[HN Gopher] Samsung to Mass-Produce Solid-State Batteries for 'S...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Samsung to Mass-Produce Solid-State Batteries for 'Super Premium'
       EVs
        
       Author : achow
       Score  : 122 points
       Date   : 2024-08-11 11:35 UTC (11 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.pcmag.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.pcmag.com)
        
       | csours wrote:
       | > 600Mi/1000KM range, 9min charging
       | 
       | We're still doing this? Capacity by weight and volume, and
       | efficiency per distance are much more meaningful. Charging is
       | mostly a function of input voltage.
        
         | LtdJorge wrote:
         | Yeah, there's also the: charging everytime in the 9m mode, how
         | long does it last? Or, how much energy do you have to put in?
         | Because the charging efficiency and lifespan change when the
         | input voltage changes.
        
           | SkyPuncher wrote:
           | The people with the money to buy these EVs probably don't
           | care as much. They own or lease them for 2 or 3 years then
           | refresh.
        
             | Loic wrote:
             | In Germany where more than 70% of the new vehicles are
             | bought/leased by companies over 24/36 months, you are
             | totally right. They do not care as longevity of the battery
             | is priced in the lease.
        
               | Someone wrote:
               | I don't follow that logic. If you're in charge of car
               | lease contracts at a company, wouldn't the lease price be
               | one of the major factors in deciding whether an offer is
               | good/in whether your boss is happy about you?
               | 
               | On the contrary, I would think individual leasers would
               | be more likely to make the impulse choice of "greater
               | range, and 'only' costs $X a month more" than companies,
               | who often lease dozens or more cars.
        
               | tgsovlerkhgsel wrote:
               | The price would be a major factor. The state in which the
               | battery will be in at the end of those 3 years would be a
               | complete non-factor (because at that point it's not your
               | problem anymore). So someone who leases like this won't
               | need to think/worry about battery longevity, whereas
               | someone buying will be hesitant to buy a vehicle unless
               | they are reasonably sure that the battery will last a
               | long time.
               | 
               | Of course, battery degradation would likely have _some_
               | influence on the lease price, but I doubt it will be a
               | major factor.
        
               | Someone wrote:
               | > Of course, battery degradation would likely have some
               | influence on the lease price, but I doubt it will be a
               | major factor.
               | 
               | I disagree. Battery longevity hugely affects how much
               | money the lease company can get when they sell the car
               | after X years, so in a world of perfect information, it
               | should have a large influence on lease price.
               | 
               | In the real world, the lease company will have to gamble
               | a bit. Many will choose to spread the risk by buying a
               | spread of different cars, but they'll still calculate
               | expected sale price and adjust the lease price
               | accordingly.
        
             | dotancohen wrote:
             | My EV has been the cheapest vehicle to own that I've ever
             | had. 90,000 KM and I've never changed the oil, or an oil
             | filter, or had a catalytic converter stolen, or had wet
             | plug wires lead to a tow, or had a coil go bad, or failed
             | emissions testing, or leaked transmission fluid. And during
             | the time that I've owned it, I've never had to drive into a
             | shady gas station at night. And even per-kilometer, I'm
             | paying about 1/8 what I was paying with gasoline.
             | 
             | That said, I did replace the tires at 70,000. And I've
             | filled the washer fluid dozens of times. So it's not
             | completely maintenance-free ))
        
               | rat9988 wrote:
               | What car do you own, if you don't mind?
        
               | dotancohen wrote:
               | Tesla Model 3 Long Range
        
         | irdc wrote:
         | Not every kind of battery chemistry tolerates high-speed
         | charging (in fact, I'd say that most don't) Knowing that this
         | particular battery chemistry is not limited in that sense is
         | very relevant to end users, who are of course the ones who have
         | to wait for their car to be charged.
        
           | bbarnett wrote:
           | $5 says that these two figures were combined accidentally.
           | 
           | For example, a full charge in 9m from 0? That's 10x faster at
           | least, than 100% charge with current tech. Adding 3x the
           | range would be an additional leap.
           | 
           | Likely, someone was asked "how fast does it charge to 80%,
           | like current batteries which take 15 tp 20 minutes?"...
           | "9m!", and later "how much more range wouldnot have" and
           | someone said a simple "double per weight".
           | 
           | Still, these solid states may not need battery heaters in the
           | cold. That's huge on its own.
        
         | ricardobeat wrote:
         | EV batteries all weight in the 400-500kg range, and the volume
         | is similar for all cars (size of the underfloor). Given that
         | these are pretty much fixed variables, the range figure is a
         | good measure to report on. For density it means getting close
         | to 500Wh/kg, but that is not something most consumers can
         | understand.
         | 
         | Efficiency is a function of the car design and drivetrain, how
         | would that apply to the battery itself?
        
         | enragedcacti wrote:
         | Other sources are quoting 500Wh/kg, so roughly double currently
         | available EVs. I haven't seen anything on volumetric density.
        
         | dangus wrote:
         | They are just putting it into the perspective of the layperson
         | by telling them what will actually be possible with the
         | technology in a passenger vehicle. It's not a big deal.
        
         | tgsovlerkhgsel wrote:
         | I think for the average human, this is exactly the kind of
         | numbers they want to hear.
         | 
         | I don't care about the volume of my battery one bit, I care
         | about how the car looks (and performs).
         | 
         | This pair of numbers is relevant, because it suggests that you
         | can do an extended road trip with the car, start early in the
         | morning, take a brief break that you'll need anyways at a
         | sufficiently fast fast charger, or a longer lunch break at a
         | place that offers "normal" fast charging, and be good to drive
         | for the rest of the day. Or if you drive conservatively,
         | possibly make an "all day" long trip (7-8 hours of driving)
         | without needing to charge on the way at all.
         | 
         | Also, 9 minutes puts it into the "stop for refueling" rather
         | than "extended break" territory, eliminating one of the major
         | issues people worry about when considering whether to get an EV
         | or not.
        
       | dotancohen wrote:
       | > Samsung's latest solid-state battery technology will power up
       | premium EVs first, giving them up to 621 miles of range.
       | 
       | Whenever I see text like this, my opinion of the editors, and
       | thus the entire publication, immediately plummets. Did they think
       | that 1000 KM was an accurate figure to be converted literally to
       | three significant digits? Do they even understand the field that
       | they are covering? Was it a machine conversion? What else should
       | I not trust in their publication?
        
