"Even in that simplified, proof-of-concept drone, the printed battery achieves a 50 percent boost in energy density, and uses 35 percent more available volume."
Interesting idea, though no word on cost. I doubt they could compete with the economies of scale lithium-ion batteries benefit from. Then again, it isn't always about being the cheapest. The world is full of hundreds of thousands of different models of machines that might benefit from this. Some people will happily pay extra to get a 50% boost in capacity.
Material’s Printed Batteries Put Power in Every Nook and Cranny
A US startup says it can 3D print batteries to fill the 'empty space' nooks and crannies of drones and other machines, to give them a huge capacity boost.
byu/lughnasadh inFuturology
3 Comments
Interesting, but weight is probably more the issue than space and volume.
Batteries are easy the cells are super hard to make. Now you can make the battery any shape but you’re not printing a cell
Well, I mean, lipo battery packs are a thing, which I believe are alternating sheets or just layered sheets, this isn’t too far removed from that.
35% volume for a 50% boost. Which means it’ll be ~1/3rd heavier, but that’s not so bad, a change in prop angle/stiffness/length makes up for that with no change to the motors… At least for drones. Rc cars would lose a little acceleration, but throwing in a different motor or transmission can fix that.
That would do a lot for tool batteries, a 1kwh battery could support 1500wh, a 4kwh battery could be 6…