[clomond]

This would be an interesting choice.

a) it will not necessarily last longer, li-ion in the right conditions (particularly more stable chemistries) have superior cycle life experience in practice

b) yes, newest batteries decay slowly over time and don’t ‘just die’ - but this is the same as li-ion

c) safety is mitigated in the modern setting by utilizing the same charge controllers used to keep EV car batteries safe. Remember most North American homes with a natural gas furnace literally is a controlled blast of explosive gas without a smell that people just have and don’t think about - as the tech goes on the learning curve the management issues (I.e. disconnecting faulty cels individually) seems like a plausible end solution, even if that is necessary.

Lastly, while NiMH does not use soon to be very scare processed lithium, NiMH uses very large amounts of nickel, cobalt and comparatively exotic ‘rare earth metals’ who’s production should be expected to be even more challenging to scale.

All that said - I am all for us scaling up all of these technologies so that each can fit within a particular market niche based on inherent pros and cons.

[nbernard]

> natural gas furnace literally is a controlled blast of explosive gas without a smell

OT: in Europe, a thiol is added to natural gas to give it a distinctive smell. Isn't the same done in the US?

[zip1234]

Yes. I think parent referring to normal operation of furnace not smelling since a furnace is considered safe.

[ClumsyPilot]

> safety is mitigated in the modern setting by utilizing the same charge controllers used to keep EV car batteries safe

The problem is fire safety, if the house is on fire the lithium battery is going to make it much worse. Controller ofcourse does not help there