Originally posted by: dullard
He is solving the wrong problem. New batteries aren't the solution to the energy crisis. Batteries just store energy, they do not create it nor do they help us use less of it.
I'm not saying that new batteries aren't useful. In fact, I think they are one of the key things that are needed to move many different forms of technology forward. However, McCain wants to help remove are dependence on oil, and batteries really don't do it.
Sure, you can plug in your car and have it be run off of electricity. But where does that electricity come from? Yep, from using our limited energy supplies. All you do is shift the problem from the average Joe to the power company. Your power company either:
1) Burns oil for power (ie even more oil is used since the oil->electricity->vehicle conversion is less efficient than the oil->gasolinie->vehicle route).
or
2) Burns something else (such as coal) which drives up the price of coal, thereby making the power companies that use both coal and oil switch to oil. You still in the end power your car by oil.
Either way, we aren't significantly less dependent on oil.
What we really need is alternative energy sources and more energy efficient applications. Batteries do neither.
dullard, some of your criticisms are greatly misplaced. First, efficiency is generally considered to be higher through the conversion to electricity because the internal combustion engine is so inefficient compared to the combination of a large power plant/transmission/electric motor.
Second, the most important issue for energy security is energy diversity. Currently, we can only run our cars off of oil. Coal, natural gas, wind, solar, hydro, nukes, and oil are all viable once transport is electrified.
Third, petroleum accounts for a trivial amount of electricity in the US (on the order of 1-2%). You are implying that it will not benefit us to migrate to the lowest cost sources of power. Instead you propose we use oil for transportation no matter the cost.
Edit: As a side note, this $300 million dollar prize is essentially worthless. A battery that meets the specifications for the prize is going to be worth tens of billions of dollars (at a minimum).