New technique to improve quality control of lithium-ion batteries
13 May, 2013Purdue University researchers have created a new tool to detect flaws in lithium-ion batteries as they are being manufactured - a step towards reducing defects and inconsistencies in the thickness of electrodes that affect battery life and reliability.
Charging electric vehicles cheaper and faster
07 May, 2013Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have developed an integrated motor drive and battery charger for electric vehicles. Compared to today’s electric vehicle chargers, they have managed to shorten the charging time from eight to two hours, and to reduce the cost by around $2000.
Charge batteries with water puddles
03 May, 2013A power source for your mobile phone can now be as close as the nearest faucet, stream or even a puddle, with the world’s first water-activated charging device. The MyFC PowerTrekk charger relies on fuel cell technology developed at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
Researchers develop microbatteries that charge 1000 times faster
23 April, 2013Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed the most powerful microbatteries ever documented. The new microbatteries offer both power and energy, and by tweaking the structure a bit, the researchers can tune them over a wide range on the power-versus-energy scale. The batteries outpower even the best supercapacitors and could drive new applications in compact electronics and radio communications.
Understanding the life of lithium-ion batteries
17 April, 2013Scientists have answered a question that worries millions of owners and potential owners of electric and hybrid vehicles using lithium-ion batteries: how long before the battery pack dies, leaving a sticker-shock bill for a fresh pack or a car ready for the junk heap?
A longer life for lithium-sulfur batteries
09 April, 2013Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden have developed a new design that increases the charge cycles of lithium-sulfur batteries by a factor of seven.
Breakthrough in race to create ‘bio-batteries’
05 April, 2013Findings published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) show that proteins on the surface of bacteria can produce an electric current by simply touching a mineral surface.
Vanadium oxide/graphene for lithium-ion storage
03 April, 2013Hybrid ribbons of vanadium oxide (VO2) and graphene may accelerate the development of high-power lithium-ion batteries suitable for electric cars and other demanding applications.
Boeing improves its Li-ion batteries
03 April, 2013Boeing has initiated a comprehensive set of improvements that will add several layers of additional safety features to the lithium-ion batteries on 787 commercial jetliners that are in production and could be ready for initial installation within the next few weeks. New enclosures for 787 batteries also are being built and will be installed in aeroplanes in the weeks ahead.
Larger redox battery offers a breakthrough in electricity storage
02 April, 2013As more and more electricity is being generated from intermittent sources of power, such as solar and wind energy, powerful electric energy storage devices are becoming more necessary to level out corresponding irregularities in the power supply. Fraunhofer scientists have recently made an important breakthrough with their development of a redox flow battery that reaches stack power up to 25 kW, with a cell size of 0.5 m2. This is eight times larger than the previous A4-sized systems.
Battery breakthrough brings longer life to electric vehicles
22 March, 2013A new type of lithium-sulfur battery that can run electric vehicles is being developed at the Baosteel-Australia Joint Research and Development Centre, based at The University of Queensland (UQ).
Commercialising battery with super storage
18 March, 2013 by Mike Smyth, specialist technical writerA CSIRO invention that turns a conventional lead-acid battery into a two-energy super storage device could contribute to a wider take-up of hybrid electric vehicles among other uses.
New battery for rail, marine, mining, communications and energy sectors
08 March, 2013 by Mike Smyth, specialist technical writerWith world demand for batteries of all types forecast to reach a value of $132 billion by 2016, there is always going to be an opening for new types. Now GE is developing a longer lasting and more durable battery that charges more quickly and could contribute to raising the efficiencies of solar and wind power.
Greater range for electric cars in the future
25 February, 2013Schott developers are using glass-ceramic as a separator material for lithium-air batteries which will hopefully extend the range of tomorrow’s electrically powered automobiles by several times.
UltraBattery inventor retires
22 February, 2013Dr Lan Lam, the primary inventor of the UltraBattery, and his team took the world’s 150-year-old battery technology and revolutionised it in the laboratories of CSIRO. On 21 February Dr Lan retired, leaving a legacy of impact.
