Can This Metal Really Beat the Lithium Battery?
Exploring the graphene aluminum battery. Don’t miss out on the EcoFlow sale. Get an extra 8% off with the code: FERRELLBF8! Amazon link: amzn.to/3T3f5iP Ecoflow website: us.ecoflow.com/?aff=195. While there are already an assortment of energy storage options available today beyond lithium batteries for grid scale storage, like compressed air and pumped hydro, there’s still a search for the next big thing. One rising star is aluminum batteries, which don’t require rare-earth materials, can charge faster, and could be cheaper and easier to recycle. There are two exciting battery breakthroughs we have to examine … and some of the benefits of these are kind of astounding. How do they work and can they really compete with lithium ion batteries? Let’s take a closer look.
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Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:48 - Lithium ion challenges
02:06 - Aluminum ion
05:34 - GMG Graphene Aluminum
09:50 - Aluminum Sulfur
Do you think any of these aluminum batteries have a shot? And would you want one in your phone or car? Don’t miss out on the EcoFlow sale. Get an extra 8% off with the code: FERRELLBF8! Amazon link: amzn.to/3T3f5iP Ecoflow website: us.ecoflow.com/?aff=195. If you liked this video, check out Exploring Solar Panel Efficiency Breakthroughs in 2022 kzhead.info/sun/oJycos6tg2p8eas/bejne.html
How much do you think will we have to wait before the release of these technologies?
I think just for the cost alone it makes sense.
Car for sure
Sure, why not.
This is the future of battery tech, if we are to reach sustainability, and zero carbon footprint, since it's easily recyclable, cheaper, lighter, and did you say non-flammable? Being able to throw the battery in the recycling bin when it finally is dead, is a game changer too. Wow!!! Bring it on....
I feel much better knowing all the beer cans in my garage are advancing aluminum battery storage technology. I will continue to help save the environment one IPA at a time.
It's the right thing to do.
When you think about it, a bucket of molten aluminium ought to make a pretty effective "thermal battery" ...
They wont advance much in the garage, but maybe if recycled
@@kaukon act of buying sponsored aluminium production
You are a good man. Your sacrifice is noted and appreciated.
Ecoflow really did improve the gas generator. Now I can use what is convenient for me be it gas or propane.
Having two options to run any generator is ideal. If gasoline is unavailable I can switch to propane or back and forth.
propane is a by product of gasoline refining so you are poop out of luck without gasoline being refined
The better option is the PV-Generator up on the roof. It doesn't require any of the gasoline types.
@@beatreuteler Fantastic..... as long as its daylight...... in the summer. Future PV designs will mitigate some of this problem but cheap large scale electrical storage is a must. It need not be Li ion energy density as long as it is within 1/3-1/4 as dense, significantly cheaper to produce and reasonably compact to the point that it won't take a second house sized building to contain it. If molten air batteries became viable at a reasonable temperature range they could be dynamite for the home storage market.
@@mnomadvfx Even future PV designs themselves will not make day out of night, understood. To some point you are right, storage is a good thing shifting daylight excesses into the darker time of the day. In Switzerland we have large scale storage up in the mountain reservoirs. Lots of. That's possibly why I tend to forget to mention. I tend to take it for granted. Sorry for that. BTW: Once down the lane when we are making excess out of PV not only very locally where it is used up immediately by the neighbours, but also regionally, all we will need is regulated logal grid transformers to avoid overvoltage in local grids and to allow transfer of excesses to pumped hydro storage facilites. 15% of capacity of hydro storage in Switzerland is also "pump capable". A good thng to have, a legacy from "nuclear times" when excesses were to be pumped during nights.
Now that is what I would call a really smart generator. It has an auto start and can be monitored by the same Ecoflow App I use with my Delta Pro.
Hey! Long-time viewer here! I wonder if you've ever considered making a sort of 'end of year roundup'. I know year-end listicles can seem a bit superficial and click-baity but I'd love to see an overview of what progress has been made this year and what were some of the bigger breakthroughs.
Also which companies failed and disappeared. All useful information.
matt ferrell constantly makes these same video's on these same topics saying these same things. he never brings any newer information. he only states a technology is worked on. yoohaay nobody cared
That was on my roadmap for the end of year, but unfortunately had to cut it. Still may resurrect the idea.
I'm planning on doing that kind of thing too ... I'm keeping tabs on all the companies I'm talking about and do plan to do updates as things go (good or bad).
@@ikillwithyourtruthholdagai2000 why are you here then
Thanks Matt, I think you missed one of the most important facets of GMG's business model: They're forming their graphene directly from (natural gas / methane / CH4), so their graphene is a) ultra pure, and b) super inexpensive compared to other production methods. They can also produce this graphene at enormous scale, as their original intent with the product was to use it to harden concrete, requiring huge volumes of the material.
Are they left with hydrogen after? Or would it be bonded with other?
@@marcmoncrieff7700 Nothing I've seen so far describes their actual process, as that's part of the "secret sauce", but since they're removing the Carbon (C) from the methane (CH4), they would have to end up with a lot of hydrogen - I'm just not sure "in what form" it would be in after the reaction...
@@fcbrants Yea their secrecy sauce is probably just Flash graphene as it’s the best way to make graphene
@@marcmoncrieff7700 According to the CEO of GMG, at 9:00 in this video: kzhead.info/sun/rNyhmqyLgZFraJs/bejne.html hydrogen is the "waste" product.
