What are Magnis playing at?
Back to spruiking coin cell tests on silicon graphite anode blend with 35 cycles in the lab. No wonder * showed George W. looking confused. Whole announcement sounds like a case of the giga-wobbles, with thoughts drifting to selling anode/cathode materials.
Apart from usual noises: major players interested etc., the jist of Friday's announcement was: "80% improvement on the energy density performance of existing graphite-based anode material"
Similar claims made almost 2 years ago with Nachu silicon graphite blend then showing 65%+.
Nov 2016 -Significant Battery Developments
Friday's announcement little changed with new lab tests showing <15% improvement in two years, meanwhile sp halved. Tesla example used to illustrate performance though no mention that Tesla/Panasonic been using silicon graphite anode blends for around three years or so.
Here's Musk when Ludicrous Mode launched, silicon graphite used anode in Tesla's 18650 cells: Sept 2015 -Tesla tweaks its battery chemistry: a closer look at silicon anode development "Musk revealed a bit more about the increase in energy density of the cells in the new 90 kWh pack. During a conference call, Musk told reporters that “it is, actually, as a result of improved cell chemistry. We’re shifting the cell chemistry for the upgraded pack to partially use silicon in the anode. This is just sort of a baby step in the direction of using silicon in the anode. We’re still primarily using synthetic graphite, but over time we’ll be using increasing amounts of silicon in the anode.”"
Mar 2018 - Li-Ion Batteries Eke Out Performance Gains "How about Tesla? They’re already using up to 10 percent silicon in their anodes to tweak performance in their 100 kW battery pack, and partner Panasonic is offering increased silicon levels in other Li-ion products."
Tesla now producing 5,000 Model 3's/week on new format 21700 size cell with silicon/graphite anodes. Whats inside a Tesla Battery Cell"The chemistry has also been changed, yielding greater energy density, so the total capacity of each cell is considerably higher. Naturally, Tesla hasn’t revealed any details of what changes it made, but it’s widely assumed that it has added more silicon to the anode."
Which brings back full circle to this statement from Magnis: "80% more capacity translates to approximately 30% more distance covered by a vehicle using a similar battery pack size, when compared by dimensions. For example, an average Tesla battery has a range of approximately 450km and the results achieved here would allow the same size battery pack to achieve 600km."
Some poster's here viewing this as Tesla's range has potential for 30% improvement courtesy of coin cell anode results.Would only hold some theoretical merit if Tesla used 'plain' graphite anodes, which clearly they do not.
(20min delay)