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[kingcharles]

Has anyone else seen the Tanktwo site already?

Will it work or is it a hoax? (almost April 1st and the site is somewhat suspicious to me...).

If it's for real though it could be a great power source for cars, scooters, motorcycles and other EV's! I only wonder if you can achieve a high power density with these balls. Seems like you are waiting a lot of space.
And how about thermal management?

Check the video on:
http://tanktwo.com

[Burton]

Seems legit but I wouldn't trust the technology

good q/a here :
http://chargedevs.com/newswire/is-string-cell-battery-technology-the-future-for-evs/

We will have to wait till prototypes are in place and being tested for a good while to see if the concept would work. I can't see how you can get the exact number of them into a space every time you "fill up" with new ones less you seriously change the shape of the "tank." There are other issues I see with this design, like the "contacts" or in this case the "outer shell" being dirty. The dispenser would have to have the ability to clean the cells as it retrieved them to ensure good contact.

I also find issue with adding more technology, especially cellular technologies, to individual units doesn't make the units more prone to break. Add in the movement and forces these would have to withstand and it gets more interesting.

Time will tell.

[firepower]

Gimick, low energy density (casing and air gaps and electronics) and low current path  due to point contacts and random connections will mean random voltage ranges.
Not all  cells will be used as only those that meet the algorithm.
This is basically a box of dry joints, any vibration would cause intermittent open circuits and arcing.

with most energy density you want the most chemical in the smallest volume, thats why you use liquids or powders or gels/pastes
hell of a lot easier to just transfer electrons at high current and voltage then transfer battery balls.

Is there any spec on the cell? Ah capacity? dimensions? volume?

I smell BullSh!T

"On the other hand, Tanktwo battery packs offers more kWh and more peak kWs for the same cell capacity, compared to traditional battery packs. For this reason, the price per kWh for a Tanktwo battery pack will always be lower than the price per kWh of traditional battery packs made with the same battery chemistry and capacity."

[protomech]

I've thought about something similar, in a (mechanically) fixed format: adaptive battery configurations. This could have some advantages with large quantities of small cells: routing around damaged/weak cells, "electric" gearing (imagine a motor controller with a high current / low voltage mode and a low current / high voltage mode), or different configurations for HV quick charging and LV traction operation.

But, theory is one thing. Production reliability is another.

[firepower]

Here are some views from electronic engineering blog.

http://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/battery-balls-fast-way-to-fill-your-electric-vechivle/15/

[protomech]

but I can not see why it is better, compared to swappable bulk li-ion batteries preconfigured as a module.

The obvious answer is that a LEAF, Zero, and Tesla will all have different pack electrical configurations, capacities and dimensions, but in theory could be "filled" with these little modules. All 3 manufacturers have different design objectives, price points, and platforms that they're designing batteries into. Common large monolithic modules across all 3 platforms would never work, and that's what killed A Better Place. 3 different sized tanks filled with different configurations and counts of these cell modules could theoretically work.

However, I don't think there's any way these things could be competitive in terms of specific or gravimetric density with monolith battery pack made out of similar cells.

Inside the Model S 85 kWh pack:

[firepower]

Just a heads up, Bert from TankTwo has joined the discussion on eevblog. He added more info about the product design.

"A traffic spike to our website from the eevblog? I better get in on the action, before we're piled up with the Solar Roadways, Perpetuum mobile, and other BS stories.

We're for real. Let's do some debunking.  "

[kingcharles]

Link to the eevblog discussion

www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/battery-balls-fast-way-to-fill-your-electric-vechivle/

Very good that Bert takes time to explain!