Yesterday Panasonic unveiled new rechargeable batteries in their Evolta series [JP], which clearly top existing products in terms of lifetime. In Japan, they will go on sale on October 1 (no word on availability outside this country yet).
Users can supposedly recharge the nickel-metal hydride batteries up to 1,200 times, around 20% more than existing Evolta products and Sanyo’s Eneloop batteries. Panasonic improved the performance by evenly distributing an alloy in negative electrodes, which can absorb hydrogen. Now, the batteries last 10% longer (compared to previous Evolta products).
In Japan, four of the new batteries (AA version) will retail for $15. Panasonic wants to produce 1.1 million batteries per month.
I don’t know what’s cooler, that I could coat everything I have in micron-thin battery film, or the fact that these guys are using viruses to do the dirty work. Get ready for some gray goo.
The technique is cool but nothing new, and there’s nothing crazy about the batteries themselves (other than the fact that they’re only a couple micrometers wide), but the process MIT is working on is reportedly inexpensive and does not involve insane amounts of caustic materials or extremely high temperatures. Let’s hope they’re rechargeable, though.
Notebook computers are starting to outnumber desktops in many schools and work settings. Keeping these laptops charged and ready to go can be a real challenge for a lot of IT people. The problem is more common in the schools, since students could lose or forget their power cords.
To solve this problem some teachers or IT peeps may consider Oncore’s 6-Bay Battery Charger for Apple notebooks the solution.It’ll charge 3 batteries simultaneously and keep up to six charged and ready for action. Not only will it work with the new Macbooks, it will also work for older iBooks.
Guess that “dog ate my battery” excuse won’t work any more. Curses!
Today Sanyo announced that from September 12, they will be offering C and D-sized rechargeable eneloop batteries.
However, the lineup of AA and AAA-sized batteries will be expanded in Japan first. Sanyo hasn’t talked about release dates or prices for other markets yet. In Japan, one C-sized battery will cost $13 (D-size version: $15).
The batteries are rechargeable up to 1,000 times. Sanyo will roll out a universal charger, also on September 12, which is suitable for eneloop batteries of all sizes. It will be sold in Japan for $48.
Nissan is throwing its hat into the electric vehicle ring in a big way. The Japanese auto maker just announced the development of a vehicle that has a new type of battery. Compared to the batteries found in other electric (and hybrid) vehicles, the one found in Nissan’s can store twice as much electricity.
Batteries are seen as one of the choke points in electric and hybrid vehicle development. You can go through hell developing a fantastic new engine, but if you’re still storing everything in conventional batteries it’s hardly worth the effort.
The company also plans to launch a hybrid vehicle of its own in the U.S. and Japan in 2010.
If you’re not yet turned off by MSI’s recent price hikes or you have a three-cell version of the Wind already, a post over in the MSI Wind Forums details how to turn the small-ish three-cell battery into a whopping nine-cell battery.
It looks relatively easy if you’re really determined, although I’d likely not attempt anything that involved slicing the battery open with a box cutter. Finding the extra six cells to add to the standard three cells might be a bit difficult, too, as the forum poster simply says that he was able to “get a source of the same batteries that are in the Wind” but doesn’t detail how the rest of us could get our hands on those batteries.
If you’re the daring type, though, here’s a brief overview of the process.
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Battery technology is a complicated and frustrating field, I’m sure. There are only a few sectors of technology where you’re limited by the actual physical characteristics of the elements you work with. But NiMH and Lithium Cobalt are not meeting power demands, to say nothing of the toxic and environmental effects of something like Cobalt being in all our electronics. An alternative is Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4, but LiFe is catchier), but as usual there’s something fundamental limiting its applications. In this case, the process to create LiFe batteries is complex and expensive.
Fortunately, the compound is promising enough as a battery that research is going into it, and a materials engineer by the name of Manthiram says that a new process may reduce the cost and duration of the battery-making process. It’s not a major breakthrough but it’s a big step towards making these safer and better batteries more easily adoptable by tech and car companies.
Awful iPhone 3G (or 2G for that matter) got you down? Brando has just released the iPhone Power Station that lets you charge your iPhone when you’re away from a proper outlet.
The power station has a capacity of 1000mAh, so definitely enough to save you from the awful reality of being without your iPhone for more than two minutes at a time.
$25, so nearly free for you Europeans.
Already available for the iPhone, the Mophie Juice Pack will be available in an iPod Touch-friendly version next month. The $99 apparatus contains a lithium polymer battery and doubles as a soft-grip case that holds the Touch, giving it an extra seven hours of video playback or 24 hours of audio playback. That’s an entire day!
You may recall that I took a look at the Richard Solo battery backup doodad that works on almost any iPod/iPhone device and only costs $50, but this Juice Pack looks pretty good too. I’ll be getting a review unit in a few weeks, so I’ll put it to the test.
This interesting accessory appears to be a case with a built-in secondary battery/dock combo that recharges your iPhone. The product’s web site is scant on details and the contact page says “We are looking for distributors for the United States and Europe,” so it’s tough to tell if and when you’d be able to buy one of these iPowerJackets.
UPDATE: Apparently you can buy one now on Amazon for $80. Thanks Joanna!
Power
Built-in powerful and safe Li-Polymer rechargeable battery
Doubles the time to rock, talk, surf and send
Protection
Slim design provides maximum protection to your iPhone
Openings for earphone, microphone, speaker and camera
Expression
Hand-crafted from premium genuine leather
Stylish designs in different attractive colors to express your personality
Hand-crafted from premium genuine leather
Thanks to Jon for sending this in.
