I wonder what the upper limit on battery density is, not from an electrochemical/physics perspective, but on a simple practical level based on collateral damage?
Like, we're already at the point where your cellphone battery isn't more than a few orders of magnitude away from the energy density of a hand grenade, making a tesla catching on fire a minor crisis for a fire department.
At what point do batteries stop getting more dense, to limit the damage when they fail?
Like, we're not going to get to the point where your phone can last a month on a single charge but if you accidentally smash it in a car door, the resulting explosion takes out the whole block.
I think about this when I see sci-fi/fantasy with ancient robots that are still functional.
How do you build a robot that has been running on battery power for a hundred years without that same battery having the destructive power of a tactical nuke?
Especially because so many of these ancient robots are there for the hero to blast with his laser gun.
Super efficient standby mode. Maybe some environmental energy harvesting. I mean - from a power standpoint, the handheld laser gun is more outlandish.
