I used to have some old copy pasta for this on Reddit but I’ll be damn if I’m logging in to retrieve it.
So I’ll paraphrase:
Has the battery been made or is it a concept? Has the battery been made to the scale that the claim argues it can hit? What is the price? How many charge cycles? What’s the temperature range it can operate within? Can the battery fit into the existing production processes or will it require new tooling to productionize? Does the battery require any novel materials that aren’t available at scale yet or at the price that’s been assumed? Does the production of the battery have any bi-products that haven’t been handled industrially before? Will the battery require new safety approvals? Will the production require new safety training? What’s the size and the weight of the battery? What’s the charge and discharge rate? How does the temperate of the battery get affected by charging and discharging? Is the battery as safe under puncture and deformation as existing batteries? Can the battery be recycled as easily as existing batteries?
Etc etc
“China develops new battery” needs an answer to all these questions before anything meaningful has been developed. Until then it’s just a theory in a lab. For every 1000 things that work in a lab, one escapes and becomes a product you can buy in a store.
As someone that worked in a battery lab for a short period of time I agree. These are exactly the types of questions that need to be asked for any battery related technology article (not just China, other institutions around the world do this as well)
I used to have some old copy pasta for this on Reddit but I’ll be damn if I’m logging in to retrieve it.
So I’ll paraphrase:
Has the battery been made or is it a concept? Has the battery been made to the scale that the claim argues it can hit? What is the price? How many charge cycles? What’s the temperature range it can operate within? Can the battery fit into the existing production processes or will it require new tooling to productionize? Does the battery require any novel materials that aren’t available at scale yet or at the price that’s been assumed? Does the production of the battery have any bi-products that haven’t been handled industrially before? Will the battery require new safety approvals? Will the production require new safety training? What’s the size and the weight of the battery? What’s the charge and discharge rate? How does the temperate of the battery get affected by charging and discharging? Is the battery as safe under puncture and deformation as existing batteries? Can the battery be recycled as easily as existing batteries?
Etc etc
“China develops new battery” needs an answer to all these questions before anything meaningful has been developed. Until then it’s just a theory in a lab. For every 1000 things that work in a lab, one escapes and becomes a product you can buy in a store.
As someone that worked in a battery lab for a short period of time I agree. These are exactly the types of questions that need to be asked for any battery related technology article (not just China, other institutions around the world do this as well)