         | unglaublich wrote:
         | What's the alternative? Taking the liberty to round it up or
         | down? Both could lead them to trouble. The best would be to
         | mention the stated number with conversion in parenthesis.
        
           | acdha wrote:
           | I think the latter: 1,000km (621mi) makes it immediately
           | understandable that it's not 3 digits of precision.
        
             | p51-remorse wrote:
             | "1,000km (about 600-700 miles)" would feel better.
        
               | Daneel_ wrote:
               | "Several hundred miles" perhaps?
        
               | p51-remorse wrote:
               | Nah, that brings the 200-400mi range to my mind, far
               | outside of the 750-1250km range that I intuit is implied
               | by single-significant-digit "1000km" in this context.
        
         | mppm wrote:
         | This is your main complaint about this totally uninformative
         | vaporware "announcement"?
        
           | GeoAtreides wrote:
           | why are you saying is vaporware?
           | 
           | From the article: "We supplied samples to customers from the
           | end of last year to the beginning of this year and are
           | receiving positive feedback,"
        
         | itsoktocry wrote:
         | > _Do they even understand the field that they are covering?_
         | 
         | They are doing a programmatic conversion of 1000km to miles,
         | because most Americans don't have a clue about the metric
         | system. What's the problem?
         | 
         | > _What else should I not trust in their publication?_
         | 
         | I'd love to hear about what you think is "untrustworthy" about
         | converting from kilometres to miles so the audience can
         | visualize the distance. 1000 km = 621 miles, this is a fact.
        
           | kccqzy wrote:
           | The problem is that the editor (and you probably) didn't
           | understand the idea of significant figures.
        
             | jakewins wrote:
             | Respectfully the argument you're responding to is clearly
             | just saying: the level of outrage feigned here over
             | translating the mileage specs and not rounding is _out of
             | proportion_.
             | 
             | Continuing the thread with rude pedantry is not adding
             | anything useful to the conversation.
        
             | Larrikin wrote:
             | I think you don't understand significant figures if you
             | think they matter in a press announcement.
        
               | jameshart wrote:
               | There is a huge difference between the claim of 'this
               | battery technology will allow a range of up to about 600
               | miles' and 'this battery technology will allow a range of
               | up to 621 miles'
               | 
               | The former invites you to imagine that the actual Mileage
               | will vary depending on other factors in the car design.
               | The latter suggests some inherent theoretical limit
               | caused by this technology that makes 621 miles into an
               | absolute best case range.
               | 
               | Which of these two do you think the original author of
               | the claim was trying to communicate?
        
             | imtringued wrote:
             | Ok it has a range of six hectomiles. Happy?
        
           | Swizec wrote:
           | > I'd love to hear about what you think is "untrustworthy"
           | about converting from kilometres to miles so the audience can
           | visualize the distance. 1000 km = 621 miles, this is a fact.
           | 
           | 1000km is not an exact figure. It's rounded, probably up.
           | Somewhere between 900km and 1100km. Likely closer to 999km
           | than 1099 because they'd want to publish the biggest number
           | they can reasonably claim. So you can assume the real range
           | is between 900km and 999km.
           | 
           | The correct translation to miles would be "600mi". Because
           | 621 invents precision that wasn't there in the original
           | figure.
        
             | FredPret wrote:
             | The same happens in the US->rest of world direction when
             | you read about "approximately 16km" or "approximately
             | 2.54cm".
        
             | davoneus wrote:
             | What petty BS; it's a rounding error of a press release! If
             | you want numerical precision, go read American Mathematical
             | Society papers.
        
               | badpun wrote:
               | It's not a rounding error.
        
             | arghwhat wrote:
             | Converting 1000 km to 600 miles is _always_ wrong. Assuming
             | that 1000km is not an exact figure solely because its least
             | significant digits are zero is also wrong, and making up a
             | +-10% margin is _very_ wrong.
             | 
             | The correct thing to do would be to write the conversion as
             | "1000 km (~621 miles)", so that the original value is not
             | lost.
        
         | solardev wrote:
         | I'd be less concerned about sig figs and more about real-world
         | battery chemistry, load limits, charging times, risk of fire,
         | etc.
         | 
         | Even if they rounded it to 600 mi, that's still huge. It's less
         | about the precision, since batteries are inherently imprecise,
         | and more about whether this can live up to the marketing...
        
           | xhkkffbf wrote:
           | I would rather have a battery pack that's half the size and
           | half the price because 300 miles is enough for most of my
           | work. Really I would be fine with 100 miles in about 45-50
           | weeks/year.
        
             | solardev wrote:
             | I haven't looked in a while, but I think there are already
             | several with ~200 mi of range (Leaf, Kona, etc.) and a few
             | with ~300 (Equinox, Ioniq, etc.). Are those not enough?
             | 
             | They don't really seem that much more expensive than
             | comparable gas cars, either.
        
         | yegle wrote:
         | Ha that reminds me of the COVID social distance rule of 2
         | meters. That translated to 6ft in US.
        
           | m348e912 wrote:
           | I think it was the other way around. Officials at the CDC
           | determined that 6ft would be a good guideline for social
           | distancing and it translated to 2m for countries that more
           | widely used the metric system.
           | 
           | Dr Fauci talks about this point at the 1:50 mark
           | 
           | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EETzkOjpyg
        
             | cperciva wrote:
             | In Canada it was translated into "one hockey stick".
        
         | kevinventullo wrote:
         | Do EV range estimates ever have three significant figures? My
         | understanding is that true range depends heavily on things like
         | external temperature, what speed one is driving, whether it's
         | stop-and-go, the ground one is driving on, ...
        
         | robotnikman wrote:
         | 621 is the E number for Monosodium glutamate, I wonder if they
         | wanted to make a reference to that.
        
       | torginus wrote:
       | I just don't get why don't they put it in consumer electronics
       | first. You need big volume for supplying EVs, and having a
       | $1000/kWh pricetag would be prohibitive for even premium EVs as
       | it would cost $100k for a 100kWh battery alone, but would be
       | totally OK for an $1000 laptop, as it would cost $100 for a 100Wh
       | battery.
        
         | maximus-decimus wrote:
         | Since they care more about reducing laptop thickness by 1mm
         | that adding battery, I just don't see laptop manufacturers be
         | interested in this. Even if they did, they would just make the
         | laptops even thinner instead of increasing capacity. Apple just
         | won't be satisfied until you can use your ipad as a kitchen
         | knife.
        
