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Batteries

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ELECTRONICS

Energi To Go range promises portable power for almost any gadget

By Mick Webb

17:45 July 5, 2009 PDT

The USB powered DSLR battery charger

Energizer has teamed with XPAL Power for its new “Energi To Go” range and hardly a niche has been left uncatered for, with a portable iPhone shaped charger, solar powered units and even a USB powered charger that connects directly to DSLR batteries. Read More

MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

THINERGY battery packs a little power in a littler package

By Alan Brandon

01:27 July 1, 2009 PDT

The THINERGY Micro-Energy Cell is available in sizes as small as 0.5in (12.7mm) square

The new line of THINERGY Micro-Energy Cells from Infinite Power Solutions Inc (IPS) could soon be powering small devices such as autonomous wireless sensors, powered smart cards, active RFID applications, and implantable medical devices. The manufacturer says these tiny, rechargeable, thin-film batteries combine the energy density of traditional batteries with the high discharge current of supercapacitors. With some models measuring just 0.5 inches square (12.7mm) and less than 0.01 inches thick (0.17mm), IPS claims these are the most powerful batteries for their size. Read More

AUTOMOTIVE

Mazda3 iStop puts engine in pause mode

By Jeff Salton

23:24 June 30, 2009 PDT

The new Mazda3 incorporates fuel-saving technology for drivers who face the daily grind of...

One of the bug bears of driving in city traffic – apart from the time delays – is the often deplorable fuel consumption of stop-start driving. To help overcome this, the new Mazda3 2.0 Sport comes with iStop technology which pauses the engine (rather than stopping it), which the company says delivers increased fuel economy while reducing CO2 emissions. Read More

ECOGIZMO

Sony announces eco-friendly mercury-free batteries

By Mick Webb

05:49 June 16, 2009 PDT

An environmentally friendly step in the right direction - Sony's mercury-free batteries.

It’s no secret that mercury is a dirty word in environmental circles, and more of the big guns of electronics are starting to take note. Apple's MacBook Pro now features a mercury-free backlight display, and Fuji has released its eco-friendly EnviroMax batteries. This week Sony has strengthened its enviro-credibility by announcing a line of mercury-free alkaline button batteries. Read More

ELECTRONICS

Lithium-sulfur batteries could store triple the power of lithium-ion

By Dario Borghino

06:11 June 10, 2009 PDT

Structure of the lithium-sulfur batteries at the nanoscale level (Credit: Dr. Linda Nazar,...

A Canadian research team led by Dr. Linda Nazar has synthesized a prototype of a lithium-sulphur rechargeable battery that, thanks to its peculiar nanoscale structure, can store three times the power of a conventional lithium-ion battery in the same volume while being significantly lighter and potentially cheaper to manufacture. Read More

ELECTRONICS

Air-fueled battery boosts capacity tenfold

By Darren Quick

22:52 May 20, 2009 PDT

Oxygen drawn from the air reacts within the porous carbon to release the electrical charge...

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are the preferred power storage technology for the vast majority of portable devices, such as cell phones, laptop computers and MP3 players. They have also made their way into electric cars, but even with recent developments making them more effective, storage capacity continues to remain a problem. Now researchers at the University of St Andrews, with associates at Strathclyde and Newcastle, have developed a new type of air-fueled battery that could provide up to 10 times the energy storage of existing designs, paving the way for a new generation of electric cars and portable devices. Read More

ELECTRONICS

New virus-built battery could power cars, electronic devices

By Darren Quick

22:22 April 22, 2009 PDT

The prototype 3-volt battery built by a virus (Photo: MIT/Donna Coveney)

Be they biological or computer, viruses generally get a pretty bad rap - what with their reputation for infection, reproduction and disease it’s not surprising that their name is actually Latin for toxin or poison. But it's not all bad press - for example geneticists harness viruses to further the study of cell biology and they also hold much potential in the emerging field of nanotechnology where their size, shape and well-defined chemical structure has led to them being used as templates for organizing materials on the nanoscale. Now MIT researchers have turned viruses to the task of building a battery – and they’ve succeeded. Read More

ELECTRONICS

New nanogenerator could charge iPods and cell phones with a wave of the hand

By Darren Quick

21:21 March 30, 2009 PDT

A schematic illustration shows the microfiber-nanowire hybrid nanogenerator, which is the ...

The human body is a veritable powerhouse. Every minute of everyday it generates energy, but unfortunately much of this energy is wasted on mundane tasks like burning calories or keeping internal organs running. What if this energy could be harnessed to do something really useful – like charge your iPod or mobile phone? Technology that does just that - converting mechanical energy from body movements or even the flow of blood in the body into electric energy that can be used to power a broad range of electronic devices without using batteries – has been described by scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Read More

ELECTRONICS

New Nanoscale supercapacitor can store 100 times more energy

By Paul Evans

16:52 March 22, 2009 PDT

Electrostatic nanocapacitors formed in nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide (darker yellow) fi...

