Why lithium-ion batteries die so young
The death of a battery: We’ve all seen it happen. In phones, laptops, cameras and now electric cars, the process is painful and — if you’re lucky — slow. But why does this happen? Read more »
The alternative option for energy storage makers: off-grid
When electric vehicles merely trickle into the market and utilities move at a snail’s pace when it comes to buying grid-tied batteries, where can an energy storage developer turn? To the somewhat generic, but decidely non-power-grid-connected “off grid market,” according to a new report. Read more »
Next-gen battery startup Seeo raises $15M
A next-gen, lithium-ion battery startup — backed by Vinod Khosla’s Khosla Ventures — called Seeo has raised another $15 million from investors, according to a filing. Khosla Partner Pierre Lamond is listed on this latest filing, and Seeo previously raised at least $10.6 million. Read more »
Boston Power launches electric car battery tech
Boston Power took the wraps off some details about its electric vehicle battery tech, and it says it expects other partners (beyond Saab) to deploy the electric car battery tech later this year and in 2012. Read more »
Bill Gates Backs Liquid Metal Battery
A buzzy startup working on a battery that sandwiches molten salt between two layers of liquid metal, has gotten seed funding from Bill Gates. The company is called Liquid Metal Battery, and it’s the brainchild of MIT Professor Donald Sadoway. Read more »
10 Questions for Former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham
Here’s 10 questions with former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham — who led the DOE 2001 to 2005 and was nominated by George W Bush — on his thoughts on the future of energy innovation, nuclear power in the U.S., the energy moves of the current administration: Read more »
5 Things You Need to Know About Energy Storage
The Electric Power Research Institute has released a report that lays out energy storage technology options, benefits, performance and costs and how the different technologies play a role in everything from managing the electric grid to managing home energy use. Read more »
A Battery That Breathes Air! Too Good To Be True?
A lot of companies and researchers are working away on the promises of the lithium air battery. Is it too good to be true? Read more »
VIDEO: Energy Storage for the Off-Grid World
Listen to Fenix International founder and CEO Mike Lin talk about Fenix International’s ReadySet energy storage device that is delivering power to the off-grid world. Read more »
In Energy Storage, Value Trumps Cost
Battery-powered energy storage provides an on-demand, predictable source of energy to power systems to keep them running optimally, and even to enable new projects, but the cost seems to be scaring some people away despite the high value the technology brings beyond mere stored energy. Read more »
Why Lithium Has Become Our Preferred Battery of Choice
Over the last decade, most of us have slowly found ourselves increasingly dependent on a single type of battery: a lithium battery. This has led to some interesting questions on why lithium has become the preferred choice, and what comes after lithium? Read more »
Lithium Ion Batteries Faulted for Jet Crash
A new report on the crash of a UPS jet carrying rechargeable lithium batteries outlines the hazards of transporting these devices. It’s the latest fuel for concern about the safety of lithium ion batteries, which store energy not only for gadgets but also plug-in vehicles. Read more »
How a Fraction of a Battery Can Cripple iPod Production
There could be a delay in iPod production as a result of the closure of a polymer factory, owned by Kureha, near the Japanese earthquake’s epicenter. The polymer is a tiny but important part of lithium ion batteries and Kureha dominates that market. Here’s why: Read more »
How Plug-In Hybrid Cars Could Be Game Changers
With my daily commute, Nissan’s all-electric LEAF car isn’t a good fit for me, but GM’s extended range electric car the Volt isn’t exactly an inexpensive car. Here’s how the economics work out and why a plug-in hybrid car could be a real game changer. Read more »
Flash: Sucking the Life Out of Your MacBook Air Battery
Steve Jobs has repeatedly insisted that Flash is a resource-hog. A review of the 11-inch MacBook Air conducted by Ars Technica shows he’s quite right. The new Air shows a drop in battery life with Flash installed, at a cost of around two hours of use. Read more »
Apple Crams a Powerhouse Into the New iPhone 4
Inside the new iPhone 4 revealed today at WWDC is the same superfast chip architecture that powers the iPad, the A4. Alongside the A4 is a bigger battery, giving the iPhone better battery life and improved performance. Read more »
iPad Battery Replacement Program
Though some critics like to vilify Apple for its practice of building devices with inaccessible batteries, the benefits definitely outweigh the consequences for such a tradeoff. The MacBook Pros are rated for up to eight hours of battery life, the iPod nanos get up to 24 […] Read more »
Nexus One Double Capacity Battery from Seidio
The smartphone of today hits the battery pretty hard, and some phone owners get second batteries to make sure they can get through a full day of use. Seidio has a double capacity battery for the Nexus One coming soon to help with the problem. Read more »
Did Apple’s Latest Keyboard Update Make Things Worse?
Barely a week into the New Year I wrote an article entitled Magic Mouse Drains Keyboard Batteries. The clue is in the title. According to reports on the Apple Support forum, people were discovering that their diminutive Apple wireless keyboards were suddenly chewing through battery life […] Read more »
A $15 Must-Have iPhone Accessory
Apparently, you can buy a decent external iPhone battery solution for $15 — or less. Fellow geek, Josh Bancroft, was leery of the MonoPrice offer, but decided to take the low-cost risk. And after reading his thoughts as well as some other reviews, I’m ready to […] Read more »
