RSSToshiba Battery Charges in One Minute
By Ed Oswald | Published March 30, 2005, 2:12 PM
Impatient people may find Toshiba's latest invention something that would fit their lifestyle. The company announced Tuesday that it had discovered a way to recharge a Lithium-Ion battery to 80 percent in only one minute. Currently, the fastest batteries take approximately an hour to recharge to the same capacity.
In addition, Toshiba scientists have found a way to extend the usable life of the battery, claiming it will only lose 1 percent of its capacity after 1,000 recharging cycles. The new Li-Ion battery could also operate more reliably at lower temperatures than previous batteries could.
Toshiba plans to bring the new batteries to the market in 2006. According to the company, the technology will initially only be used for automotive and industrial purposes.
The company said it could likely be used in hybrid electric vehicles as an alternative power source.
"Toshiba expects that the high energy density and excellent recharge performance of the new battery will assure its successful application as a new energy solution in many areas of society," the company said in a statement.
According to Toshiba representatives, while they do see such battery technology eventually being used in devices like mobile phones, the priority is on larger machines that require quick recharging and long life, such as automobiles.
That sounds great and all but in 2003 it sounded liked Toshiba was the fuel cell pioneer, claiming they would have fuel cell laptops in 2004. Now they're refocusing on LiIon? Guess that idea kinda fizzled away...
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|Electric batteries are alway better than fuel cells if one is able to recharge it within a small period of time. Something like 1-2 minutes..It is a great acheivement which can make far reaching changes in the automobile industry...
Santhosh Thomas K
http://geocities.com/santoms_k
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|Being able to charge a battery in a few seconds?? This is just great....
It was about time something like this came up!!!.
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|Totally agree, maybe it won't be necessary to buy a new battery to your mobilephone every 6 months, if that capacity loss really is only 1% after 1,000 recharging cycles.
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|Problem is that they don't see it as being a priority for cel phones, laptops, etc right now. Maybe that will change. Can you imagine? I would never have a keep my laptop plugged up while at home again!
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|I agree, although even in a car alone would be amazing. never loosing setting in the car (radio, clock, seat setting etc . . .just cause the battery died because it become to cold at night. Second i would have to quit buying a new car battery every 2-3 years at 100 bucks a 100 bucks apiece.
I think the technology will come faster than its stating. Other companies now will scramble to accomplish what toshiba has done to get apiece of the market.
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|The fact that this could be used in hybrids could help elliminate need for petroleum based fuels thus aiding the environment and saving everyone money on gas.
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|Holy crap yeah that's right!
The biggest downfall of electrical energy cars is that you can't recharge it in less than like 8hrs of charging time. Think if they could charge a battery in a minute! Or make more of an emphasis on the battery aspect instead of gasoline.
This could not come at a better time considering gas prices again have been raised. I'm definately getting a hybrid as my next car. My pickup truck, while I love it, is killing me with gas. $35 (without the latest increase) is horrid. ... and that's per week OR MORE
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|Re: Gas prices or as we call it in the U.K., petrol prices. I visited the U.S. last year and they were complaining about "gas prices". When I told my friends how much we pay in the U.K. they soon complained far less!
For U.S. consumers information, a gallon of gas (petrol) in the U.K. is equivalent to roughly $7.
Is anywhere else being screwed more than us?
Back on subject, well done Toshiba and anyone else who can save us money!
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|Yes, but it took me less time to drive across 2 countries in Europe, then it did to drive across Ohio... of course some countries in Europe are larger than others, but it's a different environment.
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|But unless I am mistaken, a mile here is the same as a mile there. If anything, the roads in the U.S. will be far less congested especially out in the countryside - so more mpg. I didn't realise that many people drove across and back over Ohio to get to work! My daily work journey is 126 miles round trip.
Beam me up Scotty - the yanks are hard done by! They create the pollution and boost Global Warming and we pay the levy!
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|what most people seem to miss when arguing "U.S. Vs. Europe" fuel prices, is that our respective economies are structured around what our energy costs are. Sure the US pays much less for gasoline/Petrol than the UK. But that is what we are used to paying, and that cost structure is built into our overall cost of living, budgets, pay scales, etc both in individual households, and commercial business. So when we see an over 50% rise in prices in a relatively short span of time, it hurts just as much as when those in the UK go from paying $7 per gallon to say, $9 per gallon. Gradual increases in energy prices are tolerable. Large spikes in energy costs are harmful to all industrial economies. As for the new battery, yes it will be a boon to the hybrid car industry. But pure electric vehicles suffer from a big problem aside from long charging times. That is the fact that the energy to charge the vehicles comes from a power plant burning fossil fuels for the most part. If we were to switch our reliance from oil refineries to electrical generation plants for powering the hundreds of millions of cars in the US, think of the massive increase in the number of fuel-burning power plants it would require. We already have little reserve capacity in our power generation grid as evidenced by the rolling blackout problems in various states over the last few years. Whatever we do in the area of powering vehicles, it must not merely exchange one inefficient, polluting and fossil fuel consuming power source for another.
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