Let's hope "super inexpensive" is true. Based on the estimated $100/gram in the video that's $90,718,470 per ton (assuming we're using short tons... hard to tell with mixed unit videos).
I appreciate that you always give a very balanced view of new technologies, I hope that this aluminum Ion or the aluminum sulfer works out. It will move the ability to buy an EV into the realm of the average family being able to afford an EV. Also it may reduce the environmental impact ofEV’s.
It's aluminium... Not aluminum.
@@Reth_Hard Not sure if you're tryin to be funny or just ignorant but assumin the latter you should know that In the US (and probably quite a few other places) we say aluminum. Not sure why but that's just how it is. Similar to color vs colour, depends on where you're from. (the missing gs were also intentional because for whatever reason I said this with a southern accent in my head).
EV’s hit lower cost of ownership than comparable ICE cars years ago now.
@@grn1 Hey it's not a reason to be mean.
Before the pandemic, the average used cost of an EV was below the average cost of a new car. People can afford an EV, they just don't want to because.... reasons, comfort, fear, stupidity.
As always with these battery videos, I'll believe it when I hold it in my hand. Until then, it's just dreams and nothing else. None of the battery techs I've seen on any channel is in my hands, or anyone's hands for that matter, yet.
I think the coin cell by GMC have be sent to product manufacturers for testing. I would suspect the cost of graphene manufacturing is the problem to fast mass production.
Finally someone who gets it, I hate to say it but I'm starting to cringe at this/Matts channel. He seems like a smart guy but it seems he can't smell CMG's BS scam.
@@michaelbrinks8089 He can smell it - it has been painstakingly and embarrassingly pointed out to him. The unfortunate truth is, the con artist is hard to spot. It isn't CMG's BS scam - it is Matt's. He has a likeable personality and an honest demeanor - and wow sounds like I'm describing the perfect con artist. With how blatant his lies are and how he has been publicly called out, corrected, fact checked and does not care it becomes obvious what his intentions are and typically if you chase motivations far enough you find money at the other end.
just hearing this video, nothing of value is being said here. all he ever really said is the same company he mentioned like 15 times in a row now.. and he just does these same things like explaining how bateries work.. lool and then he mentiones its not finished and their working on it. all he does is make you sense the hype he feels, its just wrong
Sorry you feel that way about my videos, but surprised you're jumping to such a horrible assumption about me and my motivations (with zero evidence). I'm fascinated by what brilliant engineers and scientists are making possible to try and improve our lives. I'm reporting on advances in the renewable energy space ... nothing more. Over the past year or two I've been building out my team and getting more people involved that are scientists and engineers to provide in-house advising. Always trying to get better with each video. As for this specific video, what's BS about GMG? If you have facts and data to show how and why, please share it. I'm all ears.
As a Queenslander myself, this makes me feel pretty proud 🙂 Good to hear some good tech coming out of Australia like this 👍
I think we really need you to keep us up to date on these exciting developments. Thanks.
This was a very good overview of the problems… as well as new proposed solutions!
After finally being able to do Aluminum smelting myself the past few weeks, I had ideas of attempting to introduce graphite and home made graphene(very home made) to see if I could build a battery. Glad to see i wasn't the first with the idea and they are much further ahead of me. Now, If I could get better at smelting and metallurgy, I would love to do experiments to build a home made battery and even an "open source guide" one day.
It's aluminium... Not aluminum.
Sounds like you need to mix in aluminum chloride during the graphene formation so it forms those "holes" around the Al ions. Or maybe they're using direct ion injection with particle accelerators, who knows.
@@Reth_Hard it was first named aluminum, they changed it afterwards to sound more like the other ...ium elements
I have been waiting for this moment ever since I first learned of the potentials using Graphene tech in 2013.. It's wonderful to see some tangible progress showing! Lithium is merely another stepping stone to humanity reaching a true neutral/negative carbon footprint, albeit, a rather slow one. Once these batteries become mainstream everything will change.
I think we might be still like 10-20 years away from that. I think viable batteries will be available in mass much sooner, and they may even be better at that point, but lithium ion is a proven technology at this point with a bunch infrastructure already in place and I will take a while to master cheap high quality and quantity graphene production that will be necessary in making sure that this technology is cheaper or at least competitive with lithium ion.
Negative carbon footprint? Do you want us to stop breathing and all plants to die?
If I had the choice of betting $1,000 that Craig Nicol & CMG is a scam or investing $1,000 into his "company". I'd bet he's another Elizabeth Holmes or Sam Bankman Fried. A little common sense, shows too many things aren't adding up. LOL I just looked at their bogus KZhead channel & they're selling a scam paint claiming using it to spray paint your AC condenser fins black will somehow reduce your AC bills. "Thermal XR air conditioner energy saving paint" Comments are turned off Why would a legit reputable company turn comments off instead of explaining how it works....There was another guy in NZ a while back claiming he made a motorcycle that could run off water.
how exactly are you saying its tengible?
@@_shadow_1 the video here never stated anything of importance
I always watch your videos to the very end. Fascinating discussion and it gives me hope for the future!
Thank you for your continued efforts around all things batteries
This is ground breaking! Absolutely phenomenal 💕
I'm sure they have a shot. The GMG information sounds promising. I'm not convinced they'll come to the market "cheaper", even if the total cost of production is significantly cheaper. They price themselves based on the market.
GMG you’re on the right path buddy keep up the phenomenal work sounds extremely positive 👍
Really enjoyed your video. It's refreshing to watch something about energy storage that is balanced and researched. There's too much floating around from obvious fanbois or haters.