Following the lead of Nissan and NEC, which both recently have started down this track, the German carmaker is looking into lithium-ion batteries to improve its hybrids and electrics. It sounds like the Nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries in their cars are both heavier and more toxic than the alternative.
The Li-ion batteries would lower the weight of the car by hundreds of pounds, improving handling and mileage. You’ve already got them in your phones, media players, and so on, but adapting them for the high-capacity, high-throughput application of powering a car is a serious endeavor — which must be why Sanyo is pledging nearly a billion dollars over the next couple years to developing the technology.
If you’re using your Wii Fit enough to warrant a rechargeable batter pack, God bless you. Nyko’s Energy Pak is a rechargeable battery with LED charge indicator that fits right into the Wii Fit and offers 20 hours of life. It comes with an AC adapter.
Available on May 19, the pack will cost $19.99 and should be on Nyko.com shortly. We gave out about five billion Nyko products at the meet-up and just reviewed the wireless nunchuck so rest-assured these guys make good product.
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I hate batteries, but I love fuel cells. At some point in the near future the technology will do as promised, giving us hours of clean energy for our portable gear. Sadly, they’re still too big to be practical, but Sony’s working on the problem, and has this nifty palm-sized fuel cell to show for it.
It’s a methanol-based unit, and can provide up to 14 hours of charge for a portable device. Now, it’s unclear if that’s “standby” or “active” use, but it’s still pretty impressive.
Fuel cells should start hitting gear around 2010 if the technology keeps progressing at this rate, with affordable and practical uses about a year later.
Samsung’s developed a new battery for small form factor laptops that it’s going to be selling to American PC manufacturers, likely to HP and Dell, according to rumor.
They’re using a new technology that gives the battery a 10% longer charge than previous generation batteries as well as a faster charging time.
No word yet on if, like Sony’s, the batteries will explode and cause a fire, burning you and your family alive.
With so many portable devices in our homes, we use a lot more batteries than people think about. After many uses, though, many rechargeable batteries can suddenly fail, rendering the device useless if they’re non-swappable. If the device has a removable battery, you can of course buy a new one, but that means throwing the toxic and useless old one out. Why not trade it in to a refurb station to save money and save the precious, fragile environment?
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People in Hong Kong are upset — maybe outraged! — at Asus for sending out review units of the new Eee PC 900 with 4-cell 5800mAh batteries and then selling the public machines with 4-cell 4400mAh batteries. I’d be a little upset too.
According to DigiTimes,
“Several consumers in Hong Kong who purchased Eee PC 900s on the first day have complained that the battery that came with their system (4-cell, 4400mAh) does not have the same capacity as that of review samples supplied to the Hong Kong media (4-cell, 5800mAh) before the launch.
Asustek explained that the 4400mAh battery is currently the standard for the Eee PC 900, while it plans to introduce the 5800mAh battery in later products. It said 5800mAh batteries were provided to the media for testing by mistake.
The company said it is currently evaluating procedures to instigate a replacement program, details of which it will announce at a later time.”
Sounds a little bit fishy to me, but at least Asus seems to be prepared to offer the higher capacity batteries to those jilted consumers.
Remember when Sony’s batteries were catching on fire and there were many recalls? Well some of those poor souls who got burned by Sony’s flaming batteries (in Apple’s laptops) sued for damages and are actually squeezing a little money out of the two companies.
A Japanese couple is being awarded ¥1.3 million for their troubles (and burns). It sounds like a lot, but yens are cheap these days and it ends up being about $13,000 — far less than they would have paid in America, where some LA douchebag would have gotten his crotch warmed by one of these and taken it all the way to the Supreme Court.
People who wear lab coats somewhere in Illinois (Argonne, to be exact) have reportedly developed a lithium-ion battery that’s capable of storing 30 percent more energy while at the same time being safer than current lithium-ion batteries.
What’s more, the technology has been licensed to Japanese laptop battery manufacturer Toda Kogyo, so we might actually see these batteries in notebook iterations relatively soon.
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A fire at LG Chem in South Korea on March 3rd has contributed to a worldwide notebook battery shortage, according to Reuters. Asustek is expected to be hardest hit, as the shortage “could affect up to 40 percent of second-quarter shipments” from Taiwan’s second-largest PC maker.
A Dell spokesperson acknowledged the shortage today and has blamed it for recent replacement battery price increases, but said little more than “We sell battery packs. The prices of those battery packs for people ordering extra batteries have gone up.” In the short term, PC manufacturers may be able to stabilize high battery prices against plummeting flash memory prices.
The plant isn’t scheduled to resume battery production for another 2-3 months. In the meantime, manufacturers have been able to purchase some batteries from plants owned by Sony and Panasonic while waiting for LG Chem to resume production.
Just caught news on the Today Show (in between some Eliot Spitzer segment and another, less interesting but more sensational Eliot Spitzer segment) of the iPod Nano batteries causing sparks to shoot out of units marked with model number MA099J/A (pictured right).
Apparently the problem was found back in January but wasn’t reported by Apple to the Japanese trade and economy ministry until recently.
According to the Associated Press,
Japan is investigating a possible defect in Apple Inc.’s iPod after one of the popular digital music players reportedly shot out sparks while recharging, a government official said Wednesday…
The problem surfaced in January in Kanagawa Prefecture southwest of Tokyo, and Apple reported the problem to the ministry in March. No one was injured, the official said. Other details weren’t available.
The model of Nano in question shipped starting in September of 2005 and was discontinued in September of 2006.
Japan investigates possible iPod defect [AP/Yahoo! News]
