Is this a joke? It's not April 1st.

[littleharbor2]

Just came across this. Gotta be fake.

Revolutionary Nuclear Battery Tech to Render Gas Stations Obsolete!
A Chinese company, BETAVOLT TECH announces groundbreaking nuclear battery innovation, poised to transform the energy landscape.
This cutting-edge technology promises:
- 50-year battery life for Electric Vehicles (EVs) on a single charge
- 50-year smartphone battery life without recharging
- Clean, sustainable energy solution
Nuclear battery technology pioneers a new era in energy storage, potentially making gas stations and fuel stations a relic of the past. As the world shifts towards renewable energy, this breakthrough could significantly reduce carbon emissions and reshape the transportation sector.
KEY IMPLICATIONS:
- EVs could become the norm, with charging infrastructure needs drastically reduced
- Gas stations might transition to service centers for EVs or adapt to new energy solutions
- Smartphone users could enjoy decades-long battery life, revolutionizing mobile technology
Currently, BETAVOLT TECH plans to commercialize its nuclear battery technology by partnering with industry leaders to integrate this innovation into various applications.

 

[DIYrich]

Nuclear batteries are good for constant loads, like the voyager space probe. Not so good for ev's. Maybe smartphones.

 

[sun walker]

As above, these have been around for a long time, really basic tec, I think? You have a very small amount of radio active decay material, with a 1/2 life of say 20K years surround it with something similar to a pv cell & instead of photons its takes & the convert the ??? ions? what ever the radio active material emits transferring that energy to the electrons, moves them to & higher orbital (energy potential). Man I need to go back to school. Jump in & correct all my errors.
Apart from the potential pollution dumping these might cause in 20k years when they are flat, seems like a really good idea, but the oil comp. etc might lose out badly & then not a lot of need for wars etc, could upset wall st.

 

[littleharbor2]

As above, these have been around for a long time, really basic tec, I think? You have a very small amount of radio active decay material, with a 1/2 life of say 20K years surround it with something similar to a pv cell & instead of photons its takes & the convert the ??? ions? what ever the radio active material emits transferring that energy to the electrons, moves them to & higher orbital (energy potential). Man I need to go back to school. Jump in & correct all my errors.
Apart from the potential pollution dumping these might cause in 20k years when they are flat, seems like a really good idea, but the oil comp. etc might lose out badly & then not a lot of need for wars etc, could upset wall st.

Radioactive decay material, seriously?

 

[Q-Dog]

Why would you need a 50 year battery in a car or a phone that get replaced every 2 or 3 years?

 

[circus]

Just came across this. Gotta be fake.

Depends on what you consider a scam. I gleaned the output is 1/10,000th of a watt.

 

[DIYrich]

what ever the radio active material emits transferring that energy to the electrons, moves them to & higher orbital (energy potential). Man I need to go back to school. Jump in & correct all my errors.

Voyager's battery used the heat of decay to convert to electricity.

 

[wpns]

Just came across this. Gotta be fake.

Revolutionary Nuclear Battery Tech to Render Gas Stations Obsolete!
A Chinese company, BETAVOLT TECH announces groundbreaking nuclear battery innovation, poised to transform the energy landscape.
This cutting-edge technology promises:
- 50-year battery life for Electric Vehicles (EVs) on a single charge
- 50-year smartphone battery life without recharging
- Clean, sustainable energy solution
Nuclear battery technology pioneers a new era in energy storage, potentially making gas stations and fuel stations a relic of the past. As the world shifts towards renewable energy, this breakthrough could significantly reduce carbon emissions and reshape the transportation sector.
KEY IMPLICATIONS:
- EVs could become the norm, with charging infrastructure needs drastically reduced
- Gas stations might transition to service centers for EVs or adapt to new energy solutions
- Smartphone users could enjoy decades-long battery life, revolutionizing mobile technology
Currently, BETAVOLT TECH plans to commercialize its nuclear battery technology by partnering with industry leaders to integrate this innovation into various applications.
View attachment 247433

Yup, it's fake, or science fiction based on lab results. I'd imagine it's converting beta particles into electricity using something analogous to a solar cell, this tech has been around for a long time but is crazy low power, and not useful. If you had a beta emitter that was powerful enough to run a phone (much less a car) you'd have way other problems with heat, gamma radiation, hazmat, and dirty bombs.

[Yes, spacecraft use Radioactive Thermal Generators for long-term, fairly low-power electric generation, as per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator and there have been some terrestrial uses (thanks, USSR!), but that's never going to be a consumer device.]

More likely it's aimed at potential investors in the technology, who don't understand the limits.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Why would you need a 50 year battery in a car or a phone that get replaced every 2 or 3 years?

My phone is almost 5 years old. The newest car I have is 9 years old. I typically keep my cars until they have over 200k on them and are 14+ years old.

 

[DIYrich]

My phone is almost 5 years old. The newest car I have is 9 years old. I typically keep my cars until they have over 200k on them and are 14+ years old.

The "AA" nuclear cell won't fit into the new phone that takes the "AAA" nuclear cell. Even with a 20-year replacement cycle, the 50-year nuclear battery will be obsolete before it can be used in a replacement product.

 

[SparkyJJO]

The "AA" nuclear cell won't fit into the new phone that takes the "AAA" nuclear cell. Even with a 20-year replacement cycle, the 50-year nuclear battery will be obsolete before it can be used in a replacement product.

