Cell battery technology set to jump again-driven by another industry

[goducks21]

Whats going to happen with all those batteries for all those tools and everything else battery related? If every state had ICE bans on small ICE tools then there'd be a massive amount of old batteries to get rid of.

 

[JES2020]

All the countries where manufactured goods come from either provide no medical care at all, (Mexico,

You're 10 years behind on that statement.

Mexico achieves universal health coverage, enrolls 52.6 million people in less than a decade

August 15, 2012 — Despite periods of economic downturns and crisis, Mexico recently achieved a significant milestone – enrolling 52.6 million previously uninsured Mexicans in public medical i…

www.hsph.harvard.edu

 

[mschwett]

i don't really think they should ban gas powered yard equipment. they should set a level of pollution which is acceptable and anything which doesn't meet it should/would be banned. if the brilliant free market can come up with a gas powered chainsaw that doesn't pollute like crazy, they should be allowed. in the meantime, no, it's not acceptable for a relative handful of people who are too lazy or whatever to trim their hedges by hand or with electric tools to produce such a disproportionate amount of pollution.

According to state air quality officials, those machines are some of the biggest polluters in California. In fact, by 2020, leaf blowers and other small gas engines will create more ozone pollution than all of the passenger cars in the state.

Yes, really, there will be more pollution from gas-powered gardening equipment than from cars, confirms Michael Benjamin, division chief at the California Air Resources Board.

“We expect that ozone-contributing pollutants from small off-road engines will exceed those same emissions from cars around the 2020 time frame,” says Benjamin.

 

[kmccune]

Thinking more along the lines of practical. Compare the price of a "power bank" to a small gen set big enough to supply lights and heat in the winter time. Now justify those prices, keeping in mind you may go years between uses. Maybe just me, but I find one of them MUCH easier to justify........

My problem is this(not an issue if you had a powerwall) I would never try to run a total house generator, my generator just runs a radio, lights and refrigerator.There are many on the market big enough to do that job If you had a powerwall that would not be an issue and these things Milwaukee and others make are powerful enough to take on the job and use inside( no fumes or noise) as a bonus could run most campsites for a weekend( some Electric trucks can already do this) Yes its mighty expensive-but the advantages are enormous, if it takes a long while for power to be restored we may have bigger things to worry about. Steven Harris shows how to build a small LA setup to provide backup for the vital things before the power is restored, gas will soon be $5 a gal and a small cranky diesel setup will be burning fuel that will shortly be over $6 a gal
A fully charged power bank stats instantly and will not give you CO poisoning, there have been too many people dying in the past years from CO poisoning, combustion will have to move over eventually( besides get a powerwall-Wish I had one I would give my little 3500 or 4000 watt away, that thing will almost wake the dead.

 

[kmccune]

The US leaves the employer to pay for medical care. Any business with significant investment could be unionized, as the car plants are, with massive benefits. Multi-million dollar plants can't sit idle while the employees strike. Jobs have to be at low investment businesses like stores & restaurants, marijuana growers in California, leader of our nation. Medical care insurance is hitting >$20000 anually per employee, or higher if the employer manages so badly as to have employees over age 30. One reason most jobs even in warehousing & retail (auto supply customer service) require the employee to stand up all the time, to get rid of those not 100% healthy (or over 30).
All the countries where manufactured goods come from either provide no medical care at all, (Mexico, China, Viet Nam, Thailand) or have government mandated medical care (Taiwan, Japan, Germany).Look up the details of the settlement the workers got in China when the screen etching process blew up in their face and blinded a half dozen.
If a US resident buys anything mail order or internet, he is not allowed to know where it was made until he opens the box. Most technical items are not stocked in stores. Even appliances now, friends tell me you have to pay for it first and maybe have it delivered in 6 months. 90% of the things I need these days, except food, are only sourced from China. China invented the 3 phase AC electric bike(as far as I can tell), and at least the kits I bought (used motors lately) allow me to avoid importing oil at $200 a barrel. Gas+diesel went up $.25 a gal twice this weekend.
Another complaint, patented batteries on portable equipement. There aren't any mowers or saw or weedeaters that have generic batteries as my ebike does. I have a whole collection of useless Ryobi power tools because they won't sell that kind of battery anymore. I'm supposed to buy a whole new suite of Ryobi tools; the old ones are more than 10 years old and should be hauled to the dump. Same as ****ing cars, inevitable check engine disease at 11 years. Even with 20000 miles on it, check engine disease due to wire harness+contact corrosion. I don't buy cars anymore for my personal use. However much my knees hurt.

