Brighsun’s long-range EV batteries to enter industrial trials

This is one of those &quot;either a major breakthrough or total bullshit&quot; articles. OK, first, who&#x27;s &quot;Brightsun&quot;? These guys? [1]<p>- Last news item on their site is from 2015. No mention of a battery breakthrough. No mention of battery R&amp;D at all.<p>- Address on web site is 50 Hidden Grove Blvd, Keysborough Vic 3173 Australia. That&#x27;s somebody&#x27;s house.[2] An alternative address on the web site is Level 1 530 Little Collins Str, Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia. That&#x27;s an office building. Level 1 seems to be a strip club.[4]<p>- Related companies. [3] They built an electric bus prototype in 2015, and it got a record for longest distance on a single charge, but not using any exotic battery technology. Just a big bus with a big battery.<p>Where did &quot;newmobility.global&quot; get this story? They don&#x27;t cite a reporter. They don&#x27;t cite a press release. Is someone doing a third party pump and dump here?<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;brighsunauto.com&#x2F;Index_En.asp" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;brighsunauto.com&#x2F;Index_En.asp</a> <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;brighsuntech.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;brighsuntech.com&#x2F;</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;earth.google.com&#x2F;web&#x2F;@-38.00666219,145.15557573,13.39113295a,0d,60y,305.45541366h,85.85981264t,0r&#x2F;data=ClcaVRJPCiUweDZhZDYxMzIwZGNkMDhiNjE6MHgxOWJhYzBhYTlmMDE4YWRlGbSNP1HZAEPAIezBpPj4JGJAKhQ1MCBIaWRkZW4gR3JvdmUgQmx2ZBgBIAEiGgoWLUN4Q00zbWdhbDhRbnVCaWN0N1ZDdxAC" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;earth.google.com&#x2F;web&#x2F;@-38.00666219,145.15557573,13.3...</a><p>[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.aubiz.net&#x2F;company&#x2F;brighsun-ev-group-pty-ltd-166881723&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.aubiz.net&#x2F;company&#x2F;brighsun-ev-group-pty-ltd-1668...</a><p>[4] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bigboysclub.com.au&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bigboysclub.com.au&#x2F;</a>

For reference, they are claiming a specific energy of ~2000 Wh&#x2F;kg, whereas current Li-ion batteries are in the 200 Wh&#x2F;kg range. At least according to Wikipedia, so far the highest demonstrated Li-S battery specific energy is 500 Wh&#x2F;kg.<p>They are also claiming a cost of $63&#x2F;kWh vs $156&#x2F;kWh for Li-ion today.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Lithium%E2%80%93sulfur_battery" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Lithium%E2%80%93sulfur_battery</a>

Link to the source announcement: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.brighsun.com&#x2F;En&#x2F;NewsView.asp?ID=45" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.brighsun.com&#x2F;En&#x2F;NewsView.asp?ID=45</a><p>The slightly different websites in different states of abandonment don&#x27;t inspire confidence though.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;brighsun.com&#x2F;Index_En.asp" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;brighsun.com&#x2F;Index_En.asp</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;brighsuntech.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;brighsuntech.com&#x2F;</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;brighsunauto.com&#x2F;Index_En.asp" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;brighsunauto.com&#x2F;Index_En.asp</a>

Lithium sulfur batteries have a lot of potential and I really hope Brightsun’s tech works as well (or ever close to as well as claimed). However, I’ll believe it when I see it. There are just too many claims about battery tech that don’t pan out in actual application.

&gt;2103.8Wh&#x2F;kg<p>~10x Tesla<p>&gt;Trial production of high-power cells, with an expected energy density in excess of 1,000 Wh&#x2F;kg, is about to begin<p>oh, so they dont exist yet, explains it

I&#x27;m working in the automotive industry for over 15 years, designing components for both conventional and electric cars, and I&#x27;ve never heard of this company.<p>Very fishy.

I&#x27;m looking forward to laptops that can stay up one week on a charge.

Before even reading the article... battery &quot;revolution&quot; claims have been made every month or so for the past 10 years or so, and we rarely see the claims materialize into actual technological leaps. Is this one of those claims?

This kind of announcements have been way too many. At this point no matter how amazing battery someone has managed to build in a lab, I don&#x27;t care unless it&#x27;s manufacturable in large quantities. There are plenty of amazing batteries that lack that quality.<p>That said, it would be really cool if the claims are true. I so <i>want</i> this to be true. Just not holding my breath.

The problem for small cars is that while the specific energy (J&#x2F;kg) is better than lithium ion the energy density (J&#x2F;L) is most likely lower. In small cars the volume occupied by the battery is a significant constraint.<p>But it&#x27;s good to see some competition, at least it will be if it works.

Forget large scale deploy test blah, outfit one car and drive it 1000kms, charge, got another 1000kms, video it, put on youtube, then we&#x27;re onboard.

Why is their name a misspelling?