           | teaearlgraycold wrote:
           | Apple did just increase the thickness of the MBP with the
           | redesign a couple of years ago.
        
             | maximus-decimus wrote:
             | Rumors are the next will be the thinnest ever though : http
             | s://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/1di6xrg/mark_gurm...
        
               | solardev wrote:
               | They better leave my HDMI and USB-C ports alone!
        
               | datavirtue wrote:
               | Why do you need those "old" boomer ports?
        
               | solardev wrote:
               | The HDMI-VGA adapter connected to my 27" Trinitron lets
               | me see the "print" button. The USB-parallel adapter sends
               | it to the dot-matrix. It's how I print all my "GET OFF MY
               | FACEBOOK" signs.
        
               | bobthepanda wrote:
               | To be either really boomer or really hipster, you should
               | send it to a split flap display.
        
               | AtlasBarfed wrote:
               | The dongle generation has been officially subsumed by
               | apple propaganda.
               | 
               | That's right, the youth not caring About HDMI means they
               | officially cannot think for themselves.
               | 
               | Also cut your hair!
        
               | maximus-decimus wrote:
               | I'm refusing to upgrade my 6 years old phone because all
               | the good phones I would want don't have headphone jacks
               | :(
               | 
               | Just think about it, the latest Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6
               | is half an inch thick and they'll still complain they
               | don't have the room for a headphone jack. Absolutely
               | infuriating.
        
               | bugbuddy wrote:
               | And here I was hoping they would fix the loose HDMI port
               | problem.
               | 
               | By the way, is your MacBook Pro HDMI port really loose
               | and easily disconnected with any small movement or bump?
               | It has been very frustrating.Some people are saying all
               | the MacBook HDMI ports are like this.
        
               | pyth0 wrote:
               | Yes I also run into this! I thought it was just a shoddy
               | HDMI cable but this is the first I'm hearing that it's a
               | wider issue. Fortunately macOS handles the
               | disconnect/connect quickly but it drives me crazy some
               | days trying to run my secondary monitor off it.
        
               | bugbuddy wrote:
               | I think someone should start a class action lawsuit to
               | demand Apple to recall and fix all of them.
        
               | solardev wrote:
               | I haven't noticed any issues on my M2 MacBook Pro yet,
               | but I've only used that port maybe a total of a dozen
               | times since I've gotten it. Probably an eventuality :(
        
               | mulderc wrote:
               | I haven't seen this and many people in my office have one
               | and have not heard anything about this.
        
             | kccqzy wrote:
             | Which is why I'm selling my MBP for a MBA. I already have a
             | Linux desktop for powerful computing; my on-the-go
             | computing solution should prioritize lightness and
             | portability.
        
               | ffsm8 wrote:
               | Have fun using a single screen
        
               | nozzlegear wrote:
               | The latest MacBook Air can use two external screens.
        
               | Toutouxc wrote:
               | I really wish the first two Apple Silicon Airs didn't
               | have this weird limit. Not because I need to connect two
               | displays to mine -- almost no one actually does. But even
               | though since the M1 it's been an amazing, futuristic,
               | freakishly thin, light, and glorious powerhouse of a
               | laptop, someone always has to bring up this stupid crap
               | whenever it's being discussed.
        
               | Aperocky wrote:
               | Got my M1 in 2020 when it first launched and was drawn by
               | the 15 inch air due to the screen real estate, but have
               | literally no other reason to replace it. Couldn't say the
               | same for any other 4 years old laptop.
        
               | dagmx wrote:
               | They just said they prioritize portability and your
               | retort is over the number of non-portable external
               | monitors that can be hooked up, and an outdated number at
               | that?
        
           | ksec wrote:
           | Precisely because they want to reduce thickness they will
           | need higher battery density and use a thinner battery with
           | the same battery life. Not to mention the battery will last
           | much longer than current battery.
        
             | maximus-decimus wrote:
             | Will they spend the money on this kind of tech for the
             | thinness though?
        
           | kmeisthax wrote:
           | In the case of the iPad, the thinness (and corresponding
           | weight reduction) makes it more usable as a tablet,
           | especially with the 13" model. It also fixed - or at least,
           | mitigated - a few problems with the keyboard attachment.
           | 
           | Granted, that attachment shouldn't exist, but that's a
           | different problem whose root cause is "Apple expected the
           | iPad to replace the Mac like the Mac replaced the Apple ][".
        
         | cogman10 wrote:
         | My best guess is that these cells might be more bulky than can
         | be put into a laptop.
         | 
         | It could also be a planned obsolescence thing.
        
         | ksec wrote:
         | I dont understand it either and wish if those how knew, while
         | may not have the time to explain it but just give me some
         | pointers or direction.
         | 
         | I would have thought, as shown by Chinese EV maker it may be
         | better to have bulky larger cheap battery in an EV intended for
         | long range driving, than an expensive long range EV because of
         | solid sate.
         | 
         | On the other hand Solid State Battery on Smartphone could have
         | been a major marketing point for many consumer.
        
         | akmarinov wrote:
         | 100 kWh batteries are charged with 350kW chargers for 9
         | minutes.
         | 
         | Do people have the equivalent to charge laptops with the
         | respective speed of what they'll need to match the 350?
        
           | manmal wrote:
           | You can cleanly divide by 1000 and you get exactly the
           | capacity of a 16" MacBook Pro. So you'd need a 350 Watt
           | charger (ca like a vacuum cleaner) to charge that MBPro in 9
           | minutes, if it supported that kind of throughput. Such a
           | charger might need air cooling, and would probably not be as
           | portable. But certainly doable.
        
             | mook wrote:
             | Randomly looking at Lenovo's site (sorting by highest
             | price) shows they already have 330W chargers; that's not
             | very far off.
             | 
             | https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/gx21m50608
        
               | manmal wrote:
               | Amazing how small GAN has made these things.
        
           | p1mrx wrote:
           | 100 kWh / 350 kW = 17 minutes
           | 
           | 100 kWh / 9 minutes = 667 kW
        
             | HPsquared wrote:
             | It's not a full charge. Batteries charge fastest at mid-
             | level, not when empty or full.
        
         | everdrive wrote:
         | EVs are already far too expensive. At least in the short term
         | this would only be a niche product.
        