It has been a big week for news on advances in energy storage technology. We recently reported on new research that makes a Lithium Ion battery perform more like a supercapacitor, now we can report on research on a supercapacitor that performs more like a battery. Researchers at the University of Maryland and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have developed a supercapacitor with 10 billion nanoscale capacitors per square centimeter, giving it 250 times greater surface area than that of a conventional capacitor of comparable size. The Nano Supercapacitor is being developed primarily as part of a hybrid battery-capacitor system for electric cars. Read More

ELECTRONICS

Theoretical spin battery could see magnet powered cars

By Darren Quick

21:55 March 18, 2009 PDT

A graphic representation of the overall device structure with the diameter roughly that of...

Researchers at the University of Miami and at the Universities of Tokyo and Tohoku, Japan, have been able to prove the existence of a "spin battery" that could have significant benefits over chemical battery systems including being much faster, less expensive and using less energy. Read More

MOTORCYCLES

World's first all-electric 24-hour endurance motocross race to be held in California

By Loz Blain

20:36 March 18, 2009 PDT

Zero Motorcycles 'X'

When the flag drops, the bullsh*t stops, as they say in racing, and few sectors in the auto market have as much to prove as electric motorcycles. The performance potential of electric bikes is almost unbounded, with massive advantages over petrol bikes in so many areas - and battery technology is starting to catch up with the market's needs - but until recently, there's been no international competitive showcase for the top level of electric motorcycles. Just this week, the FIM announced a zero-emissions TT Grand Prix on the Isle of Man in June - and paved the way for electric bikes to compete in the future against top-level petrol bikes. Now, off-road specialists Zero Motorcycles are gearing up for the world's first all-electric 24-hour endurance motocross race in California on April 4. The flag has dropped on electric racing. Time to see who's got the goods, and who's been telling porkies. Read More

AUTOMOTIVE

Lithium Ion Battery breakthrough promises 100-fold boost in performance

By Paul Evans

05:42 March 16, 2009 PDT

It may not look like much, but this new battery material could enable EVs to charge in 5 m...

Researchers have developed a new advanced Lithium Ion battery that will allow mobile phone and laptop computers to be fully charged in seconds. Electric car batteries may be charged in as little as five minutes, removing one of the main barriers to wider uptake of EVs. Solar and wind power generation could also benefit as better batteries could be used to store surplus energy. Read More

ECOGIZMO

Solar wrapped batteries charge themselves

By Paul Evans

21:45 February 25, 2009 PST

The solar rechargeable battery

From the files of “why don’t they make that?” comes a rechargeable battery with integrated solar cell charger. The “SunCast” prototype uses flexible solar cells from IFE and some C sized NiMH rechargeable batteries. Scientists at IFE have been experimenting with the production of flexible solar cells and were kind enough to send some samples to the “SunCast” battery designer Knut Karlsen. Read More

URBAN TRANSPORT

Green Wheel - 3 in 1 wireless electric bicycle hub motor

By Paul Evans

21:01 February 23, 2009 PST

MIT's enclosed GreenWheel system

A fully self contained bicycle hub motor known as the GreenWheel has been developed by students at MIT that contains the motor, batteries and motor controller all within the hub enclosure. Very similar in concept to the E+ we reported on earlier this week, but taken one step further by combining the batteries together with the motor in a single hub instead of putting the batteries in the front hub and motor/controller in the rear hub as on the E+. Read More

MILITARY

Protonex Soldier-Worn portable power management systems

By Kyle Sherer

14:57 February 22, 2009 PST

The Protonex SPM power manager

Smaller, lighter, and easier to configure than previous models, Protonex' new line of power managers reduce the amount of batteries soldiers have to carry into the field and streamline the recharging of electronics. The latest line feature six configurable power ports and provide troops with greater and easier access to man-packable equipment such as the Defense Advanced GPS Receiver, the Multiband Inter/Intra Team Radio, the PRC-119 radio system, Night Vision, BB 2590 batteries, PDAs and solar blankets. Read More

MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

Mophie juice pack air doubles iPhone 3G battery life

By Darren Quick

19:38 February 19, 2009 PST

The Mophie juice pack air comes in a range of colors

With battery life still the biggest gripe from iPhone users it’s not surprising to see iPhone accessory maker Mophie adding to their line of external batteries with the Mophie juice pack air for 3G iPhones, which virtually doubles the battery life of the device. Read More

ELECTRONICS

World's smallest working fuel cell

By Darren Quick

20:44 January 25, 2009 PST

The world's smallest working fuel cell. 
 (Image: Saeed Moghaddam via NewScientist)

People are becoming more and more reliant on the portable gadgets they carry every day and at no time is that reliance more pronounced as when those gadgets’ batteries run out of juice. While we’ve seen some fuel cell technologies appear in recent years that offer the future prospect of powering portable devices, none are quite as small as this new working fuel cell created by US chemical engineers and featured recently in New Scientist that measures just 3 millimeters across. Read More

