How Elon Musk aims to revolutionise battery technology
- by BBC
- Dec 14, 2023
- 0 Comments
- 0 Likes Flag 0 Of 5
Could the least exciting bit of Elon Musk's empire end up being the most transformative?
Elon Musk has perhaps the most exciting portfolio of businesses on the planet.
There's SpaceX with its mission to Mars, and Tesla with its super-fast hi-tech electric cars.
He claims his Hyperloop concept could revolutionise public transport. And even his Boring Company is kind of interesting - it aims to find new ways to dig tunnels.
So which one will end up changing the world most? It is my contention that it will be his battery business.
Doesn't sound that scintillating does it?
Getty Images There are large supplies in salt deposits around the world, including the biggest single reserve - as yet unexploited - in the hauntingly beautiful Salar de Uyuni salt plain in the remote Bolivian Andes.
The problem is the current method of separating out the lithium in these deposits is slow and inefficient.
The biggest salt lake currently being mined is the Salar de Atacama in Chile. And at their significantly lower altitude, the Chileans can use natural evaporation to crystallise the salts, driven by the intense sunshine of the Atacama Desert.
Getty Images
At 10,000 sq km, Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni salt plain holds 50-70% of known global lithium reserves
Despite these advantages, the process still takes months, and only recovers about 30% of the available lithium.
Which is where a wannabe Elon Musk-style tycoon with a similarly exotic name comes in.
Teague Egan is working with scientists on what he says is a "nanoparticle" filter that can separate lithium from other salts in solution, and will recover more like 90% of the lithium.
Instead of months, he reckons it could eventually take just a few days.
Mr Egan says his firm EnergyX is already talking to key players about applying the technology on a commercial scale.
If effective it could dramatically cut the cost of lithium - removing one of the biggest bottlenecks to the ramping up of battery production..
What this is really about
Which brings us back to my original premise - that batteries will be the most transformative part of Elon Musk's empire.
Getty Images
SpaceX's recent mission may have grabbed the headlines - but Elon Musk's battery developments may have a bigger impact on us all
Mr Musk's ambition is to create the iPhone of cars - a must-buy product that revolutionises our driving experience, while also delivering him a big fat profit.
That's what will make us ditch our old diesel and petrol cars.
But there is also something much bigger at stake: climate change.
If cheaper, better batteries enable a rapid switch to electric vehicles, and give us renewable energy whatever the weather, then clearly they are going to be central to efforts to decarbonise our economy.
Astronauts blasting off into space are a lot more exciting than a grey box with a couple of wires attached.
But if that grey box helps us jettison fossil fuels, then the grey box wins in terms of its power to change our world.
Of course, you may disagree. And if you do, then please tell me why. @BBCJustinR
Please first to comment
Related Post
Stay Connected
Tweets by elonmuskTo get the latest tweets please make sure you are logged in on X on this browser.
Sponsored
Popular Post
Tesla: Buy This Dip, Energy Growth And Margin Recovery Are Vastly Underappreciated
28 ViewsJul 29 ,2024