I'm always cautiously optimistic about any battery advancements, since it feels like we've been waiting for the next big revolution forever. I don't want to get my hopes up that we'll have super efficient and environmentally-friendly batteries on a market-scale any time soon. Still, it's cool to talk and find out about those incremental advancements, since those are what will eventually lead to the next big thing. But yeah, eventually is the keyword here. I still thank that, realistically, we have a long way to go towards solving the energy storage problem for good.
That sounds too promising. "The hotter the aluminum battery gets, the faster it can charge." sounds crazy. I'm looking forward to this company's development. I really hope we get this type in the near future.
Actually, it makes sense. Most computer components work better when hot (to an extent) as electrons flow easier. However, that being said, renewables are still a scam push by the World Economic Forum that is causing major power grid issues around the western world. Germany can't even keep the lights on if they have a cloudy day at this point. California is having rolling blackouts caused by the double wammy of mass buying of electric cars and a failing renewable energy sector. Not to mention, solar panels and wind farms do extraordinary damage to the environment due to land clearance and destruction of forests and general loss of habitat (yes that includes the desert)
the heat sink is also the battery
ABSOLUTE YES for all of your questions 👌🏻☺️
Yes! Finally it's being talked about! I had this particular battery in mind for about 3 years now, and there where hardly a youtube video about it, and those that where are just experiments.
I love watching these videos, but seeing new things all the time is nice and all but would be nice to have a short recap video of technologies that were features in your videos years ago and see where they are now.
Can they handle the cold better, like below zero temperatures?
This is incredible. Can't wait to see this on the market.
It’s great that this battery technology is being taken to another level and improving in so many ways there’s a lot of controversy over the mining process used in extracting lithium from soil or ground and the explanation of children for labour there’s an abundance of both aluminum and carbon everywhere to produce these batteries A win win situation for producers and users of this next generation battery Hope it takes off soon
What about Vanadium batteries? Known technology and huge capacity since the energy is stored in the electrolyte. There is also the possibility of shipping energy in tankers of 'charged' electrolyte. Could you do a vid on it?
Yes I want them! And what if they have the problem of a anode/cathode wearing off over time? We can easily recycle them right?
with the price of Lithium skyrocketing it appears alternative sources are needed and each one looks like it has their niche market. Heavier batteries could be utilitzed for commercial storage while lighter ones could be used in autos. graphene looks like a good alternative for autos, while the sodium may be better for commerical uses as they may take up more room. Very good articles to shed more light on the industry and how it changes. It also helps to know which ones perform better at lower temperatures to charging energy is not wasted to loss of range.
This has been in the works for years. I am happy see that they making some head way
Charging gets faster when heating up, wow. That's a game changer, man the potential for a hybrid is pretty amazing on that fact alone Laptops this sounds ideal, especially if we go back to swapable batteries to deal with the corrosion issue For my phone I'd probably stick with li-ion for now
Yes and no, that heat has to go somewhere otherwise the thing melts itself ...
@@robertsmith4681 true, but I'm still kinda amazed by that. Like for cars the first 15mins of charging sucks and only gives you like 15% then you can quickly zoom to 70% The trick will most certainly be managing the melt, I was amused by a Li-ion space heater blanket warming up the aluminum as it charges then charging only the aluminum
@@NerfThisBoardGames The way I look at it, using Lithium is like trying to kill a mosquito with explosives, it "works", but we can't use it sustainably. The sooner we can move this over to simple aluminium the better it is. And if there is waste heat to get rid of in the process so be it.
Yup, during cold periods when batteries notoriously under perform, you could have removable insulation and use that heat it generates to your advantage.
@@robertsmith4681 as stated in the video, the aluminum and graphene are highly efficient at dissipating heat... This is the future of battery tech, if we are to reach sustainability, and zero carbon footprint, since it's easily recyclable...
I've been following GMG's progress for a while and have even suggested you make this video about them on several of your past videos. Thanks for finally getting around to it! I'd really like to wait for aluminum ion batteries before buying my first electric car, but sadly my 95 Honda Civic is literally falling apart so I may have to settle for a car with lithium ion batteries. Probably an ioniq 6 since I like their range, efficiency, and of course Hyundai's EV platform.
I have been holding off on buying a new car for this exact reason. My Tuscon is getting a bit long in the tooth but I am hoping she makes it four or five more years so something with an Alion battery will hopefully be on the market.
@@ReggaeBasist you have a "long-tooth" Tuscon and you still plan to wait another 4-5years. You just made me feel good about being frugal 👌👌
@@ReggaeBasist you and a lot of other people. Manufacturers have noticed this over the last five years and are strategising accordingly to keep up
It doesn’t matter wether or not you wait, electric cars are more wasteful than ICE cars if you look at grid load. The REAL future is hydrogen or synthetic fuels like Porsche is creating out of the CO2 in the air.
Phosphate
Thanks for keeping us aware of future possibilities> happy thanksgiving!
This will definitely need some follow up videos to see if they can solve the dendrite problem. Sounds extremely promising!
Anytime you hear "New battery technology developed by university X who is working with company Y to bring it to market" this means it will take 7-12 years before it hitting volume production. That is, if it ever makes it out of the lab. New, very promising, Proof Of Concepts (POC) battery technologies are a dime a dozen. Volume production is EXTREMELY hard. EXTREMELY!! I still love all the new tech!! Eventually one will knock it out of the park. Hopefully it's more than one. Until then, formulations LiFePo4 seems to be the way to go.
