Newer battery

[bystander]

I just saw this on newscientist, dated yesterday.

Link to Article:

Link to press release:

Quote from article:

"A rechargeable battery that can be fully charged in just 6 minutes, lasts 10 times as long as today's rechargeables and can provide bursts of electricity up to three times more powerful..."

Quote from press release:

"These new materials allow rechargeable batteries to be manufactured that have three times the power of existing Lithium Ion batteries at the same price and with recharge times measured in a few minutes rather than hours."

---end of quotes---


Sounds a bit too good to be true, but the implications of this newer (than lithium-ion phosphate) battery chemistry could make considerable impact on an electric vehicle such as the Segway.

As well as claiming that each charge would last longer, they also expect it to endure more charging cycles. 20,000 for the new type verses 400 for plain Lithium-ion.

The bad news is commercial development is not expected for two years. However, the press release indicates that the cost would be comparable to existing lithium-ion technologies.

This technology could turn out to be really enabling. One hopes it will not take too much patience to see it come to pass.