Hi, new poster here. Love the whole concept of the project. Waiting for a batch to become available that I can sign up for.
Probably like most, I’ve been reading about all the great new battery tech that is not-quite-ready yet. However, this one is interesting because they are currently manufacturing in low quantities for prototyping / integration whilst they are constructing their main automated production facilities.
I plugged their ‘ultralight’ cell specs into the excellent ‘OpenPPG Battery Comparison’ spreadsheet, and whilst that cell format is not ideal (low voltage, needing lots of cells), the flight times would still be pretty cool. Of course - no idea on cost.
Anyway, I’m wondering if anyone more experienced with the project (and battery design) thinks it is worth talking to these guys about building some ‘evaluation’ packs for OpenPPG?
I have been reading about new battery tech for the past two years.
My personal opinion is that we will be stuck with the current battery technology for at least another 5 years, before new stuff has been thouroughly tested and is being adopted by the market.
Think about it like this:
a battery with high energy density, that is cheap, can be charged quickly and often (more than a thousand cycles) - that is basically the holy grail - all the electric plane, car, bus, bike (you continue the list) -manufacturers can’t wait for the holy grail to become a reality.
I agree with etienne, and I think the change/breakthrough will come from a company like Tesla. They just bought Maxwell technologies, a company that has developed a solid state lithium cell with higher wh/kg, at 400 now and expect 600 soon, with full discharge capability that won’t harm the battery. I think this will be the next battery cell we will see especially if tesla puts it into production soon, they don’t wait around to do things like other companies do.
Yep – the money is not in the car per say, but the tech that drives them. He who has but the magic Bat formula will definitely have an advantage for a while.