NOVA PBS Official
9 HN mentions · mentioned in 8 months, 2017–2024
2:07 · 78K views · Jan 30, 2017
A short NOVA excerpt in which David Pogue abuses a Tufts-developed battery by cutting and damaging it, and it keeps working without catching fire. It comes from the documentary 'Search for the Super Battery'.
Cited repeatedly as a quick visual demonstration that solid-state or polymer batteries can survive abuse without igniting.
9 comments from Hacker News
The really important bit, comparison to lithium ion: >She did say that large battery banks that might be spun off from this research stand to not only have higher capacity, but also be substantially lighter than lithium ions. Although, she adds, perhaps the greatest weight savings will come not from comparing one battery cell's mass with another. “The biggest difference would be that you don’t have to have the same stainless steel bunkers in each of the cells,” she says. Not flammable is a big deal in battery tech. We try to pack more and more energy into smaller and smaller cells, so continuing to improve the capacity makes inadvertently releasing all that energy even more dangerous. Here's another cool project working on that problem with a solid polymer electrolyte. Video shows it continuing to provide power while being sliced into pieces with scissors: this video
The next step for batteries is making solid-state batteries work commercially for their superior energy density and safety: this video 24M has developed what they call a semi-solid-state battery and have delivered batteries with a capacity of 280 wh per kilogram: [LINK] They think they can get to 350 wh/kg by 2020, which is a dramatic improvement over current EV batteries.
> emergency crews can spray water on the battery Here's what happens when you spray water on the battery: [LINK] > every battery cell could have a built in discharge circuit A better idea is solid state batteries. They can be damaged without catching on fire: this video [LINK] And explosive fuses can be used to disconnect the battery automatically after a crash: [LINK]
Solid state batteries tend to be safer than other batteries. Here is ProLogium's solid state battery failing to fail after it's been shot with a bullet: [LINK] Here is Ionic Materials' solid state battery failing to fail after it's been cut with scissors: this video
Why settle for mediocre batteries? EV battery packs are still catching on fire in scenarios where they shouldn't have: [LINK] We can do better on batteries and solid-state batteries are clearly safer: this video