         | vhcr wrote:
         | Batteries don't have bigger capacities because people want to
         | carry them inside of planes, which have a limit of 100Wh, the
         | MacBook Pro has a 99.6Wh battery.
        
           | r00fus wrote:
           | This regulation is only because specific lithium battery
           | chemistries like NMC or Li-Polymer.
           | 
           | Once proven safer chemistries like LFP or sodium-ion are used
           | more commonly in laptops (including SSBs like this Samsung
           | one) then regulation should shift to accommodate.
           | 
           | That said, who really needs over 100Wh of battery when most
           | long haul flights have plugs available?
        
             | whamlastxmas wrote:
             | People use laptops without chargers outside planes too, and
             | processing intensive stuff drains batteries very quickly
        
               | brookst wrote:
               | True, but who would buy a laptop that could never be
               | taken on a plane?
        
               | viewtransform wrote:
               | People with lengthy jail sentences ?
        
             | bagels wrote:
             | It took decades to allow electronic devices to be used in
             | flight, despite no evidence that they would cause a
             | problem. I wouldn't count on battery chemistry changes
             | leading to changes in FAA rules very quickly.
        
               | heavenlyblue wrote:
               | Isn't the concern the fires caused by the batteries?
        
               | mertd wrote:
               | Initially people assumed without evidence that the
               | wireless signals from portable devices would interfere
               | with avionics. It was the days where you could
               | prophetically "hear" that you are about to get a call or
               | sms through your computer speakers.
        
               | TaylorAlexander wrote:
               | Sounds like they did have evidence then...
        
               | akira2501 wrote:
               | > people assumed without evidence
               | 
               | If you don't have evidence that emissions will be within
               | acceptable limits and will not interfere with the planes
               | avionics then you don't introduce things into life safety
               | critical areas like planes.
               | 
               | It's the same reason a captain can declare pretty much
               | whatever they want on their plane and you as a passenger
               | are _obligated_ to follow those orders. It's a felony if
               | you don't. The captain doesn't have to present evidence
               | just any concern that some action might interfere with
               | the safety of his flight and that's the end of the
               | discussion.
        
               | SkyPuncher wrote:
               | I believe so. In particular, the size of the fire that a
               | battery will burn.
               | 
               | I think OPs point is more that the FAA is extremely
               | conservative with risk. Electronics weren't allowed for a
               | long time due the fear of interference with airplane
               | equipment.
        
             | surfingdino wrote:
             | > who really needs over 100Wh of battery
             | 
             | YouTube video editors and idiots running LLMs.
        
               | justinclift wrote:
               | Gaming laptops are a thing too. ;)
        
             | Aperocky wrote:
             | > That said, who really needs over 100Wh of battery when
             | most long haul flights have plugs available?
             | 
             | Plenty of laptops still run intel lol.
        
             | threeseed wrote:
             | > then regulation should shift to accommodate
             | 
             | You are talking about shifting regulations globally.
             | 
             | Companies like Apple are not going to build products just
             | for one or two markets.
        
           | solarkraft wrote:
           | Manufacturers (I can think of one in particular) would still
           | like to make devices smaller and wouldn't mind faster
           | charging.
        
         | mppm wrote:
         | I guess they will... once they actually have them. The
         | batteries probably only exist in the lab at this point, but
         | what do execs get paid for if not pretty roadmaps?
        
         | goodSteveramos wrote:
         | Because the cost is probably closer to $10,000/kWh. Makes sense
         | for a $1,000,000 supercar. Fundamentally all the new battery
         | chemistries have serious underreported problems that make them
         | dead-on-arrival. Either short cycle life (nanowire) or
         | impractical manufacturing (solid state) or middling performance
         | versus LiPo (sodium). Hopefully some of these may find niche
         | applications where their advantages outweigh their problems but
         | don't expect more than a 50% improvement in density over the
         | next 20 years.
        
       | nikanj wrote:
       | Coming to a car dealership near you in 2177.
       | 
       | Battery breakthroughs have been happening bi-weekly for decades
        
         | Maken wrote:
         | Batteries are not like fusion energy, we have actually seen
         | continuous improvements in the last 40 years.
        
         | cogman10 wrote:
         | They hit way sooner than you think. The current best in class
         | battery cells are a hybrid of these breakthroughs. Companies
         | just don't advertise what's going into the special sauce for
         | obvious reasons.
         | 
         | If you look at a chart if battery capacity density, it's been
         | pretty much exponentially growing.
        
           | illiac786 wrote:
           | Do you have such a chart handy? The last one I checked showed
           | a linear 10% / year increase, something like that...
        
             | chopin wrote:
             | A 10% increase per year _is_ exponential.
        
               | illiac786 wrote:
               | yes, ok, but it's far from e. Let's say "exponential" is
               | a shitty term, it can mean very different things.
               | 
               | But 10%/y is still a doubling within 8 years, so maybe
               | not so bad - if my memory is correct.
               | 
               | [edit] see other comment, it is indeed very much linear,
               | not exponential at all.
        
             | _visgean wrote:
             | There is a chart here:
             | https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Advances-in-energy-
             | densi... I am a bit confused by the units but it seems to
             | be growing, tho the data cuts off at 2005.
             | 
             | Another chart is here: https://physicsworld.com/a/lithium-
             | ion-batteries-break-energ..., still does not seem
             | exponential, looks kind of of linear to me.
        
               | illiac786 wrote:
               | the first one shows linear progression, not even 10%,
               | except the prototypes at the end.
               | 
               | Second one shows a linear progression too it seems, I
               | agree.
        
         | datavirtue wrote:
         | There are consumer products shipping with solid state
         | batteries.
        
       | fred_is_fred wrote:
       | I can't ever seem to find it, but does someone have that
       | checklist of the "oh you've invented a great new battery, here
       | are the issues?" This one will probably either be toxic,
       | explosive, expensive, fragile...
        
         | cogman10 wrote:
         | Expensive is main problem with these things and that's because
         | cracking solid state for mass production has proven to be
         | really tricky.
         | 
         | Otherwise, these things are pretty near ideal. Higher cycle
         | life and power density with pretty much the same materials as
         | standard lipo cells.
        
         | xnx wrote:
         | New battery technology checklist:
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26633670
        
           | akira2501 wrote:
           | "The entropy conditions of the Universe itself are against
           | your entire endeavor. Good luck."
        
