Federal authorities are investigating the safety and proper handling of lithium-ion automotive batteries after a Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid caught fire three weeks after a routine crash test.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has asked General Motors, Nissan, Ford and others about the fire risk posed by li-ion batteries used in EVs and plug-in hybrids, …
Nissan’s new charging technology will juice your EV in ten minutes, ten years from now originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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If Apple launched one of its gadgets with embedded solar cells, it could revolutionize the market for solar. Apple has been exploring how to use solar power to charge gadgets for some time, including looking into ways to embed solar cells in devices. But if Apple made the leap to an actual commercial launch, it could be a solar game changer.
Apple’s solar patents
First let’s look at Apple’s solar patent applications. The latest was granted last month (via Patently Apple), and is for a voltage converter and controller for charging a device with solar power. A good deal of this patent focuses on algorithms and devices that can monitor and control the way in which a portable device could most effectively be charged via solar, using both embedded solar cells and an attachable solar power source.
According to Patently Apple — which as the name connotes follows Apple’s patent applications like a hawk — Apple now has two solar-related patents granted, and five solar applications filed in total. The other solar patent granted was awarded in January 2011, and covers similar territory, including a way to monitor and control a charge from a solar source for a mobile device.
What Apple sees in solar
In all of these patents, Apple looks at solar as a way to enable its gadgets to be charged in locations when there is no grid available, and also as a way to generally extend the battery life of a device. Apple has long been willing to invest in ways to boost the battery life of its gadgets, including selling extra battery chargers that will still be able to hold 80 percent of its charge after a year.
Back in 2009, Apple launched a 17-inch MacBook Pro with a built-in battery. Lots of critics didn’t like the built-in aspect of the battery, but the lithium-polymer battery that Apple used could run for up to eight hours on a single charge and retain at least 80 percent of that capacity for up to 1,000 recharge cycles. Compare that with only about 300 recharges for Apple’s 13- and 15-inch models’ removable lithium-ion batteries. The longer life of the 17-inch model was also due to an adaptive charging mechanism — an embedded chip that monitors charge level, temperature, and helps manage the charging current.
But the reality is that batteries on an individual level aren’t making all that much progress in terms of capacity and cost. Boosting batteries in the short term will come from things like software for battery and energy management, and perhaps — if it proves to be economic — tapping micro sources of clean power like embedded solar cells. In an increasingly mobile life, the plug is one of the last true barriers to mobility.
Extending the time between plugging in is also another way to target new markets in areas where there’s less reliable grid power. Yes, Apple generally focuses on developed markets and high-end goods, but Apple is no stranger to the need for finding new markets and developing new strategies, and I could envision one day looking to sell its devices into developing markets with less reliable grid power.
Solar gadgets
Adding solar cells to gadgets has been a sort of novelty and in a nascent stage for awhile. The big barriers have been the price of solar cells as well as the tiny amount of solar power these tiny cells can usually generate. If you look at the variety of solar chargers for iPhones out there, the bulk of these chargers are made up by an extra lithium ion battery that is supplemented with a small amount of solar power from the embedded mini solar panel. In some of these cases the solar cell is more novelty than practical charging tool.
A startup called Konarka has been developing a next-gen solar plastic that could be a good fit for solar gadgets, and is meant to be embedded in materials (umbrellas and bags), devices, and buildings. However, Konarka has long been in a sort of research and development phase and the solar plastic also has a very low efficiency.
But as more gadget makers target developing markets, and devices themselves become more energy efficient, these solar-powered products are getting better. Recently Samsung launched a solar-powered netbook that can run for 15 hours, almost double the 8-hour standard laptop, and is meant for the Kenyan market. The solar netbook is also supposed to go onsale in Russia, the U.S., South Korea and Europe.
And one of the barriers to solar gadgets has been slowly getting solved: the price of solar cells. As you can see if you’ve been following the recent spate of bankruptcies in the solar industry (Solyndra, SpectraWatt, Evergreen Solar) the price of solar panels and cells has dropped dramatically in recent months and years, which is bad for some of the solar tech companies, but good for the overall solar market and solar consumers. The price of solar is pretty much the lowest it’s been in history.
