New Zinc-Air Battery Is ‘Cheaper, Safer And Far Longer-Lasting Than Lithium-Ion’
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Recharge.
These are the first two paragraphs.
A new type of battery is coming onto the market that can store multiple days’ worth of energy, that doesn’t degrade, can’t possibly explode and is up to five times cheaper than lithium-ion, claimed its developer as it prepares to pilot the technology in New York state.
The zinc-air hybrid flow battery developed by Canadian company Zinc8 has the potential to disrupt the entire energy-storage market — making wind and solar farms baseload and even replacing the need for transmission grid upgrades in many places.
The article then gives an in depth review of Zinc8, its technology and its future prospects.
- The Chief Executive is a former Canadian MP. Political connections help!
- The company has $100million of funding.
- Zinc8 energy storage systems are made larger by fitting and bigger storage tank and adding more electrolyte.
- The capital cost of an eight-hour Zinc8 storage system is about $250/KWh, but this falls to $100/KWh for a 32-hour system and $60/KWh for a hundred-hour system.
- Lithium-ion systems ttpically cost $300/KWh for any duration over eight hours.
- The cost of Zinc8 systems is expected to fall as manufacturing increases.
The article finishes with a detailed description of how the technology works.
It also details the company’s growth strategy.
Conclusion
This technology looks like it will give lithiujm-ion batteries a good run for its money in grid storage applications and it could be one of those technologies that help the world to embrace renewable energy, like wind, solar and wave power.
It has various advantages.
- Lower cost of installation.
- Falling manufacturing cost.
- Easily scalable.
- No exotic or hazardous materials, just zinc, water and air, which are recycled.
My only worry, is that Zinc8, sounds too good to be true! But having met researchers at ICI, who were concerned in the birth of polythene, this could be a normal cynical reaction.
Hydrogen Powered Tractors Could Be The Green Answer In That Industry
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Fuel News.
I agree with the title and the article is worth a read.
For some time, I’ve felt that hydrogen would be ideal to power a tractor and other agricultural machinery.
- Now that companies like ITM Power have developed efficient electrolysers, the accessibility of the fuel is a lot easier.
- Many farmers would have their own electrolyser.
- Diesel is always getting nicked, but stealing hydrogen would probably be more difficult.
- Hydrogen could also power the farmer’s cars.
Energy use on the farm could be very different.
Battery Storage Trialled To Provide Upward And Downward Flexibility To UK’s National Grid
|The title of this post, if the same as that of this article on Energy Storage News
This is the introductory paragraph.
Battery software company Arenko has teamed up with the Electricity System Operator (ESO) arm of National Grid in the UK to provide upward and downward reserve flexibility in a “first of its kind trial”.
So what do Arenko actually do?
This is the home page of their web site.
It has this title across the page.
Automation Technology For Batteries
Beneath it is a mission statement.
Our vision is to be the preferred software platform to unlock value for batteries worldwide.
Finally you get this explanation.
Arenko is a world leading battery software and controls platform building a differentiated position in the multi-billion dollar battery controls and automation market.
Batteries are software defined assets which are only as valuable as what controls them.
Arenko’s enabling software platform uses our proprietary and proven automation technology for batteries to asset owners, utilities and battery system integrators unlocking and capturing substantially higher returns and protect your battery assets.
Arenko’s automation technology connects and optimises both the battery’s technical and commercial performance using AI, enhanced analytics and deep learning algorithms.
I would think, this could be my kind of company.
- Software-based
- Ambitious
- All about control engineering.
- I suspect they constantly simulate what is happening to batteries and the electricity network.
If they get it right, they could go a long way.
Watch First Electric Caravan Fly
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on AOPA.
As AOPA is the Aircraft Owners And Pilots Association, the caravan is a Cessna C208B Grand Caravan, which has been converted to electric power.
I have flown in a Cessna Caravan in Kenya, where it took me from Nairobi Airport to the Maasai Mara.
It is a typical workhorse all over the world carrying up to nine or thirteen passengers or freight.
- They have a single turboprop engine.
- The undercarriage is fixed and very sturdy.
- Around 2,600 had been built by 2017.
- It is used by a variety of operators.
I would certainly be happy to fly in one at any time, unlike some aircraft I could mention.
