Electric vehicles usually have one major problem: The battery. But now Toshiba might have a new battery in development that could pave the way for better electric/hybrid cars in the very near future. Dubbed, SCiB (Super Charge ion Battery) Toshiba already shipped prototypes to a handful of Japanese, European and American automakers.
The SCiB was already commercialized in 2008, but now Toshiba claims its has quadrupled the output density to 3,900 watts, which is the best performance in the industry. In addition, the battery can now be charged in 90 seconds, whereas the old model needed more than 10 minutes for a full charge. Toshiba claims this performance means the battery is ideal for use in plug-in hybrids. It also boasts a long life span, withstanding more than 10,000 recharges.
Toshiba currently produces 150,000 SCiBs monthly in a Japan-based plant. Mass production of the new model is scheduled to begin within this year, with Toshiba hoping to boost monthly production to 10 million units by 2015.
Via Nikkei [registration required, paid subscription]
Hell. Put that thing in a laptop. I would love it, especially when I’m traveling, if I could do a full recharge in 90 seconds. Think about it, no more elbowing people out of the way trying to get a seat at one of the power stations only to fail and have to sit on the floor outside of the popeye’s chicken in Atlanta to get to an outlet.
The problem is that this thing seems to be designed to deliver a lot of power, not small amounts of non-fluctuating power for long periods of time like a laptop battery does.
I WOULD however love to see better batteries in laptops FINALLY, the fact that 2 hours if an average charge time and 4-5 hours is considered amazing for modern standards is just pathetic, and this isn’t even talking about gaming class laptops.
….. I won’t lie though, one of my first thoughts when I saw “Toshiba unveils new battery” was “what about laptops?”.
Glad to see this “rapid charging” battery tech is staring to take off already, instead of being a prototype for another decade.
…. coincidentally, I am typing this on a Toshiba Laptop, battery is LUCKY to last 2 hours…
That lady is very brave. What if the battery were to explode and take off her hand?
The horror.
Well you can recharge it in 90 seconds providing your pumping into it enough electricity.
Not sure a household socket can provide all that..
This batteries are best suited for fast charge / discharge but I am sure it’s al doable. :D
GREAT… for the future cars but what is the size and the voltage of such battery? And.. for future usage, the capacity per size and weight? In laptop.. yes, GREAT, but could be reduced in size to fit and use the same technology? Hope all this Toshiba will think about for ALL other uses.
To charge a small 100Ah in 1 hour you need 100A continous charge current for 1hour. To charge the same in just 90sec, i.e 1/40 hour, you need 4000 Amperes. To conduct 4000A you need very very thick wires. And 100Ah is just the capacity of a standard start battery. You need much more capacity to drive a few kilometers with a car. This is not realistic.
yep, genious,really a great news. though it’s only for car, can’t imagine that one day maybe not to long when the tech used on laptops and how can these replacement laptop batteries survive?
Well– no question, it won’t be able to charge in 1 minute on any residential plug. Still, shifting the constraint from the battery to the plug seems like a step in the right direction, especially seeing as how, generally, the slower you charge a battery, the better it is for it. Heck, if it can fully charge in an hour, that’s still pretty good.
You can always install a new power outlet for a car at your house like the one you have for your dryer for the higher power. You still might not charge it in 1 minute but, anything within 30 minutes would be reasonable while doing nothing. Then places like gas station could have really high power outlets to charge your car in a matter of minutes.