       | datadeft wrote:
       | >> Perhaps unsurprisingly, the batteries won't be cheap
       | 
       | Could we get a price comparison per driven distance? Without it
       | these numbers look good but I would be interested in the price
       | too
        
       | LightBug1 wrote:
       | Bye bye, Tesla ... remember when they were at the forefront of
       | battery technology?
       | 
       | Actually, I don't either ...
        
         | Maken wrote:
         | Do you mean when they were licensing Panasonic technology?
        
         | kccqzy wrote:
         | They were never at the forefront of battery technology. Their
         | project meant to leapfrog everyone else, the 4680 cell, had not
         | delivered. To date they still hadn't achieved the main
         | technical challenge of dry electrode production. Even if they
         | did achieve it today, it would already be too late.
        
         | nabla9 wrote:
         | Tesla has always used lithium-ion battery cells tech from
         | Panasonic.
        
       | encom wrote:
       | Charging speed is too overrated as a metric, in my opinion. For
       | the overwhelming majority of people, you're almost never driving
       | more per day than the capacity of your battery. And even on an 11
       | kW home charger, you're easily back up to 100% during the night,
       | especially since you're never starting from 0% or even close to
       | it.
       | 
       | Even my Nissan Leaf which has notoriously slow AC charging (being
       | single phase), the max 6,7 kW charging is very rarely a concern
       | for me.
        
         | astronads wrote:
         | A ton of people live in flats, apartments, condos and other
         | shared housing that do not provide home charging capabilities.
         | Just because it's not a big deal for you and your situation
         | doesn't mean it's the same for everyone else.
        
           | kayodelycaon wrote:
           | And people who rent a house and can't install the necessary
           | equipment.
        
           | cogman10 wrote:
           | I agree,and this is why I really wish the EV charger rollout
           | focused on L2 chargers rather than L3.
           | 
           | Incentivizing workplaces, grocery stores, malls, and
           | apartment complexes to install slow chargers would make a
           | huge impact on feasibility.
           | 
           | All for a lot less money than it takes to install L3
           | chargers.
        
             | tgsovlerkhgsel wrote:
             | Wouldn't grocery stores want bigger chargers, so someone
             | with an apartment can combine a grocery run that takes
             | maybe 30 minutes inside the store with fully charging their
             | car for the next few days?
        
               | cogman10 wrote:
               | With an L2 charger it doesn't take days to fully charge.
               | It is more like 8 hours when going from 0 to 100.
               | 
               | But that's not necessary. You just need to recover enough
               | charge to cover daily driving. In 30 minutes that can
               | equate to adding 20 miles of range.
               | 
               | With EVs you are rarely trying to charge from 0 to 100. A
               | slow charge is sufficient and preferable for battery
               | health.
        
         | klabb3 wrote:
         | Charging speed is a big issue when you're renting or road
         | tripping. When people use shared infrastructure, charging time
         | corresponds to how many customers you can serve per parking
         | spot/charging station. With gas, hoards of cars can be serviced
         | quickly. Thus it's really important that the car can be
         | meaningfully charged during an extended rest stop or lunch
         | break. Consumers disproportionately buy for these "happy"
         | occasions, even if it would make much more economical sense to
         | just rent once or twice a year.
         | 
         | Me + partner rented a small e-fiat in Mallorca and it was
         | really fun to drive, but there was a lot of anxiety around
         | finding charging stations and wandering around for hours while
         | charging. Note we didn't have overnight charging at the hotel
         | though.
        
           | pornel wrote:
           | > how many customers you can serve per parking spot/charging
           | station. With gas, hoards of cars can be serviced quickly
           | 
           | For gas stations the throughput matters, because cars are
           | blocking the queue. BEV charging is more comparable to
           | parking. This is simply solved by having more charging
           | stations (dispensers) at parking spots.
           | 
           | BTW: even in shittiest EVs, DC charging doesn't take hours.
           | You probably have been misdirected to an AC charger designed
           | to be used overnight. Unfortunately, many satnavs still treat
           | charging stations as all equal like gas stations, and send
           | you to the nearest one, instead of the fastest one.
        
             | illiac786 wrote:
             | I guess it makes a huge difference for the station if they
             | have to build 10 or 100 charging spots no? Space, cost,
             | etc.
             | 
             | Kind of the reason why there is 10 gas pumps and not 100.
        
         | pornel wrote:
         | This is _the most important metric_.
         | 
         | 1000km in the slow-charging Leaf takes 14 hours. 1000km in
         | quick-charging cars takes 9h-9.5h, compared to 8.5h in a gas
         | car[1].
         | 
         | For the trivial case of a city-only car with a home charger all
         | battery metrics are irrelevant, so even the terribly outdated
         | Leaf is adequate.
         | 
         | But when leaving the perimeter of the home charger, the car
         | will need to be recharged. Charging speed is primary factor
         | that makes long road trips in BEVs take longer than in gas
         | cars. Battery sized large enough for a longest road trip adds a
         | lot of weight and cost, which is a waste in daily city driving.
         | Quick to recharging makes long trips possible, without need for
         | a huge battery.
         | 
         | [1]:
         | https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6ucyFGKWuSQzvI8lMzv...
        
           | datavirtue wrote:
           | People are OK with added weight and cost. You can't sell a
           | truck without the added 500lbs and $12k of 4x4 shit under the
           | front end. It lives there dragging down tow capacity, fuel,
           | and driveability the entire life of the the vehicle, rarely
           | used if ever.
        
           | skykooler wrote:
           | While that's true in the ideal case, there are still many
           | areas in America where you need significant range to make it
           | from one charger to the next. I have a Leaf which can fast-
           | charge via Chademo, but the low range means that if I go
           | anywhere rural I often have to spend several hours at a level
           | 2 charger because it doesn't have the range to drive directly
           | to the next fast charger.
        
           | thebruce87m wrote:
           | > 1000km in the slow-charging Leaf takes 14 hours. > 1000km
           | in quick-charging cars takes 9h-9.5h, compared to 8.5h in a
           | gas car[1].
           | 
           | There are so many variables here. 1,000 cumulative km for my
           | normal usage requires no waiting since I charge at home, so
           | the it's the ICE car that eats up time since I have to visit
           | a fuel station.
           | 
           | On a 1,000km road trip I would be stopping anyway, so as long
           | as it charges within the 30 min window it would not be
           | additional time here either.
        
