*FINALLY* SION have made a public demonstration of their Lithium-Sulphur cells. At WinHEC last week they showed that one of their LiS cells could power a Tablet PC for a whole 8 hour working day!
The cell specs are currently 350Wh/kg - a huge improvement on what's available today. (eg the energy density of the NiMH cells in the '04 Prius is about 46 Wh/kg).
What could this mean for battery electric vehicles? Below is a Toyota RAV4 - EV. Range is about 110 miles on the existing NiMH batteries (65 Wh/kg).
Swap these for the SION cells and you've got an instant upgrade to 350Wh/kg and a range of 592 miles!
Shame they've only managed a cycle life of 300, though I expect this will improve with some more development (still good enough for over 175,000 miles though!).
The cell specs are currently 350Wh/kg - a huge improvement on what's available today. (eg the energy density of the NiMH cells in the '04 Prius is about 46 Wh/kg).
What could this mean for battery electric vehicles? Below is a Toyota RAV4 - EV. Range is about 110 miles on the existing NiMH batteries (65 Wh/kg).

Swap these for the SION cells and you've got an instant upgrade to 350Wh/kg and a range of 592 miles!
Shame they've only managed a cycle life of 300, though I expect this will improve with some more development (still good enough for over 175,000 miles though!).