Why This NASA Battery May Be The Future of Energy Storage

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#FullyCharged LIVE

[UndecidedMF]

NOTE: There's a sync issue you may notice around 5:00. It's a YouTube re-render issue that should be resolved shortly. Sorry about that.

[HammerOn-bugx]

For the record, 1, 500 psi tanks are not that high pressure. I've worked directly with 15, 000 psi tanks and know of 32, 000 psi tanks in regular usage. There are also specialty tanks at even higher pressures.

[neilgraham]

One side benefit that would come from these being used for mass grid storage, would be the lithium not used by the grid, freeing it up for other uses.

[TheDesertBlizzard]

This is the first battery tech I have ever heard of that actually seems to solve the problems with grid scale energy storage aside from water/gravity storage.

[silentwf]

With so many grid scale battery technology videos you've made, could you create a video where you summarize and follow up on their deployment (or lack of)?

[InvestmentJoy]

For reference the capacity of these batteries is about 20% of currently available lithium ion batteries. The next generation that LG, Tesla, Panasonic, etc is gearing up for will be even worse.

Would love to see real, firm numbers on these : cost per kwh, infrastructure required to host (the battery arrays are HUGE vs lithium ion), self discharge and mitigation issues, and so on.

Theres no free lunch, and there's a reason these have been looked over for so long.

[CF]

It amazes me that so many technologies we use today were largely created or perfected over 50 years ago

[christopherleubner]

These nickel hydrogen batteries have all the benefits of durability, but they suffer from high self discharge and low voltage. Got to play with a few of them made by Space Data corporation. The cool thing about them is that they can take overcharging well, highly recommended for mission-critical solar use. They contain lots of platinum and palladium, but they do show up at surplus auctions occasionally confused with high voltage components.

[g.docswift]

I worked at the company that made all the Ni-H2 batteries for the NASA projects you mentioned (ISS, Mars rovers, Hubble). Several years ago, that entire department shut down. They no longer build those batteries at all. The Space division is now Li-ion exclusively.

[joshiwoshiluz]

I'm 16 and I'm working on getting a Nasa internship next summer & I am trying to also get into MIT. I want to study Chemical engineering and Renewable energy research to go into a line of work focusing on things like this. I'm happy to see this video because it's just confirming my interests and making me more excited for this career.

[clanharris]

FYI, the air-conditioning unit on your home typically utilizes 250 - 500psi. 1500 is alot but compared to what we already use, maybe not so much.

[kennethng]

I'm glad to see that not everyone is pursuing lithium, other chemistries need to be explored to see where they can be used. I see enormous potential to combine these with renewables to store the excess energy and to make renewables more reliable.

[Karadauk]

Having worked with High Vacuum systems in the past, our biggest problem was from Hydrogen flowing through the steel walls of the containers. The vacuum chambers were fabricated from thick steel with a longitudinal grain and liquid nitrogen cooling to minimise the flow of hydrogen atoms from the steel. At the sort of pressures you mention here, isn't there significant long-term pressure loss through the walls of the containment vessels?

[Voltaic_Fire]

The lack of dendrites is by far the biggest advantage of these batteries, the impact on longevity can't be overstated. I wonder how many would be required to achieve home scale storage and how much increasing the pressure would help or hinder storage.

[lavapix]

A miniature version of one in the downtube of a mountain bike and it's good for 30 years. It could outlast 3-4 bikes.

[Egerlaw]

Once again a clear logical explanation of technological advancement where the catalyst chemicals will bring down cost. Matt has outlined a good number of positive aspects that are key in battery functionality over a 30 year life span. In a battery that is completely recyclable. A catalyst will be found that cuts cost further once it is proven.

[KAT-pipk]

Matt, this is one of your better videos. The fact that Enervenue is building a giga factory shows that this is not a pipe dream. Glad to see that the factory is in the US.

[ericfielding]

Great explanation about how the Nickel-Hydrogen batteries can be used in power storage. The hydrogen production part seems more easily managed than the need for Nickel, Platinum, and Palladium. The lack of maintenance is a important feature, and the low sensitivity to temperature is excellent!

[Fummy]

The ISS's nickel-hydrogen batteries have since been replaced with Lithium-ion, because they were getting to the end of their life span and the Li batteries could store twice as much charge for the same mass.

[damianmuscovich]

Just started following your channel and podcast and really enjoying the content. I'm interested in a review of home scale battery systems in development. My family and I live off grid and would like to know what might be available in the future when it comes time to replace our lithium banks. Cheers and keep up the good work.