I stumbled upon this interesting article -- the researchers have developed a battery that can also serve as a structural member. Thus, the battery may no longer be a dead weight but instead is part of the vehicle. They don't mention RVs, but it seems like this product might fit our needs, if it ever pans out:Massless or structural battery articleJust another possible development to watch!

profdant139,There was a car call the "Gee Whiz" produced in India and sold in the UK which had a tubular frame--and inside were the batteries. Made by the Reva company.

I hope it works at some level. Going to be hard to get it into the new gigapress.

I can see why car manufacturers would like this -- it solves the "How much is it going to cost to replace the battery in 10 years" question because when the frame is the battery, the entire car is disposable, you have to buy a new one when the battery ages out.

I think the industry may well jump on this technology.. here is why. Batteries have a "life span" none of them last forever. So you now have a built in clock to "Dead car" and if it's part of the frame. you need to get not just a new $7,000 (Pirus) battery but a whole new car.

Or they can make it modular so that the battery/framework can quickly and easily dropped out and replaced. Front wheel drive cars are designed such that you can drop the entire engine and transaxle out of the vehicle in a couple of hours for easy access/replacement. When is the last time a major manufacturer designed a "disposable car" where one component failure is intentionally designed to render the car irreparable? Manufactures could have been doing this for decades but they know it won't work because customers won't come back.

Battery that can be part of the structure of a vehicle

gbopp
Explorer
Mar 23, 2021
Nowadays anything is possible. I think rlw999 nailed it. Planned obsolescence may be coming.
JaxDad
Explorer III
Mar 23, 2021
The big question as I see it is the net result of changing the equation.

If structural batteries only have 20% of the energy capacity by weight how does the mass of having 5 times as much battery compare to current options?
naturist
Nomad
Mar 23, 2021
The fly in that particular ointment: the development of the solid state battery, which promises a nearly infinite lifespan because the dendrite formation that kills most batteries isn't possible with a solid electrolyte.
Mel_Stuplich
Explorer
Mar 23, 2021
QCMan wrote:
Wasn't the early Vega designed as a throwaway? It had a no sleeve block that had a very finite lifespan. Sounds like disposable design to me as the motor replacement was more than the car was worth.

QCMan
Although Chevy did not design the Vega as a throwaway that's how they ended up.... (body & suspension rust, not the no sleeve block, got mine).
pianotuna
Nomad III
Mar 24, 2021
naturist wrote:
The fly in that particular ointment: the development of the solid state battery, which promises a nearly infinite lifespan because the dendrite formation that kills most batteries isn't possible with a solid electrolyte.

Unfortunately apparently not.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590238520301284

"However, recent studies have proved that the Li dendrite also grows and propagates in the solid electrolyte during cycling, and even more severely than in batteries using liquid electrolytes, because of the uneven charge distribution at the interface of electrolyte and electrode. "
robatthelake
Explorer
Mar 26, 2021
I’m happy in the knowledge that I likely won’t still be buying or driving when all this comes to pass.
Unless of course the human race discovers how to recycle my earthly body!
free_radical
Explorer
Mar 27, 2021
gbopp wrote:
Nowadays anything is possible. I think rlw999 nailed it. Planned obsolescence may be coming.

It was always here,,ever tried to replace battery in any new cell phone ?

Btw Tesla 4680 batts will go milion or more miles,plenty for me Lol
free_radical
Explorer
Mar 27, 2021
robatthelake wrote:
I’m happy in the knowledge that I likely won’t still be buying or driving when all this comes to pass.
Unless of course the human race discovers how to recycle my earthly body!

How about this,,human ashes made into diamonds :)

https://youtu.be/5-36Os75QP8

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