Li-ion batteries were a massive technological step forward from NiMH cells but were not without faults of their own — like their tendency to explode. A new Lithium-Imide technology from Leyden Energy, however, send lithium-ion the way of NiMH. More »
Doubling the Li-ion battery life from five years, Hitachi reckons its new technology, which extends the life of batteries, will also cost less too – thanks to reducing the amount of cobalt used. Hitachi hopes to get them onto the production line in the next year. [Akihabara News]
Panasonic is going to be rolling out production of Li-ion batteries that use a silicon alloy anode soon, according to Nikkei. The result? A whopping 30 per cent increase in capacity. Panasonic’s not the only company working on the technology, but they’re the first to yield any kind of spec detail. More »
Great news: Panasonic not only started mass producing a laptop-type battery with a record setting rating of 3.1 amp hours this December, but in the next few years, will make these cells with up to 4.0 amps in 2013. Yowzer. More »
Yeah, it’s significantly (10kg) lighter than its lead acid counterpart, but the trustworthy car geeks at Jalopnik insist there’s no way this thing is worth the $US1700 upgrade price. The phrase “overpaid, insecure idiots” came into play. More »
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a recall of 70,000 lithium-ion batteries used in Hewlett-Packard and Compaq laptops. Apparently, there have been at two reported cases where the batteries caught on fire.
Apparently some lawyers heard that lithium-ion batteries explode, and are now making companies ship gear with these stickers. But what’s with the wine glass? Literally: Drinking with mismatched batteries may lead to consumption by fire.
Lithium-ion is, by far, the most common form of rechargeable battery found in today’s mobile devices. However, a shift towards silver zinc may be looming on the horizon thanks to a new product in development by ZPower, Inc. Ross E. Dueber, president and CEO of the company is scheduled to address attendees at the Batteries 2008 conference in Nice, France starting tomorrow, where he will tout the advantages of his silver-zinc technology scheduled to launch in “a major notebook computer in 2009.” Whether we will find out the identity of this “major notebook” in the coming days remains to be seen, but the impending release does offer some hope for consumers frustrated by the battery life of their precious portable gadgets.
Sheathing something as slick and pocketable as the iPhone in a holster feels wrong to me for many reasons, but this particular holster adds the handy ability to charge your drained batteries with its own rechargeable Li-ion battery back. It’s good for one full charge before it needs to be recharged itself. Handy, and at US$25 the price is right, but this thing is huge. Product page says this only works with first-gen iPhones and iPod touch–but I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t squeeze a 3G in. [Product Page via BBG]
