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Technology Stocks : Energy Conversion Devices

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To: Allen Bucholski who wrote (3123)	1/30/1999 6:36:00 PM
From: fred whitridge	Read Replies (1) of 8393

Allen-- You asked about advantages of NiMh over Lithium. At present there are a few. Cost: AA cells coming out of Japan are around $1.00, wholesale. haven't seen the price on LiPoly in any of this recent flurry of releases but believe it to be higher. Safety: (Sorry this thread has been here before). All of the major manufacturers have had big fires at their production facilities. Lithium zealots seem to think the harmful stuff is out of a LiPoly battery but you still need to handle metallic Lithium at some point in desiccation rooms. Apple once pulled Lithium out of their power books after a fire. The computer makers are not too keen on inflight recharging of laptops. Wonder why? Net vs. Gross energy densities. The URL you posted calculated out to LiPoly at 123wh/kg or slightly less than double our density. I know that LiOn systems require elaborate charge control gear which brings down the net useable energy (and adds to the stated cell costs). Cycle life: Your URL cited 500 cycles. I suspect the reality is far less than that. My LiOn powered laptop (traitor! heretic!) pooped out at far fewer shallow cycles than that. Advancements in battery separators for NiMh and battery electrode alloys are likely to take industry wide NiMh cycle life higher (1000 or so) soon. Science Project vs. Production: NiMh batteries are quite real. LiPoly still smacks of science project. Last year over 600 million consumer NiMh cylindricals shipped. Large EV Prismatics are finally coming on line. LiPoly production is what exactly? The expensive batteries are going into very expensive systems (EV's, laptops, cell phones). The last thing the mfg wants to see happen is for their product to poop out, because of a more exotic but less proven battery. Compatibility: NiMh is essentially a drop in replacement for alkaline. Almost equivalent voltage. Lithium is three times the voltage, i.e. non compatible. The worst thing we can do is take our eye off other chemistries which will get there someday. Yes, LiPoly may come down from the high end. I am very interested in NiZn coming up from the low end.

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