The Robots are coming (Page 100)  chronology: Zef, those types of vehicles are for use in cities as police cars and urban commute vehicles etc. The majority of EVs will be Lithium battery based. Lithium efficiency just gets better every year. zeffur: Within 5 years most EVs will very likely be using solid state li-ion batts... which are 10x higher energy density, faster charging, lighter, & smaller. Once they crack the charging speed problem--hydrogen FCEVs won't be attractive, imo. Plus they are more expensive when you factor in the platinum catalysts & hydrogen & they don't offer any free solar benefits--so, yeah, I think the energy storage winner for the next decade or so will be li-ion solid state batts. But, there are some other interesting alternatives--like chemical batts that can be drained & refilled at stations & on demand h20-to-H systems like Stan Meyer's invention that may finally see the light of day... chronology: Am a big fan of Lithium batteries Zef. But you have to be really careful about how you use them. I always warn people never to put them into devices like Night Vision or Laser Pointers etc unless the device was made for Lithium. They can burn out your device instantly. zeffur: Actually laser pointers use very low power--usually less than 500 mW--which is nothing for a li-ion cell to provide as most cells are rated from 7W to 125W. You can't use li-ion in a AA or AAA socket, so a device that uses a 18650 cell or larger would be designed for the higher V of a li-ion chemistry. chronology: Zef, I am looking at my AA and AAA lithium ion batteries right now. I have three different types of them. I also have 18650 Lithium ion. As said Lithium batteries are outstanding in some device's, but you have to be careful with older devices made for NicAm batteries. zeffur: Nicad cells & Nimh cells are also not the same size as 18650s... Your lithium cells are most likely primary cells, not rechargeable cells. I have never seen any rechargeable li-ion AA or AAA cells. If they exist (which they could exist, of course), I have never seen them & I don't think they are ubiquitous. The 2 most commonly used li-ion cells are cell phone cells/pouches & 18650 cells that are ubiquitous. Typical cell purchases are for phones or flashlights--unless a person is into electronics--then of course s/he should definitely know how to properly use li-ion cells, because over-charging or high rate discharging can cause failures that can lead to fires. (Edited by zeffur)  kittybobo34: Yes, Ford is having to recall some of its battery driven cars, reports of fires in the garage as they charge. Possibly other car companies will have the same issue if they are buying batteries from a particular vendor.  ghostgeek: It's not only Ford that's having problems: GM missed Wall Street’s earnings expectations last week largely due to an $800 million recall of its Chevrolet Bolt EV following several reported fires. [ https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/19/fires-probes-recalls-automakers-spend-billions-in-shift-to-evs.html ] chronology: Ghost. Boeing had a few problems with Lithium batteries during the first year using them in the superb Dreamliner Aircraft. But it was quickly solved and no problems since. Look there will always be those 'million to one' problems. And with tens of millions of automobile batteries being charged every day there are bound to be a few problems. There is no such thing as a 100pc perfect anything in the world. zeffur: Hmm.. It turns out that there are now a new generation of rechargeable li-ion AA & AAA cells being offered on Amazon...It's about time! lol. Of course they want ~$5+ for each one in a 4-pack purchase...hopefully that will drop as competition increases... They shouldn't cost more than ~$1.50 each for AA capacity... re: "kittybobo34: The newer generation of batteries uses a different electrolyte, not subject to fires " True. They are called solid-state batteries & they use a ceramic ion exchange barrier--but they are still too costly to manufacture--but, they do in fact exist & they have higher energy density than current li-ion cells. (Edited by zeffur) kittybobo34: There is talk of a floro-boron cathode, with a graphene exchange barrier as well. Getting the Graphine to layer in atomic alignment would allow for resistance free current flow to the lithium too. (Edited by kittybobo34) chronology: Zef. The AA and AAA lithium batteries you are referring to are charged with individual micro USB connectors to each battery. Hence the slightly higher cost. They have in built chargers. They have all the robust quality of lithium batteries, and a 1000 cycle charging life, so they are worth the price. I have both AA and AAA versions. zeffur: I'm not sure which rechargeable AA or AAA cells you are referring to, but the cells that I mentioned above charge in a charger just like other rechargeable AA/AAA cells. They also range from 1000 to 1600 cycles. You can see the rechargeable lithium AA cells here: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=rechargeable+lithium+aa+batteries&ref=nb_sb_noss_2 zeffur: The natural neuron is still far beyond man's ability to produce an artificial alternative: https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-computationally-complex-is-a-single-neuron-20210902/?utm_source=pocket-newtab at least for now, that is... kittybobo34: That is true Zeff , especially in size, I would say our computer tech, is up to about bug level right now.. zeffur: re: "kittybobo34: ...I would say our computer tech, is up to about bug level right now.. " Actually, our 2D transistor density exceeds the 2D density of neurons. Our 3D density does not yet match the 3D density of neurons. ghostgeek: Human interaction is often perceived, from an engineer’s mind-set, as complicated, inefficient, noisy, and slow. Part of making something “frictionless” is getting the human part out of the way. The point is not that making a world to accommodate this mind-set is bad, but that when one has as much power over the rest of the world as the tech sector does over folks who might not share that worldview, there is the risk of a strange imbalance. The tech world is predominantly male—very much so. Testosterone combined with a drive to eliminate as much interaction with real humans as possible for the sake of “simplicity and efficiency”—do the math, and there’s the future. [ https://getpocket.com/explore/item/eliminating-the-human?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB ] ghostgeek: Online ordering and home delivery: Online ordering is hugely convenient. Amazon, FreshDirect, Instacart, etc. have not just cut out interactions at bookstores and checkout lines; they have eliminated all human interaction from these transactions, barring the ( often paid ) online recommendations. [ https://getpocket.com/explore/item/eliminating-the-human?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB ] ghostgeek: Digital music: Downloads and streaming—there is no physical store, of course, so there are no snobby, know-it-all clerks to deal with. Whew, you might say. Some services offer algorithmic recommendations, so you don’t even have to discuss music with your friends to know what they like. The service knows what they like, and you can know, too, without actually talking to them. Is the function of music as a kind of social glue and lubricant also being eliminated? [ https://getpocket.com/explore/item/eliminating-the-human?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB ] ghostgeek: Ride-hailing apps: There is minimal interaction—one doesn’t have to tell the driver the address or the preferred route, or interact at all if one doesn’t want to. [ https://getpocket.com/explore/item/eliminating-the-human?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB ] ghostgeek: Driverless cars: In one sense, if you’re out with your friends, not having one of you drive means more time to chat. Or drink. Very nice. But driverless tech is also very much aimed at eliminating taxi drivers, truck drivers, delivery drivers, and many others. There are huge advantages to eliminating humans here—theoretically, machines should drive more safely than humans, so there might be fewer accidents and fatalities. The disadvantages include massive job loss. But that’s another subject. What I’m seeing here is the consistent “eliminating the human” pattern. [ https://getpocket.com/explore/item/eliminating-the-human?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB ] ghostgeek: Automated checkout:Eatsa is a new version of the Automat, a once-popular “restaurant” with no visible staff. My local CVS has been training staff to help us learn to use the checkout machines that will replace them. At the same time, they are training their customers to do the work of the cashiers. [ https://getpocket.com/explore/item/eliminating-the-human?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB ] | Politics Chat Room 71 People Chatting Similar Conversations |