Would love to hear followups with some of these companies in the following months, and possibly a more in-depth look at how/when these new technologies could make it to market (or why they won't).
This is amazing and I hope these work out. I would love to have an aluminum battery in my phone. My biggest complaint about lithium is fire risk. Along with safety aluminum would be perfect since it's so abundant and we already recycle it.
I'm excited to see the progress of this and other technologies leading the charge in utilizing abundant materials.
Hello matt I hope these batteries can replace lithium battery they have served their purpose great for the past three decades years 😀 thanks matt respect 🙏
I think they might have a future in energy storage. And it is nice to see multiple entities developing aluminum based batteries, since competition breeds innovation.
competition doesnt always breed the inovation lol..
Well balanced f informative. Thanks!
Great job on this one! thank you.
It seems that promising battery tech claims had been touted for decades but nothing really changed until portable electronics became mainstreamed. Now with the big push for EV's, it seems as though a lot more work is being done at a faster rate to overcome the obvious issues with Lithium ion batteries. I am enthusiastically waiting for the next big breakthrough and hopefully this will be it.
Agreed. All the theoretical discourse on batteries are finally being funded to actual real world testing. What a time to be alive.
It's all about where the grant money flows to.
@@hypergraphic Watch CMG will turn out to be a scam....Comments turned off on their YT page. Look at their bogus YT page, they sell black spray paint claiming if you buy it & paint your AC condenser coils with it, it'll lower your AC bill.
@@hypergraphic its not about the money Ronald, the money only gives sertain people ability to research a sertain subject
8:30 He says that aluminum does create a lot of emissions to create, but that really depends a lot on the source of the electricity used to refine it. In the province of Québec, 100% of the electricity used in the process comes from hydroelectric dams, or wind turbines. That means that the only part of the process that actually emits greenhouse gas is extraction and transport. He also mentions Rio Tinto. They are in fact the owners of those aluminium smelters.
Yep, we've got a Rio Tinto smelter in Kitimat, BC, once again using Hydro Power. Not a perfectly environmentally sound process by any stretch, but I make a living installing huge aluminum frame windows made of 1/8" thick extrusions, I'll install thousands of pounds of aluminum material per day. Car engine blocks and cylinder heads are made out of hundreds of pounds of aluminum per unit, point being I honestly can't take the potential argument seriously that an aluminum battery would somehow be "detrimental" to the environment, or any more detrimental than a car engine, anyways. Nothing humans create is environmentally friendly, but I'd say aluminum is about as good as it gets for metal, mostly because of its value, longevity and high rate of recycle. Thermally conductive, electrically conductive, easy to recycle, easy to machine, easy to cast, and now maybe it could be the backbone of future batteries. It really is a wonder-metal.
I like the sounds of this. I moved from lead/acid to lithium iron phosphate. So I am looking forward to a better battery that recycles better. I will be looking into what GMG is doing.
Yet another great and enlighting subject! I still have ORC:s on my wishlist for future episodes.
Really informative and useful video. Need further useful videos like these stuff
Glad it was helpful!
I think there are maybe eight key functional and value goals that a competent designer of EV batteries wants to achieve: i) high energy density, ii) high charge and discharge rates, i.e. high power density, iii) thermal stability during fast charging, iv) rapid heat dissipation in extreme conditions, v) a long duty cycle, vi) light weight, vii) excellent safety especially when the battery suffers damage or is subject to inappropriate use and viii) low cost of finished products. GMG's cells and batteries, based on current claims, get a good pass ranking on energy density and weight, viz. the Al-Graphene batteries offer energy density in line with today's high end Li-Ion batteries. GMG get a credit for the duty cycle of its cells and a high distinction for all of the other sought after design goals except the cost of the finished product that for the moment remains an open question. That is a spectacularly good result. Those who are marking down the GMG cells for offering nothing new on the energy density front have a limited grasp of what it takes for a battery design to be successful. If GMG's products come in at a good price they will be successful.
You are delusional. Points VII (excellent safety especially when the battery suffers damage or is subject to inappropriate use) and I (high energy density) and II (high charge and discharge rates) are in opposition. If something has high energy density and can give you all that energy fast, it means that it's definitely not safe. If something contains energy in it's structure (and sometimes in chemical bonds, just like gasoline) it is not safe because nearly any structure can be damaged/destroyed and then all that energy must be somehow transformed or utilized for example to burn your vehicle or destroy everything in it's range (some explosives that are triggered by pressure).
@@krzysztofmeler seems overly simplified. Lithium ion batteries themselves are more flammable, so it not only gets hot from sudden discharge, but then it ignites. Aluminum chloride and graphene aren't as flammable. Also it's not like it takes long for a run away lithium battery to discharge, especially if the separator melts. It's possible that aluminum graphene is less likely to have a run away reaction, and if it does, graphene can handle heat really well. It still should be tested, but aluminum graphene being safer is believable.
@@willjapheth23789 It is not about what is more or less flemable, but what stores more energy and how it does. If for whatever reason current lithium ion batteries were two times more dense (in terms of energy stored) then the amount of energy released during fire would be two times more and fire would be hotter/longer etc. If you have energy stored, then in the "next moment of time" it must be either still stored or not, read: released. It is just that simple. Energy source more dense than current ones would be great, but in case of damage, all this additional energy would be released. And we have many way to store energy. In cars now, we use gasoline that stores energy in chemical bounds (shape of the fuel tank doesn't mater) or batteries (shape is very important). In case of car accident, energy sources that stores energy in chemical bounds are safe to the time chemical reaction is not triggered by for example spark. With batteries it is different - you don't need any additional trigger - just the change of battery structure releases energy it contained. Current density for car batteries is about 400 Wh/kg (I might be wrong). With, for instance 4 kWh/kg, the range would be much better (10 times) but the same goes for energy released in case of battery damage.
