A Battery Breakthrough that Proved Too Good to Be True

Technology Review among all publications is the most guilty of hyping vaporware battery technology, especially, it must be said, if it is being developed by MIT people (not that Envia was). Here&#x27;s the press release TR breathlessly and noncritically paraphrased in 2011. <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/news/422627/startup-boasts-better-lithium-batteries/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.technologyreview.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;422627&#x2F;startup-boasts-b...</a>

<a href="http://gigaom.com/2013/12/03/court-documents-reveal-doe-backed-envia-isnt-the-breakthrough-battery-startup-it-appeared/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;gigaom.com&#x2F;2013&#x2F;12&#x2F;03&#x2F;court-documents-reveal-doe-back...</a> &lt;-- original link

As far as I remember all battery breakthroughs in last 20 years were sad stories.

If reporters understood the law of conservation of energy they&#x27;ll be more skeptical of energy solution claims, regardless of which form it takes.

I honestly think the best advancements aren&#x27;t going to be battery technologies for mass transit(at least for the next hundred years or so). Which lead me to read about a group working on creating Biodiesel from algae[1]. Turns out they can have our waste (sewage) fed into vats with algae and providing the algae with nutrients to grow. They then dry&#x2F;squeeze out the algae and due to the high amount of lipids produce oil and in turn it into oil (although low quality).<p>The amazing part about this process is algae converts carbon to oxygen more efficiently than plants, and can only introduce as much carbon as it removes from the atmosphere. Therefore process would actually produce the same amount of carbon emissions as it reduces.<p>Battery power is slow growing and will take many years (perhaps hundreds) based on the current rate to reach the efficiency of oil... So this seems like a better alternative to me.<p>[1] <a href="http://algae.illinois.edu/Projects/BiodieselProduction.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;algae.illinois.edu&#x2F;Projects&#x2F;BiodieselProduction.html</a>

One of the original press coverage: (~2 years ago) &quot;GM Bets On Cheaper Electric-Car Batteries With Envia, Invests $17 Million&quot; <a href="http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1054345_gm-bets-on-cheaper-electric-car-batteries-with-envia-invests-17-million" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.greencarreports.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;1054345_gm-bets-on-cheap...</a>

Another shill company designed fail.<p>Meanwhile the real breakthroughs wither on the vine (e.g. <a href="http://gizmodo.com/this-graphene-coated-silicon-power-cell-signals-a-batte-1452245250" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;gizmodo.com&#x2F;this-graphene-coated-silicon-power-cell-s...</a>)

Batteriy and solar panel breakthroughs: stories of the week.

Imagine that it had worked. And imagine that the allegations were true: they had stolen the cathode from one company and purchased a sample of an anode from another, and that, together, they consistently stored 400 Wh&#x2F;kg. Would all the intellectual property rights have stopped production anyway? Or are there circumstances when one or more governments would waive the IP rights and say &quot;the world needs this technology to save itself from air pollution -- just make it and we&#x27;ll sort out payments later&quot;?

I Want to Believe!