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Lightcell: An engine that uses light to make electricity

(www.lightcellenergy.com)
229 points curl-up | 1 comments | 14 Jan 25 13:36 UTC | HN request time: 0.213s | 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. jillesvangurp ◴[18 Jan 25 11:52 UTC] No.42747705[source]▶
Battery densities are going towards > 500 wh/kg. There's some talk of batteries of several kw/kg long term. And since we're talking technology that is very much in the early stages of development (see the helpful image in the article), that would be an apples to apples comparison. 500wh/kg is basically a done deal. Several battery companies have announced products that are shipping in the next 2-3 years. From there to 1kw/kg seems very feasible. Several companies have hinted at that being a goal for them.