         | dangus wrote:
         | It is a big deal in the US considering that almost 20% of
         | Americans say they'll plan to make a road trip of between 250
         | and 500 miles, and almost 10% of Americans plan to take a trip
         | between 500 and 1000 miles by car.
         | 
         | Overall, 75% of Americans surveyed said they intend to take
         | some kind of road trip.
         | 
         | https://thevacationer.com/summer-travel-survey-2024/
         | 
         | This is on top of what other people have brought up about
         | people who live in apartments, rent, or have no garage space.
        
           | encom wrote:
           | Everyone replying to me as if I said charging speed is
           | totally irrelevant and are bringing up contrived edge cases.
           | If all you're doing is commuting to work, which is what most
           | of us are doing, unless you have an absurdly long commute you
           | will never need fast charging. Can I do a trans-european road
           | trip in my Leaf. No. But I'm not buying a car for what I
           | might do some day, and neither should you unless you like
           | wasting money. If I was going on a trip like that I'd rent a
           | car or swap cars with a friend. My point is, people place far
           | too much importance on it, when it _for most people, most of
           | the time_ is not that big of a deal.
        
             | dangus wrote:
             | It's not an edge case. 75% of Americans plan to take a road
             | trip during the year per the link I sent.
             | 
             | Remember that in the US the 300-500 mile problem is huge.
             | There's no viable train alternative for medium to short
             | distances for almost every city pair. If you have family in
             | Tennessee and you live in Illinois you need to drive 6
             | hours unless you want to blow money on plane tickets and
             | still end up eating up 4-6 hours at the airport and on the
             | plane anyway.
             | 
             | The same can honestly be said for shorter trips like
             | 100-200 miles. There's no usable public transit between
             | cities like Dallas and Houston.
             | 
             | "Most of the time" doesn't really work when you need your
             | car to do the thing you're doing 5% of the time. I don't
             | buy a two door car because most of the time I don't have
             | four passengers inside, I buy a four door car because it's
             | extremely useful to have that capability without needing to
             | reserve a rental car or borrow cars from friends.
             | 
             | This is especially important considering that gasoline
             | vehicles are already for sale and compete with electric
             | vehicles. Why am I renting a car or swapping cars when the
             | whole point of owning a car was to have a car?
        
         | fpoling wrote:
         | In Norway in mountains charging stations are often literally in
         | the middle of nowhere with their placement dictated by
         | availability of high-voltage power lines. They are fully
         | automated with just few charging boxes and nothing else.
         | Although the view is often nice with mountains and valleys,
         | when it is snowing or raining spending an extra hour on top of
         | 7 hours of driving is not nice especially as for toilet and
         | food one needs to stop at other places. So I would appreciate
         | if I do not need to spend that extra hour sitting in a car and
         | watching rain.
         | 
         | Now, Norway may be an extreme case, but driving for 1000 km
         | daily in Europe while rare is still a normal event. For
         | example, from Paris to Mediterranean coast it is like 800 km.
         | And if one drives 130km/h that 1000 km of battery will be
         | reduced to 500km so one will need to charge once and it will be
         | nice if that can be done within 15 minutes not to add too much
         | time to the trip.
        
           | rini17 wrote:
           | This is a nonproblem inflated by petrolheads routinely doing
           | 1000 kilometers in one go, which are overrepresented among
           | journalists. Most people don't do that and are doing longer
           | stops at least twice, vacations make that even more likely.
           | 
           | And cherry picking distinct worst aspect of long distance
           | driving in Norway and France and mashing them together them
           | as one argument is disingenuous. There's plenty of stuff to
           | stop and enjoy between Paris and Med.
        
             | fpoling wrote:
             | Electrical with range of 1000km and fast charging gives an
             | option that is not presently covered. There are people in
             | Norway who still do not consider electrical cars because
             | they want to have an option to drive 500 km over mountains
             | in one go without extra delays. The same in France. Or even
             | consider Spain. The argument is that one cannot go from
             | Madrid to Alicante (like 400-450 km) without extra stops to
             | charge still prevents people to get electrical cars. In a
             | lot of cases option to drive a long distance will never be
             | used, but people want to have that option as a form of
             | insurance.
        
               | rini17 wrote:
               | But "just to have an option" isn't how it's usually
               | presented.
               | 
               | Besides, no one appears to realize gas supply will vanish
               | first in case of crisis, it did once happen already in
               | Europe. Electricity usually gets cut later, if at all.
        
             | illiac786 wrote:
             | No, it is a a real problem for most people who buy their
             | cars for the 2 holiday trips they do a year. Yes it does
             | not make sense economically but this is how customers buy
             | they cars.
             | 
             | And hence, this battery range and ability to quickly charge
             | will be very important to people.
             | 
             | You may disagree with their position (I do) but that won't
             | affect their buying decision - range and charging speed
             | will.
        
         | skybrian wrote:
         | Eventually this might make electric vehicles practical for
         | people who can't charge at home, much like going to a gas
         | station.
         | 
         | It won't happen in the first round, which is for luxury
         | vehicles, though.
        
         | akira2501 wrote:
         | > Charging speed is too overrated as a metric, in my opinion
         | 
         | Then you will _never_ electrify the entire fleet of vehicles
         | and you will always have ICE vehicles to fill the space that
         | you feel is "overrated."
         | 
         | > charging is very rarely a concern for me.
         | 
         | Ostensibly because you live somewhere where large ICE vehicles
         | bring the goods within range of your EV for you. This is great
         | it's adequate for you. This is not sustainable.
         | 
         | I always get mistaken on these issues, as I think EVs are
         | important, but the way we've deployed and built them is
         | precisely backwards. We hoisted EVs on you because you would
         | pay for them but it's made a complete mess of the transition.
        
