Batteries that charge in mere seconds

[Warped]

Ioxus Inc. is an up and comer in the energy storage industry that has plans this Monday to announce a new hybrid storage device that it hopes will radically alter batteries used in the auto, medical, and consumer electronics industries.

The teased product is said to be roughly the size of a typical C-cell battery and combines the fast charge / discharge benefits of ultracapacitors with the impressive energy-to-weight ratio of a lithium-ion electrode. As a result, Ioxus says the hybrid devices can store more than double the energy of traditional ultracapacitors and charge in a matter of seconds. The catch is that the hybrids have shorter life spans of 20,000 cycles compared to millions of cycles for typical ultracapacitors. We're also taking this with a grain of skepticism until these claims are proven in the field. Some brief digging though did unearth an article written by MIT researchers and published in Scientific American last year that discusses the possible benefits of supercharging lithium-ion cells -- which is encouraging.

The first iteration could be used to power a host of devices like off-the-grid lighting or power tools. Use in larger systems like the regenerative breaks of electric cars however won't be possible until the second generation arrives -- which the CEO pegged as sometime in the first quarter of next year.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/14/hybrid-batteries-tease-big-energy-capacity-while-charging-in-sec/

its about damn time! I'd love to have batteries charge really quick. heres hoping all cell phones get these some day as well

 

[Remus]

Cell phones? What about electric cars. One of the bigest problems is how long it takes to recharge those large batteries. If it goes from hours rechage time, to mere minutes that would be great.

However I don't like the sound of the short lifespan, but I'm sure they'll eventually find a solution to that problem as well.

 

[Emporius]

Cell phones? What about electric cars. One of the bigest problems is how long it takes to recharge those large batteries. If it goes from hours rechage time, to mere minutes that would be great.

Use in larger systems like the regenerative breaks of electric cars however won't be possible until the second generation arrives -- which the CEO pegged as sometime in the first quarter of next year.

Just a matter of time.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

That sounds too soon.

 

[VirusType2]

While I have no problem taking the batteries out of my portable devices to charge them overnight, since they were inexpensive rechargables and I have plenty of extras, I think this is a game changer, provided there aren't any drawbacks they aren't telling us.

The more powerful processors they put into devices, with bigger, higher resolution screens and more power consuming features (cameras for instance), the more power they consume. Setting them on a charge all night after using them for just a few hours isn't any good. But if they can charge in seconds, then that allows nearly uninterrupted use, provided there is a charging station or power outlet nearby.

 

[Krynn72]

Considering my cell phone right now can only last like 5 hours with heavy usage, and then I have to charge it for like 3 or 4 hours to fully recharge it... this would be a godsend in my phone. Assuming a full charge lasts at least as long as my current one does, it would be a huge improvement.

And Lithium Ion batteries have what? ~500 charge cycles before they die? Shit, I'd take 20,000 any day!

 

[Remus]

I wonder what happened to that prototype miniature nuclear battery I heard about a few years ago. It was supposed to be completely safe and offer decades of electric power to mobile devices.

And even more radical than that, I've heard of a nanobattery idea, that in theory could offer the energy output of a full size nuclear power plant in a device as small as a double "a" battery.

 

[VirusType2]

I wonder what happened to that prototype miniature nuclear battery I heard about a few years ago. It was supposed to be completely safe and offer decades of electric power to mobile devices.

And even more radical than that, I've heard of a nanobattery idea, that in theory could offer the energy output of a full size nuclear power plant in a device as small as a double "a" battery.

The future sounds awesome.

 

[Acepilotf14]

That sounds too soon.

Technology is increasing exponentially. Just think of how your PC was ten years ago!

I didn't even have one!

 

[Warped]

Technology is increasing exponentially. Just think of how your PC was ten years ago!

I didn't even have one!

I know its cool the way we're heading now. it seems like it won't let up even during this weird economy and all the chaos in the world

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Not fast enough, I want my FTL spaceship. Running on rechargeable batteries.

 

[Remus]

Not fast enough, I want my FTL spaceship. Running on rechargeable batteries.

*Imagines intergalactic battleship, with the duracell logo on it*

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Ah yes, third party sponsorship.

 

[Maestro]

The future sounds awesome.

You know I always thought to myself, "it would be awesome to retire on a sailboat, but totally infeasible to do so." Looking at the tech we've got now, and then extrapolating to 50 years from now, I am totally going to retire to live on a sailboat.

 

[StarBob]

I didn't read anything at all here, but those look like capacitors. Capacitors are basically batteries except they hold high voltages and can release it all at high amps. So what did they do, just make a capacitor that has a slow release? I guess I don't even really know how a capacitor works, but I mean they're all over the place and they charge in seconds (like your camera flash or all up in ya computer). Well whatever. Prolly something that'd be ultra expensive for 10 years after it comes out.

 

[Insano]

From the article: " The teased product is said to be roughly the size of a typical C-cell battery and combines the fast charge / discharge benefits of ultracapacitors with the impressive energy-to-weight ratio of a lithium-ion electrode."

So it's a combination of the traditional batteries with a capacitor. This makes sense, it's long known that capacitors will one day replace our current generation of batteries.

 

[No Limit]

This is the original article from Scientific American:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=better-battery-lithium-ion-cell-gets-supercharged

Looks promising. I'm not finding very many down sides although I'm sure some have to exist. Can't wait to see how they perform under actual testing.