In defense of them, 99% capacity retention after 10,000 cycles is still much better.
I wonder if they are quoting unrealistic 0-100% numbers and you are quoting realistic 20-80%. If so, and you multiply the Li capacity by 0.6, I wonder how far off aluminum's (undisclosed) density is.
On an unrelated note, I’m surprised that lithium is only 4x the price of aluminum. They’re both incredibly common elements, but lithium extraction is harder for a lot of reasons.
I don't think lithium is 4x the price of aluminum.
In January 2025, the North America price of lithium carbonate was $9.37/kg. But lithium carbonate is just 18.7% lithium, so the price is $50/kg of contained lithium.
In comparison, the current market price of aluminum metal is $2.62/kg. And aluminum compounds (where the large energy expenditure needed to reduce Al(+3) to the metal is not needed) should be cheaper.
Aluminum is much more common than lithium. It's the third most abundant element in the Earth's continental crust after oxygen and silicon.
Consumer gadgets too. I tend to replace the Li-ion batteries in my phones and laptops every 2 or 3 years and it's a pain. I'd pay extra for something that lasted a decade.
Consumer electronics use Lithium Polymer generally, which has one of the lower useful lifespans.
Just replacing it with LiFePo batteries would give you 4x the lifetime. Of course, with current technology the battery would have to be twice the size.
I wonder if they are quoting unrealistic 0-100% numbers and you are quoting realistic 20-80%. If so, and you multiply the Li capacity by 0.6, I wonder how far off aluminum's (undisclosed) density is.
On an unrelated note, I’m surprised that lithium is only 4x the price of aluminum. They’re both incredibly common elements, but lithium extraction is harder for a lot of reasons.