       | cubefox wrote:
       | The title of this should be the original one from the website:
       | 
       | "Samsung to Mass-Produce Solid-State Batteries for 'Super
       | Premium' EVs by 2027"
        
       | greenavocado wrote:
       | This information is worthless for electric vehicle owners who
       | charge mostly or exclusively at home.
       | 
       | A Tesla Model Y battery pack is 75 kWh and the highest rated
       | connection within the typical American home with 200 amp 120/240
       | volt split-phase service is 50 amps over both phases: 12,000
       | watts.
       | 
       | 75 kWh / 12 kW = 6.25 hours assuming the battery can be hit with
       | maximum wattage continuously throughout its charge cycle (this is
       | unhealthy).
       | 
       | To charge the Tesla Model Y 75 kWh battery pack in nine minutes
       | the 240 volt cable would need to carry 2083 amps. This is
       | hilariously far beyond the capacity of a 50-amp rated wire.
       | 
       | 6 AWG copper wire which is rated for 50 amps has an 0.000395 ohms
       | per meter (at 20degC). Assuming a ten meter length of wire, the
       | resistance is 0.00395 ohms. Power dissipation in the wire P = I^2
       | * R. 2083^2 * 0.00395 ohms = 17,166 watts.
       | 
       | Temperature rise in the wire delta T = P / (A * k) where P =
       | 17,666 watts, A = pi * 0.00411m * 10m. Assuming PVC insulation
       | whose thermal conductivity is k = 0.19 W/m*K. Delta T is approx
       | 700,615 degrees K. The surface temperature of the Sun is
       | approximately 5773 K, so our wire would get about 121 times
       | hotter than the surface of the sun if it did not instantly
       | explode.
        
         | toomuchtodo wrote:
         | It's for fast DC charging at 350kw+. Home charging is solved,
         | but there is still travel range anxiety to squeeze out of the
         | human, as well as use cases with high utilization and
         | turnaround need (taxi, livery, law enforcement). 9 minutes to
         | charge and a 20 year service life is awfully close to "you have
         | no excuse this is suboptimal compared to liquid fuel
         | refueling."
         | 
         | High level, EVs have almost killed combustion vehicles, we're
         | almost there [1] [2]. Batteries will only improve over time as
         | EV production scales up.
         | 
         | [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41191790
         | 
         | [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41207048
        
         | GaggiX wrote:
         | Safety, long range and lifespan are still important to people
         | who charge their EV at home.
        
         | malfist wrote:
         | Home charging will not be that fast in the conceivable future.
         | Just too much power for homes. Just thinking about it, my ford
         | lightning with the extended battery has enough capacity to
         | power the average house for something like 8 days. That'd be
         | crazy be be about to demand that much power at home to charge
         | it in nine minutes.
         | 
         | But, it doesn't mean it's worthless to those that charge at
         | home. I only own EVs. Even if I do 99.99999% of my charging at
         | home, I still need to be able to charge during road trips. The
         | faster the better. My partner and I have been eyeing the ev6
         | with it's 18 minute charge time. That's way easier to swallow
         | than the 48 minutes the truck takes.
         | 
         | 9 minutes and every seven hours of driving would be a god send,
         | instead of our current 48 minutes every 4 hours
        
         | tgsovlerkhgsel wrote:
         | > 6.25 hours assuming the battery can be hit with maximum
         | wattage continuously throughout its charge cycle (this is
         | unhealthy).
         | 
         | Are you sure it's unhealthy if you're already charging this
         | slow? I'd expect 12 kW to still be below the slow part of a
         | fast charge.
        
         | kccqzy wrote:
         | You took a home charging cable that's rated for 50 amps and
         | thought about what if you used that exact cable for DC fast
         | charging. What did you expect?
        
         | oliwarner wrote:
         | I just did a 1400mile round trip in our 9yo Model S. 80-20kW
         | just doing my nut in. At least it was free.
         | 
         | This sort of battery makes that sort of trip easy.
         | 
         | There are already 3m liquid-cooled charging cables that allow
         | 600kW+ DC charging. Many use more than one conductor per
         | polarity to increase the capacity.
        
         | thebruce87m wrote:
         | > 75 kWh / 12 kW = 6.25 hours assuming the battery can be hit
         | with maximum wattage continuously throughout its charge cycle
         | (this is unhealthy).
         | 
         | 12kW is nowhere near the max charging speed. Here is the
         | charging curve with a peak at 250kWh when DC charging:
         | https://evkx.net/models/tesla/model_y/model_y_long_range/cha...
        
       | lolwhatitis wrote:
       | Presuming an 80 kWh battery and 80% efficiency:
       | 
       | 80 kWh / 0.8 = 100 kWh
       | 
       | To charge in nine minutes:
       | 
       | 100 kWh * 60 min/hr / 9 min = 667 kW
       | 
       | A 400 V DC setup is common for this sort of application, so:
       | 
       | 667 kW / 400 V = 1667 A
       | 
       | How physically large do the cables and related apparatus need to
       | be in order to deliver this sort of current? What sort of
       | training and personal protective equipment will people need in
       | order to plug and unplug these cables? (Hint: Arc flashes are no
       | joke!) What sort of service would you need to order from the
       | electric company to be able to power just one of these
       | installations?
        
         | deepsun wrote:
         | Arc flashed are no problem I think, because these cables don't
         | unleash the whole power before everything is connected and
         | protocol negotiation finished.
         | 
         | But agree with the rest. Regardless of voltage and current, you
         | still need half-megawatt delivery somehow.
        
         | jve wrote:
         | Why you limit yourself to 400V? Today 250kW chargers are
         | available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Supercharger so
         | we need 2.7 times of that.
         | 
         | > The voltage range was increased to 1000 V and it supports up
         | to 615 A (charging cable) / 1000 A (charging pole) for power
         | delivery.[14][15] However, they are currently software limited
         | to 250 kW.[12][16]
         | 
         | v4 charger already features thermally conductive liquid to
         | dissipate heat. Maybe one could get rid of cables and car could
         | park near charger and some serious metal rods could
         | automatically connect somewhere under the car.
         | 
         | Anyways, that 1000Vx615A already supports 615kW so very close
         | as far as we consider cables/connectors.
        
         | Retric wrote:
         | 400V is hardly the limit...
         | 
         | Anyway, if you're just interested in big connectors/cables MCS
         | targets up to 3.75 multi megawatts for commercial vehicles.
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megawatt_Charging_System
         | 
         | Though 3.7MW is mostly theoretical there's already 700kw
         | chargers in the wild. The cables end up thick, but they can be
         | supported by an overhead gantry which helps.
        
         | kccqzy wrote:
         | The CCS standard supports 1000V.
         | 
         | Furthermore charging cables are locked while charging. (The
         | latch is on the cable for CCS, and the latch is inside the car
         | for NACS.) Unless the lock mechanism is mechanically broken,
         | it's impossible to unplug a cable that's charging.
        
