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Nev Hill's avatar

Really interesting, thanks.

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Notes from the periphery's avatar

So, lithium batteries are immune to drone strikes? Ever seen a lithium battery fire?

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Alex Turnbull's avatar

They are not but you can break them into smaller installations that are hard to find / hit. Then Russia has to spend millions on missiles to hit millions of batteries that can be quickly replaced vs knocking out a $500mm CCGT plant.

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Notes from the periphery's avatar

I’d like to see how those work in the Russian winter. Minus 20-40 degrees.

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Alex Turnbull's avatar

You should ask an llm about sodium ion battery performance in winter, or vanadium flow, or some hardened versions of lithium ion. There's a lot out there and it is all peer reviewed. In summary: they perform well.

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Notes from the periphery's avatar

what about energy density where it's very simple and easy to have a relatively tiny diesel generator run many hours in cold weather and be refuelled in minutes contra a giant lithium battery that would not be able to be recharged in Russian winter sun.

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Simon Maher's avatar

An alliance of sovereign individuals, defence hawks and the green/environmental left becomes oddly possible. Thanks for the article.

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