How does an EV battery actually work? Are lithium batteries sustainable enough to fulfill the dream of the electric-car revolution?

電動車電池究竟是如何運作的？

鋰電池是否具有足夠的永續性來實現電動車革命的夢想？

作者：Patrick Sisson 檔案頁面

2023 年 2 月 17 日

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洛倫佐·佩特蘭托尼

驅動電動車的電池已迅速成為新一代汽車和卡車的最關鍵部件和最昂貴部件。它們不僅代表更清潔的交通運輸的潛力，也代表著地緣政治力量、工業主導地位和環境保護的廣泛轉變。

根據最近的預測，到 2030 年，電動車將占美國新乘用車銷量的一半以上。一項估計表明，全球電池市場的潛在成長可能需要在未來十年內再建造 90 個特斯拉超級工廠規模的設施。

鋰離子電池也用於智慧型手機，為絕大多數電動車提供動力。鋰的反應性非常強，用鋰製成的電池可以保持高電壓和出色的充電能力，從而成為一種高效、密集的能源儲存形式。由於成本下降和性能提升，預計這些電池在可預見的未來仍將在電動車中佔據主導地位。

目前，電動車電池的重量通常約為 1,000 磅，製造成本約為 15,000 美元，其電力足以為普通家庭供電幾天。雖然它們的充電能力會隨著時間的推移而下降，但它們的使用壽命可達 10 到 20 年。

每個電池都是由數百甚至數千個略帶糊狀的鋰離子電化學電池密集排列的集合，通常呈圓柱體或袋狀。每個電池由一個正陰極（通常包含由鎳、錳和鈷製成的金屬氧化物）組成；基於石墨的負極陽極；中間有一種液體溶液，稱為電解質。

這就是鋰的反應性發揮作用的地方；其鬆散的外層電子很容易被分裂掉，留下鋰離子（沒有外層電子的原子）。細胞的基本運作原理就是來回傳遞這些離子和電子。

在充電週期中，透過外部來源引入的電流將電子與陰極中的鋰原子分離。電子繞著外部電路流向陽極（陽極通常由石墨製成，石墨是一種廉價、能量密集且壽命長的、擅長儲存能量的材料），而離子化的鋰原子則通過電解質流向陽極並與電子重新結合。在放電週期中，該過程會逆轉。陽極中的鋰原子再次與電子分離；離子穿過電解質；電子流經外部電路，為電動馬達提供動力。

電動車的擴張導致對製造電池所需礦物的需求龐大。碳酸鋰（用於提取鋰的化合物）的價格在 2010 年至 2020 年間保持相對穩定，但在 2020 年至 2022 年間飆升近 10 倍，刺激了全球新的投資。僅在美國就有十多家電池工廠和眾多潛在的採礦項目正在開發中。

但對原料的追求帶來了巨大的環境、政治和社會成本。

鈷是一種常見的陰極成分，其絕大部分產自剛果民主共和國，該國因童工和強迫勞動而臭名昭著。美國的大部分原料供應都位於部落土地上。作為鋰的主要生產國，智利希望從跨國公司手中奪取生產控制權。與此同時，礦業公司和企業家計劃在海底開採礦物，這可能會破壞脆弱的、不太了解的生態系統（智利正在推動暫停此類海洋採礦）。

電池開發商尋求減少稀有金屬的使用並提高回收率。新創公司和汽車製造商也在競相設計和製造下一代電池，以消除材料難題並提高效率。例如，新一代鋰離子電池已經不再使用鈷。科學家也測試了由更便宜、更豐富的原料製成的鈉硫電池，以及固態電池，顧名思義，固態電池用固態化合物取代液體電解質。它們可能會提供更輕、更穩定、充電更快的替代品。

預測顯示，只需幾年時間，電動車的價格就將與內燃機汽車持平，加速普及。專家預測，隨著各國和各企業競相爭奪該行業十幾個主導企業中的地位，電池製造業將出現迅速擴張、整合和試驗。離子在電池陰極和陽極之間的微小旅程很可能成為未來十年最重要的旅程之一。

作者：Patrick Sisson

How does an EV battery actually work?