           | goodcanadian wrote:
           | The latch is on the car for CCS. It is only on the cable for
           | chademo. Regardless, the main issue with high current is the
           | cable resistance. You need very thick cables or they will
           | melt. Higher voltage helps, but cable weight is a real issue
           | at higher power.
           | 
           | P.S. NACS is just CCS with a different connector.
        
         | oezi wrote:
         | DC charging at 350 and 500kw is getting rather common on
         | highway chargers.
         | 
         | Why stop there? Heat management is the key limitation.
        
         | Tade0 wrote:
         | Your typical tram is powered by four 150kW motors. It's not an
         | unusually high amount of power.
        
         | bearjaws wrote:
         | Almost all cars are moving to 800v architectures for this
         | reason.
        
         | thebruce87m wrote:
         | Note that charging curves usually have a drop in charge rate as
         | the battery gets closer to 100%, so it's probably an even
         | higher peak than this for this to be the average.
        
       | haunter wrote:
       | Samsung has such a low quality crap home appliances that I have 0
       | hope about this being actually good by the time we peasants get
       | it.
        
         | illiac786 wrote:
         | Porsche makes shitty shoes. But good quality cars (that I
         | dislike still).
        
       | selimnairb wrote:
       | Can we just make regular-ass EVs that people can afford?
        
         | tomashubelbauer wrote:
         | I wish someone made an EV with LFP batteries and as little
         | software as possible, certainly no displays or a companion
         | mobile app. Let me put an AliExpress parking camera in if I
         | want one. Something that I can afford to own and maintain
         | myself, without being dependent on repair shops with
         | specialized tools or knowledge, or worse, the manufacturer, for
         | service. Throw in a service manual with full schematics and
         | I'll be elated.
        
           | kube-system wrote:
           | Reverse cameras are a legal requirement in the US and some
           | other places
        
             | thfuran wrote:
             | But what are the requirements on the display? Can you get
             | away with one LED for a single pixel? That'd really let you
             | cheap out on the camera too.
        
               | kube-system wrote:
               | No, the regulations do not specify technical
               | specifications, they specify requirements in terms of
               | actual visibility.
               | 
               | 49 CFR 571.111 S14. specifies a test that the image must
               | pass, and that would not pass:
               | 
               | https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/part-571/section-57
               | 1.1....)
        
         | borski wrote:
         | Yes, eventually. They're expensive to manufacture for now,
         | because the tech is relatively new (as compared to ICE cars).
         | Price will come down over time.
        
         | ac29 wrote:
         | You can get a 2-3 year old Bolt or Leaf for well under $20k
         | (under 15, even).
         | 
         | Sadly, both are no longer in production (though the Leaf is
         | still on sale from the final production run).
        
       | binary132 wrote:
       | How do these things compare to "regular" lithium batteries on
       | fire hazard?
        
         | xhkkffbf wrote:
         | The article says that it eliminates the problem. But I find
         | that hard to believe. On the other hand, silicon dioxide is
         | already oxidized so it can't burn more.
        
           | ianburrell wrote:
           | Solid state batteries replace the flammable liquid
           | electrolyte with nonflammable solid one. It isn't the lithium
           | that is burning.
           | 
           | Also, LiFePO4 are already nonflammable lithium batteries.
           | They have lower power density when solid state are supposed
           | to be equal or better to LiPo.
        
         | Tade0 wrote:
         | The liquid electrolyte is where most of the fire hazard happens
         | in a lithium-ion battery, as it's typically based on ethylene
         | carbonate, which is flammable.
        
       | ranger_danger wrote:
       | > eliminate risk of battery fires
       | 
       | > very low risk of fire
       | 
       | Which is it?
        
         | borski wrote:
         | The latter for now, the former hopefully eventually.
        
       | Animats wrote:
       | _" We supplied samples to customers from the end of last year to
       | the beginning of this year and are receiving positive feedback,"
       | Samsung SDI VP Koh Joo-young said at SNE Battery Day 2024 in
       | Seoul, according to Korean outlet The Elec and translated by
       | Google."_
       | 
       | This would be more convincing if reviewers could order samples.
       | 
       | Yoshino seemed to be shipping a solid state battery, but several
       | people have bought and disassembled the thing, and it has
       | liquid/gel components. That was disappointing.
       | 
       | CATL has some good comments.[1] Wu Kai of CATL was quoted as
       | saying that the maturity level of the technology and the
       | manufacturing process can currently be categorised at 4 on a
       | scale of 1 to 9. CATL wants to be at 7 to 8 by 2027, which is
       | equivalent to the production of solid-state batteries in small
       | quantities. CATL also mentions that they have 1,000 people in R&D
       | working on this. This is a big project in China. The China All-
       | Solid-State Battery Collaborative Innovation Platform is getting
       | government funding and has all the big battery makers in China on
       | board.[2]
       | 
       | Toyota's roadmap shows solid state batteries around 2028.[3]
       | 
       | There are solid state battery announcements all over, but the big
       | players all admit that the manufacturing is really tough.
       | 
       | A US startup exists.[4] They mostly make press releases, not
       | products.
       | 
       | [1] https://www.electrive.com/2024/04/29/catl-expects-to-
       | produce...
       | 
       | [2] https://www.electrive.com/2024/05/30/china-solid-state-
       | batte...
       | 
       | [3] https://electrek.co/2024/01/11/toyota-solid-state-ev-
       | battery...
       | 
       | [4] https://www.electrive.com/2024/08/06/ion-storage-systems-
       | ann...
        
       | hereme888 wrote:
       | Expensive electric mowers will need these at discount if they
       | ever hope to catch up to cheap gas mowers.
        
         | ok_dad wrote:
         | My "expensive" electric (battery) mower works for three mowings
         | on my lawn and cost less than 6 months paying a lawn service.
         | Perhaps someone with an acre needs a gas riding mower but
         | anyone with the average sized yard probably can do electric
         | today easily.
        
           | hereme888 wrote:
           | I bought an electric one because it was still quick ROI vs
           | paying for lawn service, and also noise dB and avoiding
           | breathing the gas exhaust.
           | 
           | But here in KY the other week it rained for a whole week, the
           | grass was really tall and thick, and the mower couldn't
           | handle it at all. My neighbor's old, cheap gas mower worked
           | just fine.
        
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