Author Topic: Battery Tech Breakthrough?  (Read 650 times)

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Offline trapeze

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Battery Tech Breakthrough?
« on: April 07, 2014, 08:52:19 AM »
This story reminds me of past claims of breakthroughs in "cold fusion" which is to say that I am highly skeptical but, as usual, willing to take a "wait and see" attitude, too.

I have always said that we would know when battery tech has arrived when you can charge a phone in five minutes and and use it for a week. This company claims to have solved one half of that challenge by developing charging technology that can get it done in 30 seconds.

Quote
StoreDot Ltd., a Tel-Aviv based start-up, says it hopes to at least make the charging process faster–unveiling Monday a prototype charger that promises to take you battery from a tiny sliver of red to 100%, all in about 30 seconds.

In a doomsday scenario, hippies will be among the first casualties. So not everything about doomsday will be bad.

Offline Weisshaupt

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Re: Battery Tech Breakthrough?
« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2014, 09:21:31 AM »
I have always said that we would know when battery tech has arrived when you can charge a phone in five minutes and and use it for a week. This company claims to have solved one half of that challenge by developing charging technology that can get it done in 30 seconds.

It looks like its literally a new kind of battery which explains why in the video, it looks like there is a brick attached to the phone. I don't think its a  charger for standard batteries - I think its  a charger for their bio-battery,  which may very well be an advance ( using peptide Quantum dots)  - but its not obvious to me that there isn't a weight/form factor problem.

The original batteries Edison used were Nickel-Iron and are STILL operable, and in many ways are superior to the Lead-Acid variety (charge times can be faster etc) . .  But they are HUGE and very heavy.  They don't even make them in the US anymore, and at the time I was buying my Solar gear there were no suppliers. ( this prompted another check and there is one now.. but I will post that elsewhere)

Point is,  charge per size and weight  and efficiency of charging are actually the key factors   in battery tech.  If you can change a battery in 30 seconds, but it requires putting in  200X the energy it the battery actually stores, is that a good deal? If a Battery charges in 30 seconds, and is 100% efficient ( stores all of the energy you put in it)  but its the size of a modern McMansion,  its applications are limited to large industry ( where it would still be a huge boon that would actually make large scale wind and solar viable...)