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Wow, that’s great! I can’t wait to read about it for the next decade and never see an actual product using it.

Seriously though, battery science must be as hard as they say. Every six months I read about some promising new development... that never, ever filters down to consumers.

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Battery’s have been constantly improving, so a lot of really promising research from 20 years ago ends up looking like a tiny incremental change when it hits the market.

Things developed 20 years ago hit their prime today because that’s when the patents expire.

But it does. Newer batteries have more capacity and charge faster. It's very obvious on smartphones or electric cars.

I believe battery densities double approximately every 10 years. So yes they do improve. But just as much of the improvement we see in devices is making them draw less power.

The press releases about battery development breakthroughs always promise instant order-of-magnitude improvements, something we never actually see.

Very true, I'm still waiting for my 80% solar panels.

Do you want to launch a satellite where every gram counts? We have plenty of space to put solar panels, Dollars per Watt is what you want to optimize and that measure has improved by orders of magnitude in the last twenty years.

There are some really interesting applications of high efficiency solar panels.

At 40+% efficiency you can charge slightly modified EV’S left outside enough to break 15,000 miles of added range per year. It's not currently practical, but drop the price enough and it’s a compelling use case. Unfortunately, even 80% isn't enough for high speed solar aircraft, but they could offset a lot of fuel needed for APU’s and even supply useful amounts of thrust.

Screw planes. I want zeppelins to come back. And let's make them nuclear, baby. And maybe add sails to take advantage of the wind if it's going our way. A properly zero emissions way to travel. Plus, with the huge surface area of the zeppelin coated in solar collectors, you heat the passenger compartment and turn every surface into a wireless charger.

A 150+ mph electric zeppelin seems like a viable technology. You get vertical takeoff and landing and low noise, which should let you do have many of the advantages of high speed rail at much lower capital costs. Battery weight isn’t such a big deal as long as your limited to say a 2 hour flight.

Most inner cities are right next to water so you do the bus approach of inner city to inner city while swapping batteries.

I don't know if they solved the worldwide helium shortage.

Well, my RV has room for about 6, and with 80% panels I could have air conditioning without being plugged in and not have to cover a 1/4 acre of desert with roll-out panels and store them too.

And keep them clean!