Can a guy get some feedback on this tech? Got a friend who is adamant that this is the future of EV batteries due to materials and weight. Sounds cool but I am not educated enough on it to determine if I should put any $$ into it. Will Hemp Make EV Batteries Better? | EnergyTech LiS/B4C-hemp is superior to Li-ion batteries in terms of gravimetric energy density, safety, and, most importantly, costs and environmental friendliness. Our chemistry uses lightweight and abundant materials such as sulfur, boron, and carbonized hemp – instead of heavy metals such as nickel and cobalt. LiS/B4C-hemp batteries will be great for heavy-duty trucks and electric airplanes. ................................. Sulfur is very abundant. Boron is also relatively abundant, with the biggest boron mine being in California. We also have a strategic partnership with Delta Agriculture, the biggest hemp producer in the USA. Delta Agriculture highlights that hemp is a legal crop that requires little water, no pesticides, and is better at carbon sequestration than trees. Being an American company, our focus right now is to make batteries for American electric vehicles, and we do not see any supply chain problems. Bemp batteries are less reliant on rare earth metals from around the globe and thus will help U.S. national security. ....................................... We have done many stress tests to see how our LiS/B4C-hemp batteries perform at different charge/discharge rates. They can be fully charged in 20 minutes and will still have double the gravimetric energy density of the best Li-ion batteries. At slower charge rates, the gravimetric energy density can be even higher. This means doubling or tripling the range per charge for electric vehicles. The cycle life is also very good for lithium sulfur engineering, and we estimate our batteries will be good for 100,000 miles being fast-charged, longer for slow charging, before being recycled.
Understanding the tech and engineering here is beyond anything I can currently grasp but it sounds cool as hell. If, as the developers claim, it solves the Li-ion shortcomings of cost and weight, what a disruptive improvement.
Can't they just build a battery and stick it in a Tesla? Drive it around and record the results. All this in lab testing seems like a waste ( I know it isn't) The vehicles are already on the road. If they want investment, prove it works in the real world. You can go back to the lab and refine it after.
As an EE, This prototype is fundamentally no different than Lithium-ion batteries. The problem is Lithium, which this battery still uses. It's very rare, and has environmental issues if left to leach into groundwater. There are far more promising research prospects both in the private sector and university level. I suspect this is only getting publicity because of the "hemp".
Had to do some research on this one. What we don't get in this article is a comparison to lithium-ion batteries. The interesting part of this interview they intend to target drones and heavy duty electric trucks and buses. Until there is a comparison the question remains concerning trade offs. Admittedly there is a trade off in fast charge versus slow charge. How much is not discussed. Gravimetric energy density Gravimetric energy density, sometimes referred to as specific energy, is the available energy per unit mass of a substance. Gravimetric energy density is typically expressed in Watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg), or Megajoules per kilogram (MJ/kg). ...... Gravimetric energy density can be thought of as a more precise definition of energy density. Energy density is used in every day conversations to describe the energy of a substance per volume or per mass. In contrast, gravimetric energy density or specific energy are only used to describe energy per unit mass of a substance. ....... We plan to mass produce our batteries before 2026. The first applications will be for drones and heavy-duty electric vehicles such as buses and trucks.
The trade off is the existing batteries wear out and they are a problem for the environment. When the hemp battery wears out, you smoke it!
I make shirts out of them, which I then refuse to wear because they feel like they’re made out of hemp.
Interesting fact about EV's: they generate more electromagnetic interference than gas-powered cars, so they do not normally put AM radio capability in the cars. In a Future Filled With Electric Cars, AM Radio May Be Left Behind
Stream AM stations on your phone and listen via Bluetooth. Problem solved. That's how I listen to Gator games here in Knoxville
There's a new breakthrough battery chemistry every week. With so much money being thrown at this you get a mix of shady outfits and true ingenuity. This sounds like the prior to me. There's a lot of extraordinary claims here with out a ton of specifics. As someone who follows this space reasonably closely, I've yet to hear about the greatest battery chemistry available by a factor of 3, and it's cheap and safe! Oh, and did I mention, "hemp"? I'll dive in a little deeper here next time I'm bored
