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posted by takyon on Monday August 26 2019, @09:42PM   Printer-friendly
from the another-one-for-the-voltaic-pile dept.

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

India Develops the World's First Iron-ion Battery

A research team from India's IIT (Institute of Technology) Madras has officially developed the world's first iron-ion battery, which promises a low-cost stable alternative to the existing mainstream lithium-ion battery.

[...] Compared to the traditional lithium ion batteries, the newly developed batteries from IIT are much more cost effective, and features slightly better storage capacity and stability. The iron-ion batteries are also much more safe to use, due to the inability of iron to produce dendrites, which prevents a short circuit from happening when the electricity is discharged, according to the research team's findings.

[...] Despite having some noticeable advantages over lithium ion batteries, the newly developed iron ion batteries will still need to undergo further optimization and testing, as the research team's findings have showed that it is only capable of 150 cycles of charging and discharging for the time being. At the present stage, the energy density of the battery is also only able to reach around 220 Wh/kilo, which is only around 55-60% of the 350 Wh/kilo of energy density for lithium-ion battery.

Still requires vanadium, a relatively rare element, but it's six times as common as lithium

Also at IIT and Popular Mechanics.


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Monday August 26 2019, @11:07PM (6 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday August 26 2019, @11:07PM (#885845) Journal

    Low cycles is normal for a prototype.

    Less energy density is fine if it's cheaper. It just won't be used in phones, etc.

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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by deimtee on Tuesday August 27 2019, @02:00AM (2 children)

    by deimtee (3272) on Tuesday August 27 2019, @02:00AM (#885893) Journal

    Per cycle cost savings (PCCS) for domestic batteries added to a home solar setup in AU are between 0 and 25 cents, depending on feed-in tariffs.
    From that point it is easy to work out when it is economical to add batteries to any particular setup.
    For a fairly standard home with a PCCS of 10 cents, if they last forever it is about $200 per KWh of storage. If they last 3 years (~1000 cycles) it is about $100 per KWh.

    The Tesla powerwall is $1000 per KWh, deep-cycle lead-acid is $450 to $900 per KWh ($150 to $300 but you can only use about a third of it if you want them to last). Neither is currently worth using. All the solar installation companies here advertise their set-ups as "battery-ready" but almost no-one adds batteries. Many home solar setups already produce more power than the home uses.

    I have been watching battery tech develop, waiting for a cheap battery that makes it past the above price point. Weight and size don't really matter but it must be near to zero maintenance and last for in excess of 2000 cycles. When it comes it is going to be a game-changer, massive production of them should drop its cost further, power companies will raise prices in response and there will be a remarkably short period in which most homes will go off grid. The power companies are going to scream.

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    • (Score: 2) by coolgopher on Tuesday August 27 2019, @04:38AM (1 child)

      by coolgopher (1157) on Tuesday August 27 2019, @04:38AM (#885943)

      When I was looking into batteries a few months ago I was even more generous than that - number of warranted kWh times my average $/kWh vs installation cost. Didn't add up even with current government rebates, unfortunately. Well, not for the feature set I was after at least; AC coupling, grid backup support (i.e. don't shut down in case of power outage), and little to no battery maintenance.

      I'll certainly keep an eye on things though, as increased energy independence would be nice (and help stick it to the coal-obsessed government).

      • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Tuesday August 27 2019, @05:18AM

        by deimtee (3272) on Tuesday August 27 2019, @05:18AM (#885958) Journal

        There's starting to be a few installations here and there. Mostly on new places out in the bush. It can be cheaper to set up and run a solar/wind/battery/generator system than to pay to run a powerline. Depending on where in the bush it can be much cheaper. I know people who were quoted upward of $20,000 to get power connected to isolated blocks and I've heard stories of quotes over $100,000.

        There is obviously trade-offs between the size of the system, tolerance to outages, etc. but there is a tipping point coming where I expect most isolated new home construction will be off-grid. There will be network effects as well. If all your neighbours go off-grid are you going to pay for the powerline on your own or join them? Solar panels are already cost-effective, it is just waiting on a suitable battery and you will get a system flip much like the change from landline to mobile.

        ps. (Just to be clear, the PCCS of 10 cents in my GP post was per KWh per cycle.)

        --
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  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday August 27 2019, @03:31AM (2 children)

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Tuesday August 27 2019, @03:31AM (#885925) Homepage
    what's particularly annoying is that the press release is between ambiguous and wrong with it's abuse of terminology:
    "energy density of the battery is ... 220 Wh/kilo"
    Energy density is energy per unit volume.
    Wh/kg is a unit measuring specific energy.
    If the epecific energy is a bit low, that's less of a problem, as the density it higer.
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