Better Than Lithium

An ultrafast rechargeable aluminium-ion battery is the subject of a report in the science journal Nature on 6 April. The research by a group of chemists at Stanford University contends that a newly developed form of aluminium-ion battery will recharge faster and last up to seven times longer than the equivalent lithium-ion battery and also offer a safer alternative to batteries using flammable electrolyte. A development such as this puts a dent in the expectations of those touting lithium as the prime beneficiary of the search for energy storage alternatives. Whether true or not, the clearer investment message is that simply extrapolating current knowledge bases into the future is fraught with danger. There are smart people around the world looking for better ways to store energy and, implicitly, attempting to make current knowledge (and assertions of impregnable margins from current products) redundant. What we know today about the subject will almost certainly end up looking like the equivalent of purple flared trousers as a fashion statement. See my recent Mining Journal article here: (VIEW LINK)