The Holy Grail of Electrification: The Humble Battery

Source: John Frazer · FORBES · | April 27, 2021

Source: A rechargeable Lithium-ion battery for the Volkswagen ID.3 electric car is pictured at the Volkswagen car factory in Zwickau, eastern Germany, on February 25, 2020. (Photo by RONNY HARTMANN / AFP) (Photo by RONNY HARTMANN/AFP via Getty Images) AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

It might be a hallmark of human history that many profound revolutions aren’t even recognized until they have long passed the tipping point. One could argue that we’re seeing that right now, with electrification: the revolution has already taken place. Oil is withering on the vine, electricity is booming, and the 21st century could be witness to one of most monumentally disruptive changes in human history. And our planet and descendants will thank us for it, or perhaps wonder what took us so long.

The move to electric cars has been a long time coming. The broader technology required, for the most part, has come a long way. Solar, wind, hydroelectric, and so forth are all either developing at a fair clip or are already well-commercialized. That’s not to say that they’ve “arrived”. There is still plenty of room for improvement, but we’re at a place now where most of the technologies involved in the generation and distribution of electrical power in its many applications (including the electric automobile) are viable.

When earnest discussions about electrification take place, there is almost always an elephant in the room: batteries. Battery tech is a hard limit on the practicality of so many of the use cases that we have come up with both recently in the past decades. In transport, range anxiety is a huge factor; for private electric automobiles, it will continue to be a factor until charging stations are as ubiquitous as gas stations, or batteries are much better in terms of capacity and efficiency; ideally, the consuming public would like both.