This paragraph from the article details how the maker of the electric motor;magniX is involved in electric flight.
The Grand Caravan is to be the largest, but not the first commercial aircraft magniX has converted to fly with 100 percent electric power. Roei Ganzarski, CEO of magniX, wrote in an email exchange that the de Havilland DHC–2 Beaver first flown in December continues its test flight program in Canada. Harbour Air, a short-haul air carrier with a fleet of seaplanes, is working with magniX to convert its fleet to all-electric power, and the same 750-hp electric motor that will power the upcoming Grand Caravan flight has been performing well in test flights over British Columbia.
Ganzarski is quoted as saying he is pleased with results to date.
The aircraft is lined up to make its first flight on May 28th, which hopefully will be shown on the Internet.
My flight in Kenya was only about half-an-hour and despite the Caravan having a range of nearly 2,000 kilometres, I suspect that many flights in the aircraft are of similar duration.
A Quick Battery Size Estimate
- 750 hp is 560 kW.
- So a half-hour flight on full power will use 280 kWh plus whatever is needed for aircraft systems like avionics, heating and air conditioning.
- The Eviation Alice electric aircraft seats nine passengers and has a 900 kWh battery according to Wikipedia.
I would suspect a 900 kWh battery should allow the Electric Caravan to do two half-hour trips.
The Future Of Electric Aviation
It is interesting to note, that four of the projects in designing and building a viable electric aircraft are in this nine-seater segment.
- Eviation Alice, which is a new radical aircraft with three magniX electric motors.
- Harbour Air Seaplanes‘s conversion of a DHC-2 Beaver seaplane using a magniX motor.
- magniX’s conversion of a Cessna Caravan, described in this post.
- Cranfield University‘s conversion of a Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander in Project Fresson.
Note.
- All except Eviation Alice, are conversions of proven high-wing aircraft with a fixed undercarriage.
- Moderately large fleets available for conversion. – Beaver (1,600 plus built), Caravan (2,600) and Islander (700)
- Conversion only needs a Supplemental Type Certificate, rather than full certification.
- The DHC-2 Beaver prototype first flew on the day I was born, so it can’t be all bad.
A detailed insight into the reasons and the economics of converting an existing fleet of aircraft are given in a sub-section called Development in the Wikipedia entry for Project Fresson.
- Scottish Airline Loganair appears to be the launch airline and will use the plane for their short flights around Orkney.
- Several companies are involved in the development.
- First flight is aimed for 2021.
- Conversion kits could be available in 2022-2023.
- It is hoped that operators would get a return on their money for the kit in 2-3 years.
Once they get the design right, there is talk of a nineteen-seat electric airliner.
I can see hundreds of converted electric Caravans and Islanders flying short routes by 2030.
Camp Hill Line Set To Gain Third Station
The title of this post, is the same as that of a sub-section on this page on Rail News.
This is said.
PLANS to build a station at Moseley on the Camp Hill line in Birmingham have been submitted. If approved, Moseley will be the third station on the restored route, where Birmingham City Council has already given the go-ahead to stations at Kings Heath and Hazelwell. The line was closed to passengers as a ‘wartime economy’ in January 1941, but the withdrawal was confirmed in November 1946.
Under Future Plans on the Wikipedia entry for the Camp Hill Line, this is said.
In July 2018, the Midlands Rail Hub was unveiled which would see reopening of Moseley, Kings Heath and Hazelwell with the chords built to connect Birmingham Moor Street with the line to Kings Norton and another to Water Orton.
In September 2018, the designs of the new stations were revealed as Kings Heath, Hazelwell and Moseley were planned for reopening by 2021 with a frequency of 2 trains per hour.
It looks to me, that Birmingham City Council are going to make the Camp Hill Line an important route across the city.
‘World First’: SGN Launches Bid For 300 Green Hydrogen Homes Project In Fife
This title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Business Green.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Around 300 homes in Scotland could soon have their heating and cooking powered by green hydrogen produced from renewable electricity under proposals for “the world’s first green hydrogen-to-homes network” unveiled today by SGN.
A few points from the article.
- Construction could start in the winter of 2020/21.
- The project will take two or three years.
- The modified houses appear to be in Levenmouth.