@@krzysztofmeler but the energy density between the to batteries is currently equal. It seemed like your original point was that the 70x discharge speed was clearly more dangerous, but when you watch a lithium battery explode it definitely discharges why faster, like a second or a fraction of one. So it seems to me something that might help is the quality of the separator, which would be made of graphene. Current lithium separators are polyolefin, apparently, which I imagine has significantly less structural integrity and heat resistance. Lithium batteries can just use graphene too though, probably. Gasoline has about 100 times more energy density than lithium, but that excludes oxygen weight, so with liquid oxygen in the car, Gasoline would still have 20 times more density energy. A battery having it's liquid oxygen and gas separated by a thin layer seems to be what makes it explosive. However also gas shows how much more energy you can get from exothermic reactions, so if lithium batteries have more exothermic potential than what happens would be a large spark from the electro-chemical reaction, then an even bigger one from the exothermic reactions with oxygen in the air. So my conclusion is that less flammable battery chemicals and a high quality separator, could have a significant impact on safety. Energy density is just one factor.
@@krzysztofmeler Agreed, it is the basic of Chemistry and physics , Jet fuel and all the rocket fuel including Hydrogen and Oxygen rocket booster are good examples. Fast charging and discharging create heat no matter how you slice it
Thanks for the coverage
Hi Matt, fantastic report, probably one of the biggest challenges we are facing in regard of mobility, however aprobably bigger problem is the electric network. Current network won't be able to cope with the volume of electricity required, no many people are taking about this fundamental issue, everybody is assuming that electricity will be "there" when needed. There are few companies around the world, couple of them in UK, that are bringing some interesting solutions.
The need to expel heat may put a damper on an aluminium ion battery for cell phones etc but for a car where it can be conveniently managed, this may be a great battery. High energy storage and rapid charging is where lithiumn batteries fall short for the automatove market and a system for expelling the heat should pose no problem.
I don't think they inherently generate any more heat than lithium-ion does, unless you try to charge them at crazy speeds. The "damper" would only be put on the promised fast charging capability, but the energy density and cost advantages would still be there. And even with thermal throttling, they'd still charge somewhat faster than Li-ion.
@@Ithirahad I am anticipating fast charging especially for cars. I don't know if fast charging would be required for cell phones & flashlights etc but I am sure the populace would like to shorten the charging time.
The only thing is that it shows that Li-S still has a larger power storage than Al-S .. granted the cost per storage drops hard from the two different types. I know Li-S should also drop in price as it replaces some of the materal with cheaper materal - also there will be more demand for Al if we switch - meaning that 2k figure would be more like 4k or 6k. Still lower than Li - but it will be there as demand for it will double.
>>The only thing... Energy density is essential but GMG's cells are competitive with leading products in the market today. What the GMG cells offer is blistering charging rates and thermal stability during fast charging (due to the low internal resistance of batteries based on graphene) and vastly improved safety in battery failure scenarios (shorts or catastrophic damage). Characteristics like that are also essential in good battery designs.
Ty for a ton of understandable professionally futuristic technology well delivered information
What I didn't hear was anything about voltage. I had read that the biggest issue with Al ion batteries was that they couldn't discharge the kind of high voltage that Li ion could. Has this issue been resolved? Thank you for the video.
I thought charge & discharge rates are related? If they are charging 70% faster I assume discharge follows the same trend. Also not sure if other AI batteries are using graphene. I would think those graphene layers are allowing AI to achieve very different properties but I don't know how others build AI cells.
I am no expert in battery technology, but isnt it possible to build more individual battery cells to increase voltage?
@@tatepinto6285 if you mean the shelf discharge rate, then no, they are not related. If you mean the voltage discharged in use, then also no. See lead acid batteries, which favor slow trickle charging, but are known for higher voltage discharge. It depends on the battery technology.
If all other parameters were equal, that up to 25x faster charge rate at higher temp would be a game changer. I’m imagining a northern snowy winter climate with limited sun windows of opportunity. It would make living off grid better. Of course for EV charging this high charge speed would also be awesome. Lots of interesting new prospects on the horizon. However, if you are in the market for solar, don’t delay and hope for better tech.
Fast charging is where this would make the biggest difference. Currently there's not much of a free market case for EV charging since the throughput rate at chargers is so slow. If a 200 km range city-EV could pull up to a 350 kw charger and charge in less than 5 minutes, that'd be a game-changer. It'd also make EVs more viable for street-parkers and apartment dwellers who don't have access to AC charging.
Thanks. I think the metal's availability and lower cost will be a good thing to add to the mix of battery tech. Jim Bell (Australia)
Thanks for giving us hope of another and improved solution.
👍
We keep getting all these different battery types that are hitting the market "soon":tm: There any chance we can get a follow up on theses things from the last few years to see if any have actually made it to market? The only one I can think of wasn't selling to consumers yet just interested tech partners l.
But that's how tech progress works. To make sure of winning you have to bet on lots of horses in the race; the more horses you can spread your bets on the more chance one of them will win. Al batteries seem a strong young colt, but there's an awful lot of the race still to be run ...