Apple’s effect on solar
If Apple decided to launch a gadget with embedded solar, it could help bring down the prices of solar for gadgets even more. As Nat Bullard, an analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance, told me recently, Apple is “a fierce negotiator for components” and if it’s interested in solar it could lock up low cost supply deals for solar parts as it has with iPod and iPad components such as glass and memory.
Foxconn, Apple’s key supplier, has been looking into solar production and has been rumored to be investing in solar manufacturing, in various ways. And why not — solar is finally becoming a commodity, with low enough prices to justify the entrance of this type of low cost supplier.
Apple has also been a leader in embracing new technology, when Steve Jobs had deemed that the time was right. Then when Apple launches new tech into its cutting edge simple designs, the rest of the industry tends to follow. As Bullard put it to me:
If any company could reliably integrate PV into consumer portable electronics, it is Apple. Given its other devices, it would likely make the simplest, most elegant integration. It may sacrifice some nominal performance (and greater freedom of choice) for the sake of simplicity and robustness – as it has done time and again in the past decade.
Apple could be on track to sell 30 million iPhones globally in the fourth quarter of this year. Those kind of volumes could have a major effect on the solar industry, not just in the form of contracts, but also as a way to educate consumers about the existence and usefulness of solar as a power source.
Images courtesy of Flickr user mikecogh, Samsung, and Patently Apple.
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The next-generation of lithium ion batteries aren’t just here to power the first wave of electric cars and remake the power grid, they’ll be providing better energy storage for our gadgets and computers, too. On Monday, venture capital-backed lithium ion battery player Leyden Energy (formerly called Mobius Power) is launching a replacement lithium ion battery for laptops that won’t degrade (start losing its full charge) for at least three years, and will come with a three-year warranty.
Most standard laptop batteries start losing their ability to fully charge (providing fewer and fewer hours of battery life) after about a year and a half. Anyone who’s a laptop user knows how annoying it is to have a battery that all of a sudden won’t hold a charge for very long, pretty early into the life of the laptop itself. Leyden Energy says its battery has one of the highest energy densities and run times for a lithium ion laptop battery on the market, with 440 watt hours per liter and over 1,000 cycles, and the battery can operate at higher temperatures than traditional batteries.
Leyden Energy’s 3-year warranty battery will cost a premium over a standard 1-year battery, and while Leyden Energy hasn’t yet determined the exact price it will sell the battery for, Leyden Energy CEO and President Aakar Patel told me in an interview that a 3-year battery will be less than double the cost of a 1-year battery. Leyden Energy on Monday will also announce a deal to sell its battery through the Canadian battery retailer Dr. Battery, and interested customers will be able to buy the battery online in a couple weeks through the retailer.
Leyden Energy was founded in 2007 with a patent acquired from chemical giant Dupont, and a .5 million investment from investors at Walden International, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sigma Partners. Leyden’s secret sauce is an innovation for the electrolyte part of the battery — a battery has a a positive and a negative plate and then an electrolyte in between, which is the substance through which electrons transfer back and forth while the battery charges and discharges.
While standard lithium ion batteries use a salt-based solvent within the electrolyte that starts degrading at a temperature of between 70 to 80 degrees Celsius, Leyden uses a salt-solvent in its electrolyte that doesn’t degrade up to temperatures of 300 degrees Celsius. Leyden Energy holds a patent for this innovation. As Patel explained it to me: when a battery charges and discharges, think of the electrons as rods that move across the electrolyte (between the anode and the cathode) and fill holes on the other side. After a certain point in time standard electrolytes, particularly at high temperatures, let the rods start to break down and the holes start to fill up, but Leyden’s battery can maintain the integrity of those rods and holes at higher temperatures for a longer period of time.
