Most progress isn’t made in sudden huge jumps, but small incremental improvements.
When pubsci articles promise a breakthrough, remember:
it takes a long time to bring such research to market (think ~decade)
most breakthroughs are only applicable to narrow niches or work under specific conditions
real-life results will usually be worse than lab results
startups have incentives to make their research appear as important as possible
But instead of waiting for huge breakthroughs, just look at the progress made in commercially available batteries. There have been many improvements in cost & charge density.
I mean… you know that you can buy batteries today, and they’re much better than the ones you could buy a decade ago?
The point is that on a regular basis there are articles about some amazing new battery breakthrough, but it never leaves the lab.
Genuinely kinda wonder why that keeps happening
Tech illiterate media writing hype articles. Repeats yearly also with flying cars or vacuum tube trains.
Most progress isn’t made in sudden huge jumps, but small incremental improvements.
When pubsci articles promise a breakthrough, remember:
But instead of waiting for huge breakthroughs, just look at the progress made in commercially available batteries. There have been many improvements in cost & charge density.