@@kenoliver8913 Did you even read my post? It doesn't sound related to it at all... I KNOW there is a lot of research, I was asking about a follow up on if any of the past covered ones has as in your metaphor "made it past the finish line"...
Considering how many drawbacks there are with lithium that we are only beginning to find out about and how much easier to handle aluminium is, this seems to me like a much more viable option when it comes to relatively easy recyclability, handling of materials and so on. Much more likely to be adopted in the third world and so on also.
there are no third worlds (anymore).
Thank you for this video it makes me excited about our future please keep info. Like this come I love it
Great to see how much research is taking place in this field and how much progress is being made. Just remember that nobody was interestet at all when the the Lithuim battery was presented.
Out of all of the battery videos, this one is now my favorite. This Al-Ion solution feels tangible, and is close enough to market that we might start seeing it's economic effects within the next couple of years. Almost too good to be true.....
Its still in the lab. Yes it's promising, but for every technology that makes it to the lab stage only a small proportion make it to any production and a much smaller proportion again change the world. I would have liked more in this video on what the current challenges are in scaling it massively so we can get some sort of gauge of how likely it is.
@@kenoliver8913 Still in the lab, but at the final stretch. At 8:45 in the video, he states they manufactured pouch cells for small electronics this last June, and plan to have EV pouches this coming year. That's about as close to market as you can get compared to the other batteries featured in the past.
Sorry to be sceptical. I've read about potential breakthroughs like this for over ten years and yet no serious alternative to Lithium has materialized on the market so far. Of course I am still hoping that eventually one of those throws will stick.
One can only hope that some variation of aluminum proves to replace Li-ion in the not-to-distant future. My only concern is that it always seems like there's some new battery being made to be the "future of battery technology," but we very rarely, if ever, hear about it being viable enough in the lab to actually make it to mass production. I'm glad at least that this channel at informs us about new technologies, but also reminds us to temper our expectations.
learned a lot thanks
It doesn't matter how advanced batteries are, the battery installed in the EV you buy is the one that makes the manufacturer the most money.
Well if this battery will come out and will offer an improvement over lithium, everyone will eventually switch to this, especially if its half the price or less
The manufacturers will pick the lowest cost battery which meets or beats minimal consumer requirements - range, recharge time, how long battery retains most of its maximum charge (cycles) for a given price. Safety of course. This may not be the most efficient battery or the greatest range but will be enough for example to get 300 miles/500 km of range and we won't need one that gets 1,500 miles as much.
Manufacturing and Implementation costs can be raised if the user operational cost/performance ratio exceeds competition all-considering negligible effect on the environment in relation to the previous iteration. Not that complicated as demand will then increase with the new capabilities. Not to mention that demonstrating practical innovation is the only way to stay on edge and sustain fundamentally financial leverage.
I think another key feature ( @1:20) that enabled LiIon breakthrough market penetration is the high per cell voltage around 4V, which enabled lots of very simple devices and less balancing infrastructure. So the target cell voltage range of this new Al Ion technology would be nice to share in future videos. (Unrelated: did you ever investigate/report on the mysterious Nano Flow Cell company that rose and disappeared ~a decade ago?)
graphene is very conductive, so I'd imagine very low internal resistance in such batteries, which would help the cell voltage
Wikipedia gives 2.65V for aluminium-ion (aluminium-graphite) cells. Sodium-ion batteries are also lower voltage This will affect uptake but perhaps not markedly for stationary and ev purposes
Sounds good as long as they can overcome the few issues you mentioned and scale production. Does not mater how superior it is in energy density if it cant be mass produced.
Thanks for the content and coverage - clearly the application is wide-spread...
These kinds of technologies advancements always fascinate me. Since the electricity out of a battery is basically the same, in the future you may be able to do a battery swap on an EV from 10+ years ago and suddenly have fast charging and massively improved range.
If car manufacturers had the foresight to design swappable battery technology the World would be a better place, but I'll have a bet with you, money and making us buy new and disposing of the old will always trump the sensible option.
Tesla owners punching the air right now with the chassis-embedded batteries
@@norkshit green companies are anything but. Everyone makes sure life span and repairability suck.
@@ComedyClassicShorts yeah he thinks that remaking the whole car will be cheaper then producing a new one, good for him tho
@@ComedyClassicShorts Yeah; only NIO has the foresight for such a future
Matt, thanks for the video and for keeping us updated on battery technologies. While I'm excited to see that there is valuable research ongoing, it always appears that everything is in Lab Status. The economics of new battery technologies coming to market will be directly affected by current companies already high investments into current market offerings. They will not change over so quickly I think? Thank you again for the videos and all the hard work!
Big changes always take quite some time. People are just so used to things changing almost constantly, because of the small improvements happening to all our stuff now. But those are truly tiny changes, as far as technology goes. (Blu-ray is literally nothing but a DVD with a different color laser and new programming, and that took 11 years) But during that 11 years, DVD didn't stop getting small updates. But people also didn't really hear about tech research back then. Most learned about new things years after they started working on it, and not too long before they were released, we hear about it the day after someone has the thought. That means we have some time before most of this gets to market, and a LOT of it is going to fail. Just like new things always have. They just didn't get to watch it all in real time, like we do today. But it's no faster, or less risky than in the past.
I hear you on that, Robert. It does seem like none of these batteries are hitting the market. I don't think we'll have to wait much longer for some of them to start hitting, but it sadly take a lot of time to ramp them up.
