewer moving parts and should last a lot longer than an ICE car, if it has a long-life battery pack. Also, these batteries can proliferate fast if they last so long, they won't need to be replaced.

What makes this so interesting is it's almost immediate application by battery factories that are up and running or are in the process of being built. People would have no problem buying cheap batteries with a 10- or 20-year warranty.

There are more battery factories than this going up in Canada and LFP battery materials are made here too.


Volkswagen to build an electric vehicle battery plant in southwestern Ontario

4,084 views Mar 13, 2023
Volkswagen has announced plans to build an electric vehicle battery plant in southwestern Ontario, aiming to be operational by 2027.

DIY-HP-LED said:

There are more battery factories than this going up in Canada and LFP battery materials are made here too.

Volkswagen to build an electric vehicle battery plant in southwestern Ontario

4,084 views Mar 13, 2023
Volkswagen has announced plans to build an electric vehicle battery plant in southwestern Ontario, aiming to be operational by 2027.

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the proximity to Sudbury, world nickel production capital, is the most remarkable coincidence!

cannabineer said:

the proximity to Sudbury, world nickel production capital, is the most remarkable coincidence!

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VW is in bed with a solid-state battery developer quatumscape, dunno if it's a new tech plant or not, but I believe they don't need much cobalt or nickel for these kinds of cells, though I could be wrong.

cannabineer said:

the proximity to Sudbury, world nickel production capital, is the most remarkable coincidence!

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lol my home town

sunni said:

lol my home town

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If the price of nickel goes up much more it's gone in the middle of the night! Too bad it's made of steel, but the idiots who try to steal it won't know that!

sunni said:

lol my home town

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on a cross-country motorcycle trip 20 years ago I passed through. Spent an hour in the company of some nickel miners who were striking. They had a table of educational materials in the shade of the big smokestack. I still have a few balls of primary nickel they let me keep.

this can go here. I came very close to buying a can of “real” Scotchgard for a cloth interior 30 years ago. Glad I procrastinated.

Harvest it rinse it, dehydrate it, bail it, or a mostly automated harvesting ship(s) could pick up a lot of it, processes it and sink it to the bottom as bricks. I looks like it could be useful stuff however, if processed correctly and used as fertilizer perhaps.


A blob twice the width of the US is heading towards Florida's coast

Thinking of going solar? Here is a tool to help you figure out if it's worthwhile, if you live in America, plug in your data and see what ya get.

DIY-HP-LED said:

Harvest it rinse it, dehydrate it, bail it, or a mostly automated harvesting ship(s) could pick up a lot of it, processes it and sink it to the bottom as bricks. I looks like it could be useful stuff however, if processed correctly and used as fertilizer perhaps.

A blob twice the width of the US is heading towards Florida's coast

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Exxon stopped researching.

Ironically, Exxon may be bowing out just when the algae is just getting good—and when the company has cash to spare to invest in longer-term technologies. Bloomberg reported that, according to Viridos, the Exxon partnership has recently seen a sevenfold increase in its algae production in certain ponds. And the company is choosing to abandon ship even as it posts record profits, thanks in large part to the global energy crisis. Maybe oil companies aren’t actually working as hard as they say they are on renewable energy while making all that money off fossil fuels.

Grandpapy said:

Exxon stopped researching.

Ironically, Exxon may be bowing out just when the algae is just getting good—and when the company has cash to spare to invest in longer-term technologies. Bloomberg reported that, according to Viridos, the Exxon partnership has recently seen a sevenfold increase in its algae production in certain ponds. And the company is choosing to abandon ship even as it posts record profits, thanks in large part to the global energy crisis. Maybe oil companies aren’t actually working as hard as they say they are on renewable energy while making all that money off fossil fuels.

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btw anyone else notice she pronounced it sargasm?
I thought that is when she knows you know she’s faking it, and does it anyway

The range is a bit short, but the average American commute is just 50 miles, so 100 miles should serve the needs of most people in that market segment. Its big advantage is it can be powered from a small solar setup with a small battery bank, or just charged from any 120V outlet to full overnight. Handles freeways and keeps the weather out, but a subcompact can do the same thing for a bit more battery. Its most attractive feature is the price, at $15K before government subsidies, it should come in under $10K USD. A going to work in the city from the burbs car, also a good second car and beats the bus. I still think a subcompact hatch back is more practical and would top up enough range overnight from 120V, but it would cost more than this.


The Tiny Cheap Electric Car We’ve Been Waiting For?

14,706 views Mar 16, 2023 #ElectraMeccanica #EV #Microcar
Our US correspondent, Ricky Roy takes a spin in the ElectraMeccanica: a one seater, three wheel EV designed for urban commuting. With a unique design and tantalising price tag, is this the best microcar we've covered on the channel yet?

DIY-HP-LED said:

The range is a bit short, but the average American commute is just 50 miles, so 100 miles should serve the needs of most people in that market segment. Its big advantage is it can be powered from a small solar setup with a small battery bank, or just charged from any 120V outlet to full overnight. Handles freeways and keeps the weather out, but a subcompact can do the same thing for a bit more battery. Its most attractive feature is the price, at $15K before government subsidies, it should come in under $10K USD. A going to work in the city from the burbs car, also a good second car and beats the bus. I still think a subcompact hatch back is more practical and would top up enough range overnight from 120V, but it would cost more than this.

The Tiny Cheap Electric Car We’ve Been Waiting For?

14,706 views Mar 16, 2023 #ElectraMeccanica #EV #Microcar
Our US correspondent, Ricky Roy takes a spin in the ElectraMeccanica: a one seater, three wheel EV designed for urban commuting. With a unique design and tantalising price tag, is this the best microcar we've covered on the channel yet?

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I bought a PriusV hybrid for $15k and only spent $80 for gasoline in 2022. unlimited range no plug necessary. A new battery (after market rebuilt) for my Prius when or if it's eventually needed is $2500 installed. Many Prius owners report 300,000 miles on a battery. Most people don't keep a car for 300,000 miles. Hybrids are a good way to reduce our fuel dependence and transition over to electric cars until battery tech and infrastructure evolve.