Phil, Not as bleak as you think, it is more of a slowly changing plateau. In the past silver was used for high specific energy applications, such as helicopter, torpedo, and other areas where weight was critical. It is still the leader for high discharge rate applications, however lithium and others have dethroned it for the low discharge rate uses. Silvers main problem(apart from cost) was the inability of it's batteries to survive more than 100 charge/discharge cycles due to penetrative dendritic growths.
Now assorted new ieas, like suplphur based cells, and Ballard power cells have assumed the lead in this area. I doubt that silver will ever make a car battery for average fold. remember a 1000 pound battery with 500 pounds of silver(6000 troy ounces=$30,000 element cost) would lead to a lot of battery thefts. recycling would mean you pay this once, but the same lead acid cells have an element cost of $500 and NICADs around $3000. The battery costs more than the element cost due to fabrication cost etc.
So there will not be a huge Butler peak, but a long slow rise/decline, albeit with peaks and valley from Buffeting?
Bill |
