Still a thing of the future for the time being
Do you still find the range of an average range too limited, or do you simply not feel like regularly connecting your car to a charger? Then the Chinese Betavolt might one day offer a solution. It says it has developed a ‘nuclear’ battery that will last 50 years. Without charging and without maintenance.
Anyone who thought that nuclear energy was mainly for enormous power plants, weaponry and submarines or aircraft carriers was wrong. At least, if you ask the Chinese start-up Betavolt. It claims to have developed a tiny ‘nuclear battery’. The piece of special energy is smaller than a coin and must be able to supply electricity for 50 years. Indeed, without recharging and without any form of maintenance.
The special module is already at an advanced stage and Betavolt says it can already test it. Ultimately, Betavolt’s nuclear module should be able to be built on a large scale and used in telephones and drones. But that’s not all, because the company also foresees a future for its module in aviation, for robots and sensors. Is the module also suitable for supplying electric cars with energy? Betavolt doesn’t say anything about that, but who knows, it might be the next step. The Betavolt module, with 100 microwatts and a voltage of 3 volts, is in any case not nearly powerful enough for the time being. Betavolt hopes to be able to make a device that delivers 1 watt around 2025.
Due to the small size of the Betavolt module – the piece of technology is 1.5 by 1.5 centimeters – you could of course place a whole series of them in series. Betavolt promises that the module is safe. When all radiation has been converted into electricity in the module, non-radioactive material remains that – according to Betavolt – poses no threat to the environment. Who knows Chinese better than us? we would like to refer you to Betavolt’s press release.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl