I can't read the article, as it's paywalled, but they're all LiPo/Li-Ion batteries, what's the difference? Hell, most cars just use the same 18650 cells we use, just a lot more of them.

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defrost an hour ago | parent [-]

> but they're all LiPo/Li-Ion batteries, what's the difference?

As I mentioned, the article specifically mentions that the battery chemistry has been changed and improved.

It neglects to dive into the chemical engineering specifics of such changes, as would be expected for press such as the WSJ.

I dare say there is as much variation in the attributes of the LiPo/Li-Ion battery family as there is within the borosilicate glass or soda–lime glass families (ie heaps).

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stavros 43 minutes ago | parent [-]

Sure, but why are you assuming RC planes don't use the chemistry improvements as they come out?

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JumpCrisscross 15 minutes ago | parent [-]

It’s a niche, small-volume market. I would be shocked if novel industrial battery chemistries are reaching it within even years of the frontier. (Less surprising would be small-batch novel chemistries. But these aren’t really comparable to the industrially-produced thing.)

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stavros 14 minutes ago | parent [-]

We mostly use the same 18650 cells everyone else uses for everything, it's not like we're waiting for custom batteries.

	▲	defrost 9 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Again, the article specifically talks about improvements in car battery life since changes were made to tweak the chemistry (very likely in small dope ways). The fact that the article states that this appears to result in longer life and the fact that you talk about your RC plane batteries not having a longer life would suggest that the fine specifics of the two batteries may well differ.