@@UndecidedMF I am ardent follower of your technological works and presentations. I think, aluminium-ion batteries seem to offer many benefits over their Li-ion counterpart: Most important advantages of. Aluminium-ion batteries are 1) Safety, 2) Abundance of (Al) material availability and 3) Environmental-friendly. 4) Aluminium not being a rare earth element. 5) Ease of recycling of aluminium. Aluminium-ion batteries should be developed fast in the world to remove Li-ion batteries. Thanks for the great insight on this promising battery technology.
So glad you covered GMG. I have been following this company since the original announcement. Other than the capacity the stability of these batteries can be a game changer. They will be amazing grid-level batteries. They do not overheat. They can change the entire nature of grid infrastructure.
CMG = scam like Elizabeth Holmes , Sam Bankman Fried....After a few minutes of research into them, I'd bet $1,000 that I'm right way before I'd ever invest $1,000 with them.
Thank you so much for all you do.
The major issue with aluminum is that it wll want to stay as a stable compound on the cathode side. For example FePO4 will become stable AlPO4 and iron, and Cu2CoO2 would become a stable mix of Al2O3 and copper/cobalt metal alloy.
MIT seems to have solved that problem on their AL/S by using a molten salt electrolyte
The trivalent nature of the aluminum ion is both a blessing and a curse. Yes it'll carry more charges per ion, but it also makes the ion much more corrosive compared to monovalent ions such as lithium or sodium, hence the battery will disintegrate even if it's just sitting around. So yeah, we're still a very long way off for a commercially-viable aluminum battery. Even if lithium were to suddenly deplete tomorrow and we are forced to use an alternative, we probably would go for sodium battery as a better proven alternative.
The aqueous magnesium metal battery is being developed with this in mind. Scientists are trying to create a barrier or passivation film that protects the battery from this level of erosion.
Very cool. I thought Aluminium battery techs were not rechargeable. This is a pleasant surprise. And some of this - It was around the time you mentioned potential future batteries that can charge 25x faster at over 100C that I really got the sense battery tech is still in its infancy and the next 50 to 100 years are probably going to be incredibly exciting on this front. Imagine being able to watch your phone's charge going up in minutes. And who knows how long it could last on that charge in 50 years?
WOW! It would be amazing if a battery like this was on the market.
There are a lot of developments and changes in energy tech lately and many are overhyped. This one seems like it actually has a very good chance of working, and could be just the ticket. The whole range anxiety thing goes out the window if you can recharge quickly, and I've been a skeptic for quite awhile. Keep up the research and good luck!
Yeah, if you can charge your car in 5 minutes and go 3-400 miles, it's basically at parity with gas cars provided the grid can keep up, which is ideal. Lots of things to get sorted before that's a reality though, and even if, say, in 5 years these batteries are in all the cars, and everyone's gone electric, the grid won't handle the load, so that has to get upgraded in-step.
@@jttech44 The grid capacity issues are rarely covered by the WOC crowd. To make EV work, you gotta upgrade the grid. But upgrading the grid, to make it able to give energy parity with gas car usage, means you gotta add a bunch of new generation plants. Guess what they've stopped in America? For something like 20 years or so? New generation plants, and new pipelines to fuel them, that's what! In other words, they've actually got us looking for a non-energy way to run EV cars to satisfy stupid a bunch of political garbage. Gas supply lines in the US are presently running at or very near 100% right now, so we can probably forget an EV car revolution happening any time soon - the WOC crowd has to be tamed (and hopefully trashed) before that can happen. Now I don't want to sound unhappy about new battery-tech. When it proves practical, it will be great! In my experience, I entered the engineering field when NASA was just discovering the charge-discharge issues with NiCads in space, along with the tendrils that grew in the batteries and eventually shorted them out. It was a sad and expensive learning lesson for both NASA and ALL commercial space efforts at the time. Soooo, the aluminum batteries sound really great, the technology appears solid, and it is just a matter of making them reliable and monetarily wonderful enough to give us a major earth-changing invention. There will be a bunch of very wealthy folk coming off it, you can believe! If only I could be one of them.
Very promising... It will be even better when small companies developed batteries for high performance cars that are swapable, small and very light weight!
Well yeah, but there's the rub. That combo is about the trickiest problem in technology right now.
No swapping is needed if the supercapacitors are charged in the charging station. These batteries can fully recharge from zero in about 5 to 10 minutes, but the transmission grid cannot handle that, hence the need for supercapacitors
Love hearing about this new battery tech. Always cheers me up. Don't care about it for the grid so much as houses, cars, and phones. I'd love to be self sufficient when it comes to electricity.
Incredible potential for this tech from many angles. Hope they succeed. I'm glad we see eye to eye here. I've invested in GMG about a year ago. Cheers
Hi, where i can invest in it?
Hi Matt - you often provide thought provoking videos. But usually you fail to mention the disadvantages of whatever new technique you are presenting. Th Alu Graphene battery has been around for some time. GMG graphene sounds promising. Problem is that all the social media plugging this GMG battery as the next big thing seem to be from just one or two sources. So where's the catch?
IMO, the catch (at least the first) is that GMG has "exclusive" access to this technology. I don't believe it can really take on LiIon without either opening up the tech or very aggressively pricing licences for it.
What I hope to see with all the new battery tech coming out is that thee end up with differant material types as best for the 3 major uses. bulk storage, EVs, and small electronics. This way they would not be competing for resources.
Finally, channel mentions issues with lithium mining, even if minimizing the issues.
