Maybe we can have a GM-Volt Submarine soon?

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/22926/

Waterproof Lithium-Air Batteries

A California company's lithium metal-air batteries are lightweight and energy dense.

By Katherine Bourzac
Friday, June 26, 2009

A company based in Berkeley, CA, is developing lightweight, high-energy batteries that can use the surrounding air as a cathode. PolyPlus is partnering with a manufacturing firm to develop single-use lithium metal-air batteries for the government, and it expects these batteries to be on the market within a few years. The company also has rechargeable lithium metal-air batteries in the early stages of development that could eventually power electric vehicles that can go for longer in between charges.


http://www.technologyreview.com/files/31076/polyplus_x220.jpg
Water power: A prototype battery made by PolyPlus uses lithium metal as the anode and salt water as the cathode to power an LED. As the battery discharges, lithium ions diffuse into the water, but the device doesn’t harm the surrounding clown fish.
Credit: PolyPlus

Interest in lithium metal-air batteries has been growing in recent years, along with the demand for lighter power sources for devices ranging from plug-in hybrid vehicles to laptops. In lithium-ion batteries, the electrodes are made of materials such as graphite, while in a lithium-metal battery, the anode is made up entirely of lithium metal, and the surrounding air can act as the cathode.

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Click link for more details:
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/22926/

Make sense the lithium ions wouldn't harm fish since there is already so much lithium in the water. But as Texas would say, I'll wait for a 3rd party verified prototype to get excited.

The picture reminded me a little of that adorable lava lamp in my college dorm :)

Water power: A prototype battery made by PolyPlus uses lithium metal as the anode and salt water as the cathode to power an LED. As the battery discharges, lithium ions diffuse into the water, but the device doesn’t harm the surrounding clown fish.
Credit: PolyPlus

I guess this is a one use self destructing battery? It would have some uses I guess, but given the seemingly limited supply of lithium, it seems not so great.

I guess this is a one use self destructing battery? It would have some uses I guess, but given the seemingly limited supply of lithium, it seems not so great.

Lithium is abundant and not in limited supply. It's a myth that lithium can only be found in poor 3rd world countries using colonial methods.

Eveready sells one-time throwaway lithium batteries ($1 retail for 12 Ah AA format, about 15 Wh).

The whole ocean has, for all intents and purposes, unlimited lithium in it. Granted it's a little more expensive to extract than just getting it from the brine, but not prohibitively if that's what we needed to do. Plus I'd rather be making Bolivia and Chile rich than any Asian, or Middle Eastern country. Those landlocked and poor South American countries deserve a break.

Plus I'd rather be making Bolivia and Chile rich than any Asian, or Middle Eastern country. Those landlocked and poor South American countries deserve a break.

But this is racism!!! You mean you want to buy their government controlled monopoly Lithium at inflated prices and give them a lot of unearned money and make them wealthy just so you can drive your electric SUV? Excuse me but that is pure theft of raw natural resources and colonialism. Just ask any leftist - they will tell you paying $80 a barrel for oil that gushes out in Saudi Arabia for $3 a barrell is odious exploitation of Mus-lims and Arabs and is Islamophobia - and us bad westerners are stealing their oil by paying 27 times cost. Just ask any socialist or post-colonial bleeding heart lefty - you can find them at the Daily Kos and the Oil Drum. /sarcasm