this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2026
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86
China's new iron battery hits 99.4 percent efficiency over 6000 cycles (interestingengineering.com)
submitted 2 hours ago by Gsus4@mander.xyz to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 31 points 2 hours ago (4 children)

The battery prototype demonstrated endurance, maintaining a stable structure and perfect reversibility over 6,000 cycles — equivalent to more than 16 years of daily operation — with zero loss in storage capacity.

WTF!? If this battery is just half as good as they claim, it could be a game changer for storing power for solar and wind!

[–] gian@lemmy.grys.it 21 points 2 hours ago (3 children)

The problem is that 6000 cycles in laboratory are not the same than 6000 cycles in real life scenarios.

It would be interesting to put that battery out in the field and to see how it perform in real life conditions (assuming that they are cheap enough to be produced in large volumes)

If they are really that good you are right, but there are always a lot of revolutionary advance in lab that never leave it.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 1 points 5 minutes ago

I've seen some incredible innovations in batteries performing really well in cold temperatures. So the idea of these becoming battle tested seems more feasible today than it did even a couple years ago.

[–] Flagstaff@programming.dev 10 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

Indeed: electric vehicle batteries are lasting even longer than estimated. All the constant breaks from use that the batteries get has been interestingly improving their durability (which makes me think that shutting off our phones for 1 whole day per week or even month could improve their lifespan, even for the 40-80% lithium-ion boundary keepers).

[–] vinnymac@lemmy.world 11 points 1 hour ago (3 children)

Just make hot swapping batteries normal again like it used to be.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 1 points 33 minutes ago* (last edited 32 minutes ago)

When was hot-swapping batteries normal? What was the backup power source? I'd only ever seen normally swappable batteries where the phone would need to power off and back on.

[–] Flagstaff@programming.dev 3 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

There actually was a Chinese EV startup that had battery swap stations: drive up onto the system, and the battery is directly under your car; the swap takes <1 minute. I don't remember what it was called, though, nor if it ever made it.

[–] otacon239@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Tom Scott did a video on it. In all honesty, there are a number of things about this system that I just don’t see working well in the long term, but it’s an interesting prototype nonetheless.

https://youtu.be/hNZy603as5w

[–] Flagstaff@programming.dev 1 points 1 hour ago

That's it: Nio! Yeah, I dislike the reliability on the company, too.

[–] Gsus4@mander.xyz 1 points 1 hour ago

There was one like that in Taiwan for scooters.

[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 hour ago

Breaks from use makes perfect sense though, it allows the electrolyte to diffuse evenly. During charge /discharge cycles there's always more or less active electrolyte being consumed/produced at the anodes and cathodes, resting means it can equalize.

[–] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 1 points 50 minutes ago

It really depends on the charge/discharge conditions that the particular test is using. You can do testing in the lab that is way harsher than typical usage or you can make it easier. In terms of this cycle testing for Li-ion I would say that typically the lab testing would be harsher than real world primarily because lab testing is done between 0% and 100% depth of discharge constantly where most people are charging their batteries much before then and only cycling them at high rates periodically.

[–] blackbeans@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 hour ago

There's always a catch, details matter.

Some chemistries can only work if heated up to a certain temperature.
Some cannot supply high currents. Some perform badly at lower temperatures. Some are expensive to produce. Some have a very low energy density per weight or volume. Some are hard to create consistently and require a lot of balancing. Some cannot be scaled up easily. Some are prone to aging regardless of cycles. Some even require manual maintenance.

It's hard to make a cell that does everything right. Cycle life is only one out of a huge list of parameters.

[–] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 9 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

If all of the claims from Chinese tech companies and research was half as good as they claim we would all learn Mandarin by now.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

That is exactly right, and simplified Chinese is actually extremely popular to learn here now. (Denmark)
And no wonder, they have become leaders of several key (future) technologies.

[–] satanmat@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago

IF is doing quite a bit of heavy lifting there.

And yes IF it is as you said HALF that good, in either direction— the article mentioned ~80% under heavy loads. And that alone would be a game changer.

Energy storage is the “oil” of the future.

IF — we shall see. But I’m hopeful

[–] UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world 18 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Less talking about miracle batteries, more making miracle batteries 😡

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (2 children)

They are being made, CATL is already making solid state batteries that break with traditional Lithium batteries on both price and safety.
Your comment is both ignorant and misleading.

[–] BillyClark@piefed.social 7 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Your comment is both ignorant and misleading.

"Less talking. More X," is a cliche that doesn't imply that there is zero "X."

I think you're fundamentally misunderstanding their comment and then attributing your mistake to them as if it's their mistake.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world -1 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

Batteries is probably one of thew most researched technologies ATM. So asking for more research and less talking when the progress of actual research is publicized is just moronic idiotic, and everything else describing ignorance.

[–] UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world 1 points 19 minutes ago (1 children)

The comment is satire. You get reports about amazing batteries about every month, yet ~~most~~ pretty much all of them never went into production. It has been like that for years, since I was a teenager at the very least. And what has happened since then was pretty much refinements to Li-Ion and the commercialization LiFePO.

[–] tacosanonymous@mander.xyz 1 points 5 minutes ago

The timeline from research to "in my products" feels like a decade.

[–] BillyClark@piefed.social 4 points 1 hour ago

You called their comment "ignorant and misleading." Do you actually stand behind those words?

So asking for more research and less talking when the progress of actual research is publicized is just moronic idiotic, and everything else describing ignorance.

They didn't ask for "more research." They were asking for more of these cheap and effective batteries to be available for them to purchase.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Solid state too? I know they started mass producing sodium-ion which is a huge deal but hadn't heard abt solid state lithium.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Well maybe only semi, but real solid state is in preparation to be available 2027.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 hour ago

To be clear, I have a fair bit of confidence in CATL's roadmap as they have delivered steadily over the years.

[–] asbestos@lemmy.world 5 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Why is there never a single relevant metric mentioned? Here its only cycles and efficiency (which I assume is capacity).

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

This article is just blogspam reporting of an SCMP article, which also doesn't link to the paper, which is here: https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aenm.202506734

But the full text is not available there. You might be able to find it elsewhere.

[–] WesternInfidels@feddit.online 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

First published: 01 April 2026

Now, is that cause for worry or am I silly?

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

I don't think China does April Fools' Day.

[–] fonix232@fedia.io 1 points 41 minutes ago

Scientists generally don't do it.

Now, Feynman day (11 May) on the other hand...