AUTOMOTIVE

Tesla to make battery packs for SMART EV

By Paul Evans

22:12 January 15, 2009 PST

Tesla to make battery packs for SMART EV

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, announced Tuesday in Detroit that Tesla is producing the battery pack for Daimler AG's Smart EV. The companies, which have been partnering on electric powertrain technology for almost a year and a half, will produce 1,000 vehicles in 2009 and 2010, and Musk said the deal could grow into the "tens of thousands" of Smart EVs after that. Daimler already has an existing relationship with German tier one automotive supplier Continential who will supply a 25kg lithium-ion battery pack, with cells from Johnson Controls-Saft, to be used in the new Mercedes S400 BlueHYBRID hybrid-electric car available from the middle of 2009. Read More

AUTOMOTIVE

GM to manufacture Chevy Volt battery packs in the US

By Paul Evans

20:13 January 12, 2009 PST

GM to manufacture Chevy Volt battery packs in the US

General Motors is getting back into the battery business. It had been a two horse race between Korea’s LG and US startup A123 systems to win the supply contract for the Chevrolet Volt. LG Chem and Compact Power Inc. were one team and A123 Systems/Continental the second team selected from an initial field of 27 applicants to compete against one another to build the Chevy Volt’s battery packs. GM announced in September 2008 that it had chosen a battery supplier, but would not reveal which company that was. But has either team actually won? Read More

ECOGIZMO

PowerFilm unveils USB+battery charger based on thin-flim solar technology

By Dave Weinstein

18:17 January 11, 2009 PST

Powerfilm's USB charger

PowerFilm demonstrated a very cool USB+2 AA battery flexible folding charger at CES 2009. We were lucky enough to snap a few pictures of the device and get a look at some samples of their amorphous silicon solar technology for printing cells onto fabric or other materials. Read More

AUTOMOTIVE

Eight-wheeled Japanese electric supercar shooting for 250mph land speed record

By Loz Blain

00:42 January 8, 2009 PST

The Eliica eight-wheeled electric supercar

January 8, 2009 What's the land-speed record for an electric eight-wheeler? It seems we're soon going to find out. A team of electron-heads at Japan's Keio University have built two of these oddly-shaped supercars, powered by Lithium-Ion batteries and an 80 horsepower electric motor for each wheel. Top speed is expected to be in excess of 230mph, with 0-60 times around 4 seconds already recorded. Power's not an issue, then... What about range? The Eliica's claimed 200 miles per charge puts it right at the pointy end of the field. While each of the prototypes has cost around US$320,000, the team plans to produce 200 units with the right backing. Read More

LAPTOPS

MSI's Hybrid SSD/HDD notebook

By Kyle Sherer

23:33 January 7, 2009 PST

The MSI Hybrid can switch between SSD and HDD at the user's will.

The MSI U115 Hybrid notebook uses both a Solid State Disk and a Hard Disk Drive, allowing users to switch between them at will. The 1kg notebook measures 26cm by 18cm, with a 10-inch widescreen LCD display (1024x600), and supports 802.11 b/g/n wireless LAN and Bluetooth. Read More

MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

Fuji’s new eco-friendly, long-lasting, guilt-free EnviroMAX batteries

By Mike Hanlon

19:34 January 5, 2009 PST

Fuji’s new eco-friendly, long-lasting, guilt-free  EnviroMAX batteries

Despite promises of portable alternative power sources, batteries still rule the roost and apart from being a costly form of energy, we all know that we’re contributing a little bit more to the planet’s indigestible waste with each one we purchase – until now! Fuji is announcing a new line of eco-friendly, high performance consumer batteries at CES. EnviroMAX batteries do not contain cadmium or mercury or any ingredients harmful to the environment, are packaged with recycled paper and fully recyclable PET plastic and can be disposed of through normal waste systems or in landfills as they degrade. Fuji is claiming equal or better performance/longevity to the major equivalent brands, and an affordable price. They’re due in stores in April. Stay tuned for more info when we get our hands on a set. Read More

MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

Richardsolo iPod back-up battery

By Emily Clark

20:35 December 4, 2008 PST

RichardSolo 1800

RichardSolo.com, the brainchild of founder and former CEO of The Sharper Image, Richard Thalheimer, has launched a new back-up battery designed specifically for iPhones. The pocket-sized RichardSolo 1800 has the capacity to more than double the usage time of your iPhone. Read More

MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

HP announce 24 hour battery for the EliteBook 6930p

By Noel McKeegan

23:10 September 8, 2008 PDT

HP EliteBook 6930p - 24 hour battery life

Many notebooks on the market have us reaching for the power cord after just a few hours of continuous use, but HP's latest announcement promises to let you stay away from the mains supply for quite a while longer. Using with an optional ultra-capacity battery, the company's new HP EliteBook 6930p offers up to 24 hours of battery runtime, a feat achieved by a combination of the battery design itself and energy saving components like LED displays and Intel® solid-state hard drives (SSD). Good news for all of us who have ever wandered around an airport looking for a socket. Read More

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