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Editor: DonovanBaarda
Time: 2020/09/15 13:19:12 GMT+10 |
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removed: - changed: -Technology kJ/g kWh/Kg Technology kJ/g kWh/Kg
I was wondering about the current state of battery power density, and how batteries compare to things like animal body fat or gravity storage.
| Technology | kJ/g | kWh/Kg |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrogen | 120 | 33.3 |
| Diesel | 45.5 | 12.6 |
| Fat | 37.6 | 10.4 |
| Carbs | 16.7 | 4.6 |
| Lithium-Ion | 0.36~0.95 | 0.10~0.26 |
| Gravity | 0.0098/Kg.m | 0.0027/t.m |
Gravity storage is shown in energy per weight-distance using weights 1000x the others, which gives a more realistic scale for which it would be used.
Note that this is just the energy density of the storage technology. To be truly fair, you should probably take into account the weight of the supporting engines etc to extract that energy, and the efficiency of the whole energy cycle. In particular, Hydrogen is very hard to store, and the efficiency of its whole energy cycle is pretty bad.
Li-Ion per Kg is 100x more energy than Gravity per tonne-metre. Also note that concrete is 2.3 t/m^3, and lead is 11.3 t/m^3, so large weights can take up large amounts of volume too. So a 10t lead weight of nearly 1m^3 volume with a 10m drop would give you about the same energy as 1Kg of Li-Ion Battery, and the same weight of fat would give you 40x as much as Li-Ion.
This shows just how amazing Diesel, Fat, and even Carbs are compared to current battery tech. No wonder flies carry enough energy to stay airborne all day.