Matt, another awesome video. Thank you for always bringing highly relevant and well researched and produced videos to us.
This inherently makes sense to me As someone who grew up learning to weld on steel I can say that over the last ten years I've seen (and welded) more and more aluminum than any other metal. Seems like aluminum and it's alloys are the belle of the ball lately and I'm all for it, at least its a hell of a lot lighter! lol
I’d like to see them focus on efficiency and cost rather than size and compactness. Stationary storage is the first thing we need to focus on for our power grid and then other portable stuff after that.
EV's and other portable devices is where the money is at though unfortunately. Its always going to come first.
@@dumbcrumb879 True. 30k on something that sits hidden in our closet or on something that goes vroom? :)
@@collinE83 goes "whirrrr"
*Interesting as Heck!!!* Thank You!
Thanks for your informative videos
Glad you like them!
@@UndecidedMF really appreciate the amount of detailed research you put into them, thank you so much
I really thought flow batteries would have been the champion of grid storage - cheap mass production of the liquid seems a lot easier than making millions of individual batteries.
Over 90% of grid storage is pumped hydro storage, battery makes up only a few percent. There are more than 30 thousand prospective pumped hydro sites in the US, and only a few hundred are needed. Many of those can be abandoned open pit mines.
Flow batteries are current-limited and introduce a single point of failure There have been a number of issues with the flow processes too - pumping large volumes of potentially corrosive liquids from tank to tank being one issue but also physical wear and tear on the electrodes and other core components
@@acmefixer1 that's because pumped hydro has been around for over 60 years and batteries only a decade The UK's main pumped hydro Station was hellaciously expensive - batteries would be on par with it overall, but more important than that, just about all the usable spots for pumped hydro have already been used. Geography matters There's simply no place to build a pumped hydro station in South Australia, as one example...
Thankyou brother
I am particularly intrigued by the aluminum sulfur battery. I live in the Mojave Desert where there are now huge numbers of solar farms. Given aluminum sulfur's increase in efficiency with temperature, the solar farms themselves would be ideal locations for these batteries. The infrastructure to put the electricity from the farms onto the grid is already there. If the solar farms also had these batteries they could deliver electricity to the grid during peak hours in the evening when everyone is getting home and cranking up their air conditioners. To use the well worn phrase that Matt now says tongue in cheek, this would be a game changer. 🙂
I feel like one way where a lot of these companies will gain traction is if they start producing standardized batteries. Like make packs of rechargeable AAs, AAAs, and 9v, where it's easy for people to implement and opens potential for hobbyists. Of course, the voltage needs to be right.
Or just start big from the beginning, sell it to energy suppliers for their energy storage.
@@tobysatriayudha4564 Why not both? standard battery form factors and grid storage
@@diablo.the.cheater you might be right, to accelerate the implementation. But some companies might not able to produce for bigger market, or they choose for more profitable deals to kickstart their business.
Considering that after 10+ years of R&D, no new non-lithium battery chemistry made it to market, its safe to assume it will be another 10 years before anything new would appear especially considering how long it to took for LION battery to become popular. Just think about how incredible that one company has managed to manufacture graphene at large quantities cheaply, and develop a battery with it. If we just had enough unobtanium:)
Bingo people do not realize how long it takes to build large scale production as the video mentioned the graphene is still the limiting factor it still to expensive which is why they talk about cell phone batteries.
Great news. I would like a big one outside my house. Even though there is not solar on this house. A timed charger buying electricty at the night time rate to be used during the peak price daytime rate would be useful.
The emphasis on batteries is legitimate, keep it up. Perhaps an episode every six months to follow up: This technology has hit a hiccup , this one is in a quiet period because of financial regulations. This one works, IF they can figure out how to mass produce it.
I would love to see them focus on cheaper powerwall alternatives. I understand the money is all in cell phone and EV batteries, but just something very cheap that we could throw in our garage so we could power them up at night, and then use them during the day for people on the grid to bring down energy prices, and of course the opposite for off-grid applications.
a lot of legal issues with that, and more single house power before that could even be a concern. you dont have a bad idea, theres just a LOT in the way
@@bradhaines3142 There's more than one really interesting youtube series by guys who have actually done this in the UK. Have a search. It's a big deal but with off-peak electric prices over 30p/KWh cheaper than peak, and gas prices sky-high, it pays off and you're "doing the right thing". IMHO this is way more "right thing" than heat-pumps and solar panels. You're right that the legal issues thing seems to be insufficiently discussed. Insurance companies love small print disqualification clauses - I wonder about home insurance.
@@jonb5493 not just insurance, but the grid. a lot of power companies basically wouldn't allow it. hell if it started to get momentum and a lot of people got them i wouldn't be suprised if they tried to retroactively outlaw it. then there's the issue of how big you could get, permits needed to put it in. it would be way more of a headache (at least in the US where you have to worry about federal, state, county, and city laws) than most people realize
Peter, home batteries that cost 1/10th of the current Tesla battery would put expensive PG&E, our utility monopoly, out of business!
Interesting! If PG&E got their act together, such cheapo batteries would be a huge biz opportunity for them. ... just kidding, such grunts would never understand this. As a guy posted elsewhere, they'd probably tell their congressman to make it illegal!
Love your videos. You always explain things in ways that non-scientists among us can understand, without (and this is very important) dumbing down the information. The news about the development of aluminum batteries is very exciting. I hope the U.S. Congress sees fit to fund more research.
It's aluminium... Not aluminum.