- The project has been dubbed H100 Fife.
- The hydrogen will be produced by electrolysis using electricity generated by offshore wind.
The article also gives a round-up of the state of hydrogen in the UK.
This is the home page of the H100 Fife project web site.
Could This Have Other Implications For Levenmouth?
In Scottish Government Approve £75m Levenmouth Rail Link, I discussed the rebuilding of the Levenmouth Rail Link.
I suggested that the route could be run by Hitachi Class 385 trains with batteries, which Hitachi have stated are being developed. I covered the trains in more detail in Hitachi Plans To Run ScotRail Class 385 EMUs Beyond The Wires.
If there were to be a source of hydrogen at Levenmouth, could hydrogen-powered trains be used on the route?
- The simplest rail service could be a hydrogen-powered shuttle train between Levenmouth and Glenrothes with Thornton stations.
- I estimate that the five-mile route could support two trains per hour, using a single train.
- Trains could be an Alstom Breeze, a Class 799 train or a hydrogen-powered Class 230 train.
The Levenmouth Rail link could be a prototype for other short rail links in Scotland.
In
Thoughts On Coeliacs And COVID-19
This article in The Times is entitled Covid-19: Being Black Does Not Put You At Greater Risk, Researchers Say.
This though is the significant paragraph in my view.
The documents also show that among younger people obesity raises the death rate fourfold, and for those in their fifties it more than doubles it.
As I am not by any means obese, it pleases me.
But it got me thinking about fellow coeliacs.
Most are built like whippets and many seem to be fit for their age.
So do we get a secondary protection against COVID-19?
How Many Diagnosed Coeliacs Have Caught COVID-19?
the coeliac charity; Coeliac UK, indicated to me, that they are doing research into the number of coeliacs, who have caught COVID-19.
Surely, one way to find out how many coeliacs are in hospital with COVID-19, would be to look at how many hospital cases are on a gluten-free diet!
Government’s Bias Against Hydrogen Buses Challenged
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Fleetpoint.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Industry leaders, campaign groups and academics today challenged the Government’s “deliberate” and “misjudged” bias against hydrogen buses in its pursuit of decarbonising public transport.
I do find this article a bit surprising.
- We have had a couple of trials of hydrogen buses in London and Aberdeen and I can’t remember any serious adverse stories.
- Jo Bamford has rescued Wrightbus and plans to make thousands of hydrogen-powered buses.
- Councils seem keen on hydrogen-powered buses.
- There has been articles praising hydrogen in quality newspapers.
- It’s almost, as if someone in the Department of Transport, is saying No, for an illogical reason.
The government also seems to have given Alstom the nod to develop hydrogen trains.
Or has it?
I wrote Breeze Hydrogen Multiple-Unit Order Expected Soon, almost exactly a year ago and nothing has happened.
The only valid excuse is that the Department for Transport is up to its neck in work for COVID-19!
UK’s First Car Battery ‘Gigafactory’ To Be Built By Two Startups
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Guardian.
This is the first two paragraphs.
Two British startups have announced plans to invest as much as £4bn in building the UK’s first large-scale battery factory, in a move that could prove a major boost to the country’s struggling car industry.
AMTE Power and Britishvolt have signed a memorandum of understanding saying they will work together on plans for a plant to make lithium ion batteries, the key component in electric cars as well as energy storage products.
So who are AMTE Power And Britishvolt?
AMTE Power
The AMTE Power web site, has this mission statement.
The cell market demands flexibility in design and chemistry, AMTE has focused on supporting niche customers who want to develop and build solutions where standard cell options fail to deliver against their business design objectives.
The forecast demand for cells production, will see delivery shortages as Automotive and Energy storage markets develop. AMTE can supply its customers with bespoke solutions eliminating the need to accept second best in cell choice.
Give the customers, what they want is rarely a bad philosophy.
Britishvolt
The Britishvolt web site, has this mission statement.
We have identified the United Kingdom as the potential location to build our first Gigaplant. Britishvolt is looking to produce high performance batteries better than anyone else, establishing the country as the leading force in battery technology and the center of sustainable energy storage. We are ready for the World 2023.
Having read both companies web sites, I think the two companies have more than a little in common.
So why not team up and move forward.
The Anonymous Widower 