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One thing’s for sure, out of all the tech industry’s ravenous advancements, battery tech has been the slowest to evolve. We’re basically still using the same lithium-ion batteries we were 10 years ago, and we all know how battery life sucks. Now Toyota may have the answer, and it looks like it’s going to double battery capacity.
The answer lies in magnesium. The dull, flexible metal that burns with an incredibly bright white light. Unlike lithium, magnesium is abundant, and therefore relatively cheap. It’s also got a positive charge of two, compared to lithium’s one, which means twice as much charge for the same weight of battery. That either means double the battery life, which I don’t know about you but what I’d be after, or smaller batteries in your gadgets.
It also means we should get double the range out of electric cars, which is definitely good news considering all-electric cars normally top out in the under 200-mile range. There’s still a while to go yet, but Toyota thinks it’s finally solved some of the biggest hurdles to magnesium batteries. It’s good to see that there’s finally some progress in alternative cells that might just do us the business sooner rather than later. Just don’t expect your iPhone 6 or Galaxy S 4 to come packing a three-day battery life, yet. [Chemical Communications via Technology Review]
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Another bit of tech that’s permanently 10-15 year away. It is odd that tech is now space age but battery tech is still in the iron age.
It’s because until recently (last decade or so) mobile tech didn’t hold the same significance that it does now. Now we’re all pushing to go mobile, battery tech has to play catch up.
This is yet another reason why Tesla should have reigned supreme and Edison can suck a ball. If Tesla could’ve had it his way, he’d have been beaming free electricity across the globe for years.
It’s because Moore’s Law doesn’t apply to batteries. Only transistors and its various forms.
I wanted to make some joke about Moore’s Law being an actual law, but I feel too ill, so if you could just chuckle slightly that’d be great.
Nothing too hearty, it wouldn’t have been that funny, just the kind of chuckle you get when you watch a child trip over.
Also – loving your comment @Cloudfire, I did indeed chuckle
Heh.
mmmmmm cancery power
No, battery tech isn’t in the iron age. It’s incredibly sophisticated and significantly beyond your level of understanding of science. Don’t bitch at a lack of progress with no knowledge of the technical hurdles.
You’ve got to admit, that’s the public perception of it: we can land exploration vehicles on Mars but we can’t make an iPhone last longer than a day…
It’s not THAT advanced compared to the stuff phones can do. He has a point – big advances are definitely necessary – Li-ion and its derivatives are > 25 years old.
You could have a 3 day iphone/galaxy today, if you didn’t mind it being a bit pudgier. Damn things will blow away with the slightest breeze soon.