Tag: energy-storage

An electric cargo ship is delivering coal in China

An all-electric cargo ship is now in use in China and it boasts an impressive 2.4 MWh energy storage capacity, Electrek reports. The ship is over 230 feet long, 45 feet wide and 14 feet deep and can carry a maximum of 2, 000 tons. Supercapacitors and lithium batteries make up the energy storage system and the ship can go about 50 miles on one charge. It will run between two shipyards, each of which has a charging station that can recharge the ship in around two hours. Moving towards electric power will be important for the shipping industry and this vessel is a step in that direction. Its payload however, is, wait for it, coal. And that may seem like an odd pairing but at least the ship isn’t burning fossil fuels while it’s carrying them. Tesla , Daimler , Cummins and Toyota are all working on shipping trucks that use alternative fuels and pushing our cargo ships in that direction will do a lot for the environment. The ship, which took its maiden voyage last month, will transport coal along the Pearl River in China’s Guangdong Province. Via: Electrek

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An electric cargo ship is delivering coal in China

New zinc battery competes with lithium-ion

Enlarge / Lithium-ion batteries do a lot of great things, but they also do this more often than we’d like. (credit: Crushader) Lithium batteries are currently the belle of the battery ball. They have a lot going for them, including high energy storage for their weight and the ability to charge and recharge many times before losing much capacity. But we’re all familiar with the drawbacks, too. Lithium-ion batteries pose a fire risk, and the lithium and cobalt used in them aren’t the most abundant elements, which makes things more expensive. Plenty of other possible battery chemistries could compete with lithium, but getting them to live up to their theoretical potential is difficult. Zinc, for example, performs admirably in your non-rechargeable alkaline batteries, and it could theoretically make a safer and cheaper rechargeable one—with a water-based electrolyte rather than a flammable organic one. This hasn’t happened, though, and the reason becomes apparent if you throw the batteries under a microscope. Read 14 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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New zinc battery competes with lithium-ion

Tesla’s Gigafactory ramps up to full battery production

Following earlier production tests , Tesla’s Gigafactory is now pumping out Powerwall 2 and Powerpack 2 energy storage products at full speed, with Model 3 cell production set to follow next quarter. By 2018, it’ll produce 35 GWh of lithium-ion cells per year, “nearly as much as the rest of the entire world’s battery production combined, ” the company wrote. The Gigafactory, a joint venture between Tesla and Panasonic, is still less than 30 percent of its eventual 4.9 million square foot size. However, the company needs lots of batteries and needs them fast, considering that it received 400, 000 pre-orders for the $35, 000 Model 3. So, it’s using a phased approach by starting now and expanding later, which “also allows us to learn and continuously improve our construction and operational techniques, ” Tesla wrote. The company said battery cell costs will decline as much as 30 percent by 2020 as economies of scale and increased automation kicks in. At full tilt, it will produce enough for 1.5 million cars a year, about half of Ford’s annual production. Despite using robots throughout the factory, Tesla and Panasonic say they’ll hire several thousand local employees in 2017 alone. “At peak production, the Gigafactory will directly employ 6, 500 people and indirectly create between 20, 000 and 30, 000 additional jobs in the surrounding area.” Source: Tesla

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Tesla’s Gigafactory ramps up to full battery production