My only point is those numbers usually are inflated anyway (lasts "up to" 50 years" but reality is probably half that), and for people that don't buy a new vehicle every couple of years before even the lead acid battery would die, a "50 year" battery would be great.

 

[DIYrich]

UPDATE: They are now advertising a rechargable nuclear battery. I think it is something like they did on Star Trek IV when they recharged the dilithium crystals.

 

[Q-Dog]

My phone is almost 5 years old. The newest car I have is 9 years old. I typically keep my cars until they have over 200k on them and are 14+ years old.

I'm using an iphone SE, the original one. I might be going back to a flip phone when this one dies as no one makes a small "smart" phone any more.

Our newest vehicles are both 2011 models, and both were bought used and about 3 or 4 years old.

But we are not normal consumers.

 

[sun walker]

I think this is what I had in mind, no idea if it relates to the green AA. Not sure I'd want to sit above them.


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An atomic battery, nuclear battery, radioisotope battery or radioisotope generator uses energy from the decay of a radioactive isotope to generate electricity. Like a nuclear reactor, it generates electricity from nuclear energy, but it differs by not using a chain reaction. Although commonly called a batteries, atomic batteries are technically not electrochemical and cannot be charged or recharged. Although they are very costly, they have extremely long lives and high energy density, so they are typically used as power sources for equipment that must operate unattended for long periods, such as spacecraft, pacemakers, underwater systems, and automated scientific stations in remote parts of the world.

Nuclear batteries began in 1913,

 

[pollenface]

Voyager's battery used the heat of decay to convert to electricity.

i used a bunch of peltiers to make power from hot water vs cold air. The water was heated by excess solar power during the day and would start producing power as the air cooled at night.

 

[sun walker]

peltiers

I'm guessing that wouldn't generate much power, but the concept seems interesting, how much power did the system produce?

 

[MattMan119]

Why would you need a 50 year battery in a car or a phone that get replaced every 2 or 3 years?

Small cars would not be the goal IF this was real, 18 wheelers, cruse ships, hotels, houses are more likely the use cases. but none of it matters cause I doubt any of it is even close to reality.

 

[DIYrich]

cruse ships, are more likely the use cases. I doubt any of it is even close to reality.

Nuclear powered ships.

hotels, houses

People are trying to develop/market Small Modular nuclear Reactors (SMR) for industrial and neighborhood use.

Not really a "battery" that relies upon natural decay. But does produce enough to provude usable power.

 

[Danke]

UPDATE: They are now advertising a rechargable nuclear battery. I think it is something like they did on Star Trek IV when they recharged the dilithium crystals.

My Dilithium Crystals aren’t the rechargeable type (cheaper that way). But by my calculations, they won’t need recharging in my lifetime.

 

[rogerheflin]

UPDATE: They are now advertising a rechargable nuclear battery. I think it is something like they did on Star Trek IV when they recharged the dilithium crystals.

it is easy to recharge your nuclear battery, you just need to put it in a neutron source charger and bombard it...

I am guessing a stupid marketing person read about the nuclear batteries that exist and guessed that they could be scaled up to have a larger power rating and/or guessed they could actually be recharged like a normal battery. I have seen a fair number of press releases that have some absolutely impossible claims in them that the company working on the product development seems to be clueless that it will absolutely never work. Eventually they figure out what other experts knew and the company goes out of business.

 

[wpns]

Eventually they figure out what other experts knew and the company goes out of business.

The important metric for 'success of the company' is how much they managed to fleece out of the investors before physics caught up with them. 8*)

 

[circus]

My Dilithium Crystals aren’t the rechargeable type

Come on, every cadet knows Dilithium isn't a power source. It's a counterspace frequency transducer limiting matter antimatter reactions.

 

[Suijkerbuijk]

finally a aa battery that can be used for women toys.
50years of no complaints about dead battery and have to go to store in the rain.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

From the 70s:

Betavoltaic device - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Betavolt is even mentioned.

Deep space probes use RTGs:

Radioisotope thermoelectric generator - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Kornbread]

Yup, it's fake, or science fiction based on lab results. I'd imagine it's converting beta particles into electricity using something analogous to a solar cell, this tech has been around for a long time but is crazy low power, and not useful. If you had a beta emitter that was powerful enough to run a phone (much less a car) you'd have way other problems with heat, gamma radiation, hazmat, and dirty bombs.

[Yes, spacecraft use Radioactive Thermal Generators for long-term, fairly low-power electric generation, as per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator and there have been some terrestrial uses (thanks, USSR!), but that's never going to be a consumer device.]

More likely it's aimed at potential investors in the technology, who don't understand the limits.

Warning, slight rant ahead.

Somewhere in this, or another video, it mentions this old radioactive battery as producing something like 5watts. It's huge, and deadly. These poor guys were out cutting wood to heat their homes, and stumbled across a nuclear battery used by the USSR to send radio signals across the Georgian countryside. Lia Radiological Incident

So, yeah, we're going to use this in cars. Great idea. If the crash does not kill you, the radiation will. At a slightly slower rate, of course. For the, 'let's generate our electricity from clean nuclear energy' crowd; have you read up on all the pollution caused by the refinement of nuclear fuel, not to mention, how do we safely dispose of something that remains deadly for hundreds, if not thousands of years? We have a record of not safely disposing of waste; Love Canal Navajo Red Water Pond
List of some waste disposal accidents

We humans do not have a good history of properly disposing of waste. Out of sight, out of mind. We bury it underground and all is good. Until it isn't.