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Better Lithium Batteries to Get a Test Flight
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602197/better-lithium-batteries-to-get-a-test-flight/[font face=Serif][font size=5]Better Lithium Batteries to Get a Test Flight[/font]
[font size=4]The batteries should last twice as long as comparably sized rivals.[/font]
by Richard Martin | August 23, 2016
[font size=3]Scientists have known for decades that lithium-metal batteries offer a powerful combination of energy density and compactness. Unfortunately these batteries also present challenges: they are difficult to recharge and they have an unfortunate tendency to burst into flame.
Boston-based startup SolidEnergy Systems, spun out of the MIT lab of Donald Sadoway in 2012, claims to have solved these problems with a novel anode structure and hybrid electrolyte. Qichao Hu, SolidEnergy’s founder, first showed a prototype last fall that is half the size of an iPhone 6 battery and offers more battery life per charge. The company says it will sell batteries for smartphones by early next year, and for electric vehicles in 2018. First, though, it’s going after a more specialized market: drones.
Specifically, Hu points to the high-altitude drones and balloons being developed to provide Wi-Fi in remote areas. “They need to be powered by batteries, but the current lithium-ion battery lifetime is very short and the batteries are heavy.” SolidEnergy’s new battery, he says, provides “the same capacity at half the volume and half the weight.”
[font size=1]Last fall SolidEnergy showed a prototype that's half the size of an iPhone 6 battery but offers more battery life per charge.[/font]
Selling batteries for drone makers could be a clever means of entry for a new battery company, many of which have had trouble competing with established battery providers like Panasonic, which has a multi-billion-dollar contract to supply electric-car maker Tesla with batteries. But while SolidEnergy’s technology is novel, it is still unproven at the scale necessary to grab a portion of the growing drone market, to say nothing of cell phones and electric vehicles.
…[/font][/font]
[font size=4]The batteries should last twice as long as comparably sized rivals.[/font]
by Richard Martin | August 23, 2016
[font size=3]Scientists have known for decades that lithium-metal batteries offer a powerful combination of energy density and compactness. Unfortunately these batteries also present challenges: they are difficult to recharge and they have an unfortunate tendency to burst into flame.
Boston-based startup SolidEnergy Systems, spun out of the MIT lab of Donald Sadoway in 2012, claims to have solved these problems with a novel anode structure and hybrid electrolyte. Qichao Hu, SolidEnergy’s founder, first showed a prototype last fall that is half the size of an iPhone 6 battery and offers more battery life per charge. The company says it will sell batteries for smartphones by early next year, and for electric vehicles in 2018. First, though, it’s going after a more specialized market: drones.
Specifically, Hu points to the high-altitude drones and balloons being developed to provide Wi-Fi in remote areas. “They need to be powered by batteries, but the current lithium-ion battery lifetime is very short and the batteries are heavy.” SolidEnergy’s new battery, he says, provides “the same capacity at half the volume and half the weight.”
[font size=1]Last fall SolidEnergy showed a prototype that's half the size of an iPhone 6 battery but offers more battery life per charge.[/font]
Selling batteries for drone makers could be a clever means of entry for a new battery company, many of which have had trouble competing with established battery providers like Panasonic, which has a multi-billion-dollar contract to supply electric-car maker Tesla with batteries. But while SolidEnergy’s technology is novel, it is still unproven at the scale necessary to grab a portion of the growing drone market, to say nothing of cell phones and electric vehicles.
…[/font][/font]
