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Lightcell: An engine that uses light to make electricity

(www.lightcellenergy.com)
113 points curl-up | 1 comments | 14 Jan 25 13:36 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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jandrese ◴[17 Jan 25 19:27 UTC] No.42742255[source]▶
Bottom line: 40% efficiency, which is better than I expected but the competition is batteries at 80+% efficiency. It's a hard sell, especially as continual improvements in battery storage will continue to eat away at their niche.

5,000 W/kg sounds great on paper compared to 150 W/kg for batteries and is even in the same ballpark as gasoline at 12,000 W/kg, but I think that's just the figure for the fuel. I don't think it includes storage, the solar panels, the burner, etc... The cost is an open ended question as well. Maybe this will pan out for aircraft?

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1. imglorp ◴[17 Jan 25 20:03 UTC] No.42742649[source]▶
The gasoline vs H2 ballpark is a little wider because storage is not trivial for H2 -- you need to carry around a cryogenic and/or high pressure vessel instead of a plastic box -- which will detract from your p/w ratio. It also wants to leak out, so H2 is maybe better for fleet vehicle applications where they can refill daily. Granted, anything is better than burning more hydrocarbons!