In the grand scheme of innovations, and with startups trying to change the game with designs for battery-powered cars with hundreds of miles of range, Leyden’s innovation is kind of baby steps. But if Leyden can manage to get an deal with a major laptop manufacturer to embed the battery directly in a laptop, or market the battery with a popular laptop, then the company could do well. In 2008, Boston Power launched its 3-year-lasting lithium ion battery with laptop maker HP, and is backed by Oak Investment Partners, Venrock, GGV Capital and Gabriel Venture Partners.
Like Boston Power, Leyden Energy has been eying the electric vehicle battery market, too, and is working with Brammo to supply the battery for its electric motorcycle the Empulse, a more powerful version of Brammo’s original e-scooter the Enertia (which I test drove here). Leyden and a vehicle maker partner were also awarded a .96 million grant from the California Energy Commission to produce ten electric vehicle batteries per month. Leyden seems like it’s focusing more on batteries for the laptop and consumer electronics markets, instead of electric vehicles, as it seems like the market for electric vehicles is moving slower than some have expected (see A123 Systems, and Ener1).
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Among the necessary information that people need to find out in digital camera photography is most likely the power system. Your digital camera, definitely, takes batteries. A number of digital cameras count on a standard set of AA batteries or perhaps their own rechargeable equivalents. Having said that, are you aware of anything at all regarding the power systems of digital camera? For that reason, we will discuss the power systems of digital camera in this post. You may interested to find out Digital Cameras Best Buy and Touch Screen Camera too.
An ever more usual practice is for manufacturers to make digital cameras by using exclusive lithium ion battery packs. The benefit is that all these batteries tend to be less space-consuming than a foursome of AAs, so the digital camera itself will be smaller. You will notice the size distinction between battery compartments of the Canon PowerShot A75, which usually utilizes AA batteries, and a Sony CyberShot L1, which contains a tiny lithium ion battery.
On the downside, with lithium ion batteries you may not just pop in ubiquitous AA batteries if your cells run dry, it means that you must remember to keep at least one extras on hand.
Listed here is a very little information to help you get the most mileage from the batteries:
Place batteries based on the guideline on the digital camera body and ensure you arrange the positive and negative sides of battery properly.
You should never leave batteries in your digital camera for an extended duration. Several types of batteries may perhaps leak whenever fully discharged, and if that happens, the digital camera can be spoiled.
Do not mix and match fresh new and used batteries, or batteries of different kinds (such as alkaline and rechargeables).
If the digital camera takes NiMH batteries, it is a great idea to run all the way down just before recharging them. If you have lithium ion batteries, however, do exactly the opposite: charge them with greater frequency, just before they have a opportunity to completely discharge.
Preferably, perform the digital camera using AC power (power via a wall outlet) to conserve your batteries when ever you actually need them.
A few digital camera models have their own AC adapters, while for others AC adapters are an optional equipment. Check the digital camera body for an AC adapter connector. If you can possibly connect your camera to a wall outlet, particularly in the course of photograph moves to the Personal computer, you could substantially lengthen the duration of the life of the battery.
In summary, we have to read more more knowledge about the power system of digital cameras to completely excel at the digital photography.
Manufacturers are constantly optimising the driving range for electric vehicles, and sure enough, a Japanese startup recently made a breakthrough with its first prototype. Dubbed the SIM-LEI, this cute four-wheeler from SIM-Drive sips juice off a Toshiba 24.9kWh lithium ion battery, and can go from zero to 100km/h (62mph) in just 4.8 seconds, with maximum speed topping at 150km/h (93mph). What’s more impressive, though, is that SIM-Drive managed to squeeze out a driving range of 333km (207 miles) on a JC-08 cycle (a standardised test that simulates driving in congested Japanese city traffic), putting the LEI well ahead of its competitors on the chart — Nissan’s Leaf does about 100 miles, for instance. Sadly, mass-production won’t kick off until 2013, which should hopefully let the others do a bit of catching up with this remarkable newcomer.
SIM-Drive’s SIM-LEI electric car achieves 207-mile driving range in Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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