Why Lithium Batteries SUCK

2. august 2026 · 54m

Can Hannah convince Michael that the lithium-ion battery is one of our most overrated inventions to ever happen?


Hannah makes her case using a surprising energy source hidden in your fridge, a bell in Oxford that's been ringing since 1840, and a metal that is useful… but prone to bursting into flame from the inside out.


Tracing the battery's strange history, from a twitching dead frog to the executed man who helped inspire Frankenstein.


But the real point runs deeper: we don't have an energy problem, we have a storage issue, and until we crack it, the clean energy future stays just out of reach.


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Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek
Animator: Sam Benson
Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell
Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe
Producer: Simona Rata
Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter
Chief Digital Officer: Samuel Oakley
Exec Producer: Neil Fearn

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