That sounds really interesting, but the article doesn't do anything to explain how it's kept molten. How much energy do you need to put in to the battery environment to keep it functioning? If it loses power, how long can it keep itself going until it turns into a solid block of metal?

[–] Onihikage@beehaw.org 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ambri's been building towards this for a while, so there's a lot of material elsewhere on how the contents stay warm - put simply, it's well-insulated, and as the battery gets bigger, the square-cube law makes it more and more efficient in that regard as the volume of heat stored increases much faster than the surface area the heat can escape through. A cold start would be expensive in terms of energy, but Ambri's website states that a daily charge-discharge cycle provides enough waste heat to keep the critical components molten.

Just Have A Think did a piece on these batteries a couple of years ago, if you're interested to learn more.

[–] I_am_10_squirrels@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

Thanks!