I think we just found out why we aren't hearing more stories of exploding and burning iPods. Ken Stanborough had to throw his daughter Ellie's iPod Touch outside, because it got too hot to hold, and he could see vapour. Within 30 seconds, he could see smoke, he heard a pop, and the Touch went 10ft into the air. After contacting Apple, the company denied liability, but offered a refund. However, Apple said that in accepting the money, Stanborough was not allowed to talk about the existence of the agreement - or else Apple would sue him. Update: Apple told Sky News Online that the letter with the gagging order is standard practice.
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Member since:2006-01-19
The Li-ion batteries in cell phones and other gadgets are not much better protected than ordinary batteries were. In cars you would only get batteries which are inside crash-resistant cases, temperature conditioned and protected against shorting.
The remaining risk will be equivalent to today's gasoline driven cars.
By the way: Gasoline is way more dangerous than diesel, yet most people in the USA still buy gasoline driven cars. If you want to ignite a pot full of gasoline, all you need is a lit match or a small spark.
This does not work for diesel. You can extinguish a lit match in a pot full of diesel.
Member since:2005-07-08
"The Li-ion batteries in cell phones and other gadgets are not much better protected than ordinary batteries were. In cars you would only get batteries which are inside crash-resistant cases, temperature conditioned and protected against shorting."
That is true but for EVs to really take off they will be coming from the likes of BYD in China in huge volumes, rather than Tesla in drips. At least BYD makes the cells so it should know them inside out but Chinese cars are still unproven in western markets.
"The remaining risk will be equivalent to today's gasoline driven cars."
We have seen gas SUV rollovers igniting on TV recently and some dramatic rescues of occupants, but the fuel didn't all explode in one go, took a few minutes to burn up into a fireball. We haven't seen a single Li Ion EV crash yet to see how it will play out. I would want to see such dramatic crash tests before putting my family in one. There have been Prius crashes but those are for Nickel Hydride.
"By the way: Gasoline is way more dangerous than diesel, yet most people in the USA still buy gasoline driven cars. If you want to ignite a pot full of gasoline, all you need is a lit match or a small spark.
This does not work for diesel. You can extinguish a lit match in a pot full of diesel."
The reason Diesel is hardly present in the US is because of the EPA regulations regarding diesel particulates based on the old technology. The EPA should probably let the newer VW diesels in once it factors in the lower CO2 vs other emissions. Interesting that VW is getting much better results for diesel than any EV for the highest mpgs, see their 282mpg 1 liter prototype.
And the best for last.
Treehugger just posted an update on EEStor at
http://theeestory.com/topics/2529
If this pans out, lithium and most all batteries get replaced by supercaps with extreme amounts of charge storage, a long story in its own right.
Member since:2009-05-05
With all these fire stories for iPods, and laptops of various vendors, inevitably all related to Lithium Ion batteries, it makes me wonder what will happen when there are millions of electric vehicles on the road powered by battery packs that have many thousands of times more energy storage capacity than mere iPods.
That's why the Tesla Roadster has a Lithium battery array the size of a couch, with its own cooling system and fuses between each cell to minimize violent fiery death of passengers. Expensive solution though, so I'm not sure that liquid-cooled iPods will be on the shelves any time soon.
Instead, Apple's new solution will be an adapter that allows the ipod to plug right into your circulatory system so it can convert your blood into fuel.
Edited 2009-08-03 18:41 UTC
Member since:2005-07-24
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues."
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently.
"In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies.
"The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing."The Verge has learned that HTC's Chief Product Officer, Kouji Kodera, left the company last week. Kodera was responsible for HTC's overall product strategy, which makes the departure especially notable on the heels of the global launch of the make-or-break One. It's not just Kodera. In the past three-odd months, HTC has lost a number of employees in rapid succession." I really hope HTC pulls it together.
"It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian 'sid' at the time of the Debian 'wheezy' release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release." Important note: 75% of Debian packages are supported bu Debian GNU/Hurd. Impressive.
"The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done." Impressive 30 year run."There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.
The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"
Member since:
2005-07-08
With all these fire stories for iPods, and laptops of various vendors, inevitably all related to Lithium Ion batteries, it makes me wonder what will happen when there are millions of electric vehicles on the road powered by battery packs that have many thousands of times more energy storage capacity than mere iPods.
For EVs to be practical they need to store about as much energy in battery form as a couple of gallons of gasoline, and that is a great deal of energy to be sitting next to!