National Battery Day: Worth Celebrating

Yesterday (February 18) was National Battery Day. Had I known, I would have celebrated.

You are probably thinking this is just another contrived holiday, in the same vein as national Pizza Day or national Talk Like a Pirate day. You would be right, but when you think about it, batteries have a huge impact on daily life and we need to give the ubiquitous power cell proper recognition.

How many batteries do you have at hand?

Wherever you are at the moment, there is a very good change that there are several batteries within reach. Clocks, alarms, lights, headphones, radios, cordless tools, medical equipment; the list is endless. Your cellphone is useless without a battery, and laptop computers become tedious if they need to be plugged in all the time.

Try to imagine life with no batteries. Even those who espouse the “living off the grid” lifestyle often supplement manual labor with battery-powered tools and devices.

Batteries are the heart of BEVs

Naturally, batteries play a crucial role in EV development. While there are various technologies used in EVs, nearly all of them require some sort of battery. And the vehicles classified as BEVs (which is most EVs) are worthless with battery cells.

I expect batteries will become the defining technology in future electric vehicles. We already know how to make excellent, long lived electric motors. Automakers have perfected drive train and structural design long ago. EV’s weakest link, and the area offering the most promise, is battery technology.

Who will win the battery war?

Whoever develops the longest-lasting, lightest-weight power cells, which can be recharged the quickest, will win the EV war. Battery makers know this and all over the globe there are scientists, engineers and power architects attempting to perfect the Electronic Vehicle battery system. There will be many failures, but with so many engaged in the pursuit of the same goal, it is inevitable that tomorrow’s batteries will be far superior than what is available today.

I’ll hazard a guess that next year’s National Battery Day will see much improvement on all fronts. And as EVs continuously improve, I expect to be celebrating National Battery Day for many years to come.

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