Are lithium batteries sustainable enough to fulfill the dream of the electric-car revolution?

By Patrick Sissonarchive page

February 17, 2023

""

Lorenzo Petrantoni

The batteries propelling electric vehicles have quickly become the most crucial component, and expense, for a new generation of cars and trucks. They represent not only the potential for cleaner transportation but also broad shifts in geopolitical power, industrial dominance, and environmental protection. 

According to recent predictions, EVs will make up just over half of new passenger car sales in the US by 2030. One estimate suggests that the potential growth of the global battery market could require 90 more facilities the size of the Tesla Gigafactory to be built over the next decade.

Lithium-ion batteries, also found in smartphones, power the vast majority of electric vehicles. Lithium is very reactive, and batteries made with it can hold high voltage and exceptional charge, making for an efficient, dense form of energy storage. These batteries are expected to remain dominant in EVs for the foreseeable future thanks to plunging costs and improvements in performance. 

Right now, electric-car batteries typically weigh around 1,000 pounds, cost around $15,000 to manufacture, and have enough power to run a typical home for a few days. While their charging capacity degrades over time, they should last 10 to 20 years.

Each battery is a densely packed collection of hundreds, even thousands, of slightly mushy lithium-ion electrochemical cells, usually shaped like cylinders or pouches. Each cell consists of a positive cathode (which typically contains metal oxides made from nickel, manganese, and cobalt); a negative, graphite-­based anode; and a liquid solution in the middle, called an electrolyte. 

This is where lithium’s reactivity comes into play; its loosely held outer electron can easily be split off, leaving a lithium ion (the atom sans its outer electron). The cell basically works by ping-ponging these ions and electrons back and forth. 

During the charging cycle, an electric current introduced via an external source separates the electrons from the lithium atoms in the cathode. The electrons flow around an outside circuit to the anode—which is typically composed of graphite, a cheap, energy-dense, and long-lasting material that excels at storing energy—while the ionized lithium atoms flow to the anode through the electrolyte and are reunited with their electrons. During discharge cycles, the process reverses. Lithium atoms in the anode get separated from their electrons again; the ions pass through the electrolyte; and the electrons flow through the outside circuit, which powers the motor. 

EV expansion has created voracious demand for the minerals required to make batteries. The price of lithium carbonate, the compound from which lithium is extracted, stayed relatively steady between 2010 and 2020 but shot up nearly tenfold between 2020 and 2022, spurring new investments across the globe. More than a dozen battery plants and numerous potential mining projects are in development in the US alone. 

But the quest for raw materials comes with extensive environmental, political, and social costs. 

The vast majority of cobalt, a common cathode component, comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, infamous for child and forced labor. Much of the US supply of raw materials is on tribal lands. Chile, a key producer of lithium, wants to wrest control of production from multinationals. Meanwhile, mining companies and entrepreneurs have plans to mine the seabed for minerals, which could damage a fragile, poorly understood ecosystem (Chile is pushing a moratorium on such ocean mining). 

Battery developers seek to cut back on the use of rare metals and improve recycling. Startups and automakers are also racing to design and build next-generation batteries that eliminate material challenges and boost efficiency. A new generation of lithium-ion batteries has already eliminated the use of cobalt, for instance. Scientists have also tested sodium-sulfur batteries, made from much cheaper and more abundant raw materials, and solid-state batteries, which—as the name implies—replace the liquid electrolyte with solid compounds. They may offer a lighter, more stable, faster-charging alternative.

Forecasts suggest that EVs will achieve price parity with cars based on internal-combustion engines in just a few years, accelerating adoption. And experts predict rapid expansion, consolidation, and experimentation in battery manufacturing as countries and companies race for a position among the sector’s dozen or so dominant players. The tiny trip ions take between the cathodes and anodes of battery cells will likely become one of the most important journeys of the next decade. 

