Breakthrough: solid-state alkaline batteries a viable alternative to lithium-ion
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
There are already lithium-ion chemistries that don't use cobalt, eg. lithium iron phosphate[0]. This has lower energy density than lithium cobalt oxide, but it's safer and survives more charge cycles. It's already commercially available. Solid-state alkaline might be able to beat it on cost, but it's a long way from commercial availability and lithium ion technologies keep improving, so that's far from certain.
And as for commercially available, it seems all the good "professional/industrial" work tools (drills, etc) use LiFePO, even though it's bulkier and heavier (and probably explains why Milwaukee is so goddamned expensive).
LiFePO has the nice "doesn't blow up and catch fire" feature. Boosted Skateboards first generation used LiFePO, and worked great, but was expensive. So they switched to generic lithium-ion for the second generation. Their battery recall followed shortly thereafter.[1]
[1] https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2017/boosted-recalls-electric-s...
But most EVs currently on the market have half that range. It's simply never going to be something people are willing to buy as a primary car (and most second cars are old primary cars that the family demotes to second car).
As for charge cycles, you could swap the batteries once in a while like you swap tires, if they are cheap enough.
I wonder if Eneloop NiMH rechargeables would be a good fit? Their self-discharge characteristics are pretty decent. 6 years is probably pushing it, I guess.
Skepticism is certainly warranted, but Bill Joy is no fool. Here's hoping this comes to something.
[Edit] nvm. Looks like it's covered in his Wikipedia page. I guess he's trying to invest in green tech as a means to curbing the negative effects of tech.
In the world of rechargeable batteries, "hundreds" of charges isn't very many. You could use that up in six months if you're a heavy user. In cars you want thousands of cycles, so the battery outlives the car (charging every day for 15 years = 5478 cycles), which prevents very costly replacements.
So, it's cool, but by itself, not the breakthrough we're looking for.
5478 cycles at 200 miles per is greater than 1,000,000 miles. Few people will put that many miles on a car.
OTOH, given how there are fewer moving parts in EVs, there's certainly a better chance for an EV to make it the distance than for an IC car.
You can extend the life of most lithium batteries dramatically by not charging all the way and not discharging all the way. Use the middle 50% of the battery's capacity for the vast majority of the cycles, and your battery may last 4 times as many cycles.
Of course if you have access to electricity at your workplace you only need 75 miles anyway. A Hyundai Ioniq charging from a normal 230V 16A circuit charges fully in about 8 hours giving you about 150 miles. But 75 miles to get there means it will be only half empty when you arrive so it will only take 4 hours.
The real challenges with electric cars now for the near and medium future are infrastructure not range. There is a project starting, in the UK I think, to turn lamp posts in to charging stations. One could imagine a scenario where companies used the availability of charging stations in company car parks as incentives to work there.
Also, if evenly spaced over an area, you need only a quarter as many charging stations as you do with 100 mile range (besides the above effect of having to do fewer trips that require charging stations to begin with). And with a larger battery, the vehicle can accept a much higher rate of charge. That's partly why 75-100kWh Teslas can do 120kW Supercharging and 30kWh Nissan Leafs can only do 44kW DC fast charging at most.
You still have the extra range for longer trips or for contingency, of course.
Other advantages of a large battery: The battery can discharge at a higher power and with more efficiency for the same power. Same for charging.
And yeah, even with the extra weight, you're far ahead. Big battery is the way to go. Charge it like I've described, and the battery will last for 200,000 miles, probably more.
And remember, because you have a big battery, you also can tolerate a LOT more battery degradation. If you have a 200 mile battery initially but only need 100 miles of range, then you might be able to drive the thing, say, 500,000 or more miles before you run against that 100 mile range requirement.
edit: typo
In my experience "any" battery is rechargable if you are willing to wait long enough but recharging rate has always been a killer for alkalines.