ClaimsBill Gates

“What I found is that all the batteries we make now could store less than 10”

Bill Gates, TED speaker 2010 Innovating to Zero (TED 2010) transcript (Singju Post) archived copy

Factual Technology

All batteries made now could store less than 10 minutes of the world's electrical energy use.

Unresolvable The public record could not settle it.

Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?

What would count as true or false

Judged as of 2010. The test is whether the energy that the world's batteries could store was less than 10 minutes of world electricity use at that time. 'All the batteries we make now' most naturally means total global battery storage capacity, either annual production or the installed stock, compared with average global electricity consumption per minute. World use of about 20,000 TWh a year would make 10 minutes roughly 0.4 TWh. True: credible estimates from around 2010 put global battery storage capacity below 10 minutes of world electricity use, on a reasonable reading of 'batteries we make'. Mostly true: estimates fall below 10 minutes on the most natural reading, or sit right around the figure (about 10–11 minutes), so the claim's point holds with a minor numerical slip. Mixed: credible estimates differ, with some below 10 minutes and some clearly above, depending on reasonable assumptions. Mostly false: credible estimates are clearly above 10 minutes but of the same order (under about 20 minutes), so the claim overstates how scarce storage was. False: estimates show battery capacity well above 10 minutes (20 minutes or more) of world electricity use.

Set before the research began.

Evidence (6)

  1. E1 History of the lithium-ion battery - Wikipedia Wikipedia · 30 October 2021

    “In 2010, global lithium-ion battery production capacity was 20 gigawatt-hours.”

  2. E2 Lithium-ion batteries: a pillar for a fossil fuel-free economy? UN DESA (Frontier Technology Issues) · July 2021

    “Demand for Li-ion batteries has grown from mere 19 gigawatt hours (GWh) in 2010 to 285 GWh in 2019.”

  3. E3 Global Electricity Demand - database.earth database.earth (derived from Ember-Climate yearly electricity data) · 1 November 2026

    “| 2010 | 20,938.14 | 7.04% | 1376.78 |”

  4. E4 History of the lithium-ion battery - Wikipedia Wikipedia · 30 October 2021

    “In 2010, global lithium-ion battery production capacity was 20 gigawatt-hours.”

  5. E5 Lithium-ion batteries: a pillar for a fossil fuel-free economy? UN DESA (Department of Economic and Social Affairs), Frontier Technology Issues · July 2021

    “Demand for Li-ion batteries has grown from mere 19 gigawatt hours (GWh) in 2010 to 285 GWh in 2019.”

  6. E6 Global Electricity Demand database.earth

    “the global total electricity demand has grown from 14,971.75 TWh to 27,815.87 TWh”

Reasoning

World electricity demand in 2010 was about 20,938 TWh (E3), so 10 minutes of use is roughly 400 GWh. The evidence gives 2010 lithium-ion production capacity as 20 GWh (E1/E4) and lithium-ion demand as 19 GWh (E2), which is well under one minute. However, the claim covers all batteries, and none of the evidence gives figures for lead-acid or other battery chemistries. Without a figure for total battery production or installed stock, the evidence does not show whether the total was below 10 minutes.

Cite this claim

Bill Gates, “All batteries made now could store less than 10 minutes of the world's electrical energy use.” (said 2010). Verdict: unresolvable. Reliability API, claim c_7b979396350e, method 0.1.0+c876030c, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_7b979396350e

This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.

Reply to this claim

For Bill Gates, or someone speaking for them: a correction or counter-evidence. Replies are read before anything is shown; an approved reply shows your name, role, date, statement and link. Your email address is never shown and is deleted 30 days after the decision (privacy).

More factual claims by Bill Gates

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  2. Resolved true Factual 9 November 2023
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    Microsoft Word and Google Docs can be used to draft a business proposal.

  3. Mostly true Factual 20 May 2019
    “This is great news: wind and solar power generation is expanding at record rates, allowing more people to get their electricity from renewable sources than ever before.”

    Wind and solar power generation is expanding at record rates, so more people than ever get their electricity from renewable sources.

  4. Mostly false Factual 2015
    “It amounted to little more than pointing a camera at a university lecturer and hitting the “record” button.”

    About 15 years before 2015, online education amounted to little more than filming a university lecturer and recording.

  5. Resolved true Factual 2015
    “One interesting feature of digital financial innovation is that some of it is happening in poor countries first.”

    Some digital financial innovation is happening first in poor countries.

All of them

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