All I have besides my EBike are 18 volt Ryobi tools and I plan on some more its no problem to get overrated replacement batteries that work pretty well,I would never swap my noisy stinkin gas guzzler Stihl chainsaw for electric, the electric for this use is not made yet and I would not be able to handle it. I am starting to seriously give a Chevy Volt consideration, the maintenance on my Nissan 4x4 is a big hit in the pocketbook if done correctly.
Of course all is not "Roses and Lollipops" in EV land a Guy has a brand new "Rivian" and its( after being used rather hard) already had a defect the bed cover sticks sometimes( oh no!
On the portable tool thing I wouldn't want a leaf blower period but would consider an electric string trimmer( if I stop using a little mulch and trimming with my old B&S powered push mower)

 

[kmccune]

That sounds like a city lawn. Not knocking it at all. Something like that fun to keep in near perfect condition, even edged! With a move out into the 'burbs though, where you are faced with an acre of foot tall grass because you were busy last week, and a diesel powered 60" rider starts looking pretty practical....

Try three acres, if gas goes to around $6 a gal I will let the major yard go( been wanting to for years-if it wasn't for my fruit trees and grapevines I would fence it and ask someone to graze it and keep a grass burner in there, a Horse would be good because they can rapidly degrade a small plot.( not to mention the "Hockey Pucks" lying around)
A Hicks you are correct a small yard is a joy.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Our front/rear lawns are quite puny compared to the rest of the neighborhood. In fact, I think our driveway occupies more area wise! Much of the property has been consumed over the years by my wife’s garden which I continually encourage her to expand. I’ve gotten by with an older cordless 40V electric mower which does an adequate job for what it faces. We also use an older Works 32V string trimmer and leaf blower which are still running strong on the original batteries. I’m a bit perplexed as to why people continue to obsess over their neatly manicured lawns. We never water ours, have natural clover growing all over and love the bits of color that the flowers produce. My neighbor across from us lives on a slightly larger corner lot and is out there every week on his lawn tractor when he could actually mow it faster and more efficiently with a conventional gas-powered push/self propelled version or even one of the newer cordless mowers. He spends most of the time backing up and manoeuvring it in place and the noise that thing makes is deafening. I guess you can’t take the farmer out of the man.

 

[kmccune]

Our front/rear lawns are quite puny compared to the rest of the neighborhood. In fact, I think our driveway occupies more area wise! Much of the property has been consumed over the years by my wife’s garden which I continually encourage her to expand. I’ve gotten by with an older cordless 40V electric mower which does an adequate job for what it faces. We also use an older Works 32V string trimmer and leaf blower which are still running strong on the original batteries. I’m a bit perplexed as to why people continue to obsess over their neatly manicured lawns. We never water ours, have natural clover growing all over and love the bits of color that the flowers produce. My neighbor across from us lives on a slightly larger corner lot and is out there every week on his lawn tractor when he could actually mow it faster and more efficiently with a conventional gas-powered push/self propelled version or even one of the newer cordless mowers. He spends most of the time backing up and manoeuvring it in place and the noise that thing makes is deafening. I guess you can’t take the farmer out of the man.

I love my white dutch clover and dandelions, not too hot on the wild onions, the bluegrass and fescue make an interesting lawn, the caveat is this if gas gets much more expensive I will skip mowing the bulk part till next year.It will get clumpy, though it will still be mowable next spring( I just think lawns are a waste of time and money if I had my way I would xeriscape. I saw one yard at a place called Buffalo Gap that was completely done in flowers one year it was magnifcent! Wish I had a picture.I went through several 5 gallon cans of gas last year mowing mine, such a waste.