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by Patrick Sisson

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 The World Turned Upside Down is a sculpture by the Turner Prize-winning artist Mark Wallinger, on Sheffield Street, London, within the campus of the London School of Economics. The name World Turned Upside Down comes from a 17th-century English ballad.^[1] The sculpture, measuring 13 feet (4 m) in diameter, features a globe resting on its North Pole and was unveiled in March 2019. It reportedly cost over £200,000,^[2] which was funded by alumni donations.

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The artwork attracted controversy for showing the island of Taiwan as a sovereign entity, rather than as part of the People’s Republic of China.^[3] After dueling protests^[4][5] by students from both the PRC and ROC and reactions by third party observers (which included the President of Taiwan,^[6] Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs^[7] and the co-chairs of the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group in the House of Commons^[8]) the university decided later that year (2019) that it would retain the original design which chromatically displayed the PRC and ROC as different entities but with the addition of an asterisk beside the name of Taiwan and a corresponding placard that clarified the institution's position regarding the controversy.^{[9][10][11][12]}

A group of students repeatedly vandalised the globe for its omission of the state of Palestine, a non-member observer state in the United Nations. The globe features Jerusalem marked as the capital of Israel, instead of the internationally recognised capital of Tel-Aviv (including by the UK).^[13]

Should medicine be used to enhance—not just restore—human bodies?

 

The Economist 

最愛  · 5分鐘  · 

This week on “Babbage”, using technology to improve humanity is no longer science fiction

economist.com

 Should medicine be used to enhance—not just restore—human bodies?1

骨傳導Bone conduction

Bone conduction is the conduction of sound to the inner ear primarily through the bones of the skull, allowing the hearer to perceive audio content even if the ear canal is blocked. Bone conduction transmission occurs constantly as sound waves vibrate bone, specifically the bones in the skull, although it is hard for the average individual to distinguish sound being conveyed through the bone as opposed to the sound being conveyed through the air via the ear canal. Intentional transmission of sound through bone can be used with individuals with normal hearing—as with bone-conduction headphones—or as a treatment option for certain types of hearing impairment. Bones are generally more effective at transmitting lower-frequency sounds compared to higher-frequency sounds.

Bone conduction is also called the second auditory pathway and not to be confused with cartilage conduction, which is considered the third auditory pathway.

 骨傳導是一種聲音傳導方式，即通過將聲音轉化為不同頻率的機械振動，通過人的顱骨、骨迷路、內耳淋巴液傳遞、柯蒂氏器、聽神經、聽覺中樞來傳遞聲波。相對於通過振膜產生聲波的經典聲音傳導方式，骨傳導省去了許多聲波傳遞的步驟，能在嘈雜的環境中實現清晰的聲音還原，而且聲波也不會因為在空氣中擴散而影響到他人。

骨傳導技術分為骨傳導揚聲器技術和骨傳導麥克風技術：

1. 骨傳導揚聲器技術 用於受話，受話即聽取聲音。氣導揚聲器是把電信號轉化為的聲波（振動信號傳至聽神經。而骨傳導揚聲器則是電信號轉化的聲波（振動信號）直接通過骨頭傳至聽神經。聲波（振動信號）的傳遞介質不同。
2. 骨傳導麥克風技術 用於送話，送話即收集聲音。氣導送話是聲波通過空氣傳至麥克風，而骨傳導送話則直接通過骨頭傳遞。

利用這些骨傳導技術製造的耳機，稱之為骨傳導耳機，也被稱作骨導耳機、骨感耳機、骨傳耳機和骨傳感耳機。

a Chinese "astronomy coin"

 "Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious." - Stephen Hawking

Photo: a Chinese "astronomy coin"

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China's Ambitious Plan to Build a Giant Solar Power Plant in Space 嘿嘿 天上的能源

 China's Ambitious Plan to Build a Giant Solar Power Plant in Space

China has launched an ambitious plan to develop a solar power station in space. The proposal involves constructing a solar panel structure approximately one kilometer wide, positioned in geostationary orbit at around 36,000 kilometers above Earth. The primary goal of this initiative is to capture solar energy without atmospheric interference and transmit it to the planet using radio wave transmission technology .

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