also vital in improving the up-take of electric
vehicles. Whatever turns out to be the best
solution will most likely be downsized to
replace existing battery types, from car and
RV batteries to those in mobile phones and
smaller.Our present short-sighted Federal Government
might not see any benefit from renewable
energy R&D, but that just means we’ll fall
further behind other countries in the race for
renewables. It also means we’ll rely totally on
imported batteries in the future.The Story So Far
U
.S. battery maker Axion Power is already
producing activated carbon batteries in
commercial quantities. Its PowerCube is
a truck-sized energy storage unit that can send
power to or receive power from the electricitygrid. It’s capable of delivering 100 kilowatts
of power for 10 hours or 1 megawatt for 30
minutes. Whichever way you look at them
those are impressive numbers.AdvEn Solutions, another US technology
development company, is working on a
smaller carbon battery. The company says
the advantages of using carbon are that it is
cost-effective and safe to use, and the energy
output is five to eight times higher than lithium-
ion batteries currently on the market. The new
battery is also said to perform better than
prototype lithium-sulphur batteries and lithium-
air batteries.Dual Carbon Technology
T
he Ryden dual-carbon battery, developed
by Power Japan Plus, has both the
anode and the cathode made of carbon.72 | Technical