Near future
No Result
View All Result
June 7 2023
  • Home
  • Tech
  • Health
  • Environment
  • Energy
  • Inland solutions
  • Spazio
  • AI
  • concepts
  • H+
Understand, anticipate, improve the future.
CES2023 / Coronavirus / Russia-Ukraine
Near future
  • Home
  • Tech
  • Health
  • Environment
  • Energy
  • Inland solutions
  • Spazio
  • AI
  • concepts
  • H+

Understand, anticipate, improve the future.

No Result
View All Result
Energy, Inland solutions

The aluminum-air batteries are changed every 2500km

Aluminum (also from used cans) and non-polluting electrolytes. Every 2500km you change them in 90 seconds and they recycle. Aluminum-air batteries? A bomb.

October 21, 2019
Gianluca RiccioGianluca Riccio
⚪ 4 minutes
Share429Pin54Tweet150SendShare42ShareShare30

READ THIS IN:

The global village is increasingly sensitive to the problem of pollution due to our mobility choices and is guiding us towards a future of electric transport.

It would be a "back to the future," to be honest. Many know that the first electric vehicle was developed shortly after 1830, but only now are we able to have a range of action and recharge times suitable to beat (and soon undermine) the competition of oil vehicles. The best electric cars of today are there, still puffing around, with a range of over 400 kilometers and a few hours (hours!) Of overnight charging. What if I told you "aluminum-air batteries"?

Now electric cars could hit the jackpot and defeat the polluting enemy, after more than a decade of resisting, thanks to the work of an English inventor: metal-air batteries.

Trevor Jackson, a naval engineer who has recently become an entrepreneur, has developed a battery that is "exchangeable" like a gas cylinder, which must be replaced every 2500 km (more or less 3 times a year, perhaps less, for city use).

Jackson invested several million euros for start producing this battery on a large scaleand Austin Electric, the company that took over the old Austin Motor Company brand, will begin integrating them on thousands of electric vehicles next year.

The article continues after the related links

Electric car at the cost of a smartphone? There is, but the battery is separate

The first Tesla Diner opens: Musk combines electric charging and entertainment

"It can help accelerate the next industrial revolution," says Danny Corcoran, the CEO Austin. "The advantages of air batteries over traditional electric batteries are enormous."

Aluminum-air batteries
Trevor Jackson with his working prototypes of air batteries

No more refills, no pollution

Jackson began looking for environmentally friendly alternatives to power vehicles during his work at BAE Systems. In 2001 he founded his company, Métalectrique Technology. The same year he began to explore the potential of aluminum-air batteries to power cars.

Aluminum-air batteries

It is a technology developed in the 60s: Researchers found that dipping aluminum into an electrolyte stimulated a reaction between the metal and oxygen that produced electricity. At the time, the method was not sustainable because it required 100% pure aluminum and the electrolyte used was extremely toxic and caustic. They were, in other words, batteries of the future.

After years of trying and experimenting, the turning point came: a new electrolyte formula that can also work with less precious aluminum (to be clear, even with cans of drinks), and moreover neither caustic nor polluting.

When I say "neither caustic nor polluting" I mean that to prove it to investors Jackson drank it in front of everyone.

Aluminum-air batteries

Market resistance

Today the automotive industry that aims atelectric car has invested heavily in lithium-ion battery technology. Yes, there are improvements in efficiency and charging times, but recycling to recover lithium and cobalt is very expensive (disposing of them costs as much as producing 5).

Technically, Jackson's is not an air battery but a fuel cell, because aluminum is broken down to release energy. Aluminum is the most abundant metal on the planet, however, and once an air-aluminum fuel cell is exhausted, it can be recycled very economically.

2500 kilometers of autonomy

Tests already carried out show that Jackson's fuel cells produce 9 times the energy of lithium-ion batteries for the same weight. If Tesla's flagship, the Tesla S, had one of its aluminum air batteries could travel undisturbed for 2500 kilometers: practically from Rome to Kiev without ever stopping. A quick change of battery (only 90 seconds) and off the yarn to Syria.

Or more simply, you could use it every day without worrying about loading it and exchanging it every 3 or 4 months, bringing the old one back to the supermarket, as if it were a "returnable blank".

Costs? Inferior to those of oil!

And here comes the fun part. The economic side is all in favor of aluminum-air cars: batteries change the costs of fuel, management and recycling. For the respective cars it is € 4,8 per km traveled against € 9.

An all green future

The Austin traction Jackson has planned many interventions in the transport sector. From cars to electric bikes, passing through the classic Tuk Tuk intended for the Indian market.

The best news is that the company is launching conversion kits to turn regular cars into hybrids with air battery and regular tank.

Starting from next year with 4000 € we will be able to have our beautiful hybrid car. A first step towards an all-green future with aluminum-air.

Tags: electric carAluminum-air coilelectric batteries


GPT Chat Megaeasy!

Concrete guide for those approaching this artificial intelligence tool, also designed for the school world: many examples of applications, usage indications and ready-to-use instructions for training and interrogating Chat GPT.

To submit articles, disclose the results of a research or scientific discoveries write to the editorial staff

Most read of the week

  • Oculus gives VR visit to the Anne Frank house

    282 Shares
    Share 113 Tweet 71
  • Sucralose, the bitter truth: the sweetener damages DNA

    6 Shares
    Share 2 Tweet 1
  • PAINT, the regenerative pen that heals wounds

    4 Shares
    Share 2 Tweet 1
  • Space solar, energy sent to Earth with radio waves: they did it

    4 Shares
    Share 1 Tweet 1
  • From Holland they warn: hackers have set their sights on solar panels

    3 Shares
    Share 1 Tweet 1

Enter the Telegram channel of Futuroprossimo, click here. Or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Mastodon e LinkedIn.

The daily tomorrow.


Futuroprossimo.it provides news on the future of technology, science and innovation: if there is something that is about to arrive, here it has already arrived. FuturoProssimo is part of the network ForwardTo, studies and skills for future scenarios.

FacebookTwitterInstagramTelegramLinkedInMastodonPinterestTikTok
  • Environment
  • Architecture
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Gadgets
  • concepts
  • Design
  • Medicine
  • Spazio
  • Robotica
  • Work
  • Inland solutions
  • Energy
  • Edition Francaise
  • Deutsche Ausgabe
  • Japanese version
  • English Edition
  • Portuguese Edition
  • Русское издание
  • Spanish edition

Subscribe to our newsletter

  • The Editor
  • Advertising on FP
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 Near future - Creative Commons License
This work is distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.

No Result
View All Result
Understand, anticipate, improve the future.
  • Home
  • Tech
  • Health
  • Environment
  • Energy
  • Inland solutions
  • Spazio
  • AI
  • concepts
  • H+