zinc

Cheap zinc air battery promises beefier power grid

Eos Energy Storage is developing a zinc air battery it claims will be able to clear up bottlenecks on the power grid by placing them at office buildings and shopping malls.

The energy storage startup before the end of March plans to close a round of funding from corporate partners which is expected to be at least $5.5 million. It plans to raise $20 million by the end of this year and start making its batteries at a pilot manufacturing facility next year, said President Steve Hellman.

Although it doesn't have a product on the market yet, Eos … Read more

Zinc air battery maker looks beyond lithium

Start-up ReVolt Technology is developing rechargeable zinc air batteries, a technology it says promises longer runtime for consumer electronics and plug-in vehicles.

The Switzerland-based company, which was spun out of a Norwegian research institute five years ago, anticipates commercializing a rechargeable coin-size batteries next year. But the technology has the potential to be a cheaper and more energy-dense alternative to lithium ion batteries in consumer electronics, grid storage, and transportation, according to CEO James McDougall.

Zinc air batteries, which are already used in hearing aids, create an electrical current through a chemical reaction between zinc and the oxygen in air. … Read more

ZeeVee's new Zinc beta takes on Boxee

ZeeVee has released the latest beta version of its Zinc "Internet video browser." Beta 3 of Zinc adds access to Netflix (for subscribers) and CBS (the parent company of CNET), in addition to such online video stalwarts as Hulu, ABC, YouTube, and the like. For now, Zinc is a free download for Windows PCs, though ZeeVee pledges that a Mac version is in development.

Zinc is an offshoot of the ZViewer software that was originally developed for ZeeVee's ZvBox Zv-100. We reviewed that product back in the autumn of 2008, and found it to be overly convoluted … Read more

Zinc fuel cell maker readies portable power pack

A California start-up says next year it will introduce a BlackBerry-size box that uses zinc as a fuel to charge electronic gadgets, a move that some people hope is a small step toward a broad zinc-based energy industry.

Three-year-old Power Air was formed to commercialize zinc-air fuel cell technology developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The core technology--an alternative to lithium-ion batteries or hydrogen fuel cells--creates an electrical current by exposing a zinc solution to the oxygen in air.

The long-term plan for Power Air is to build backup generators and mobile power sources for boats or vehicles.

Its … Read more

Start-up looks to extend battery life

Intel-backed start-up ZPower may be the first to introduce an alternative to the ubiquitous lithium-ion laptop battery, with a silver-zinc technology the company says will make its debut with a large laptop maker in 2009.

The company promises up to 40 percent more run time than current lithium-ion batteries, and says its batteries are 95 percent recyclable.

ZPower made the announcement ahead of the Batteries 2008 conference in Nice, France, which began Wednesday, and where ZPower's chief executive, Ross Dueber, will be presenting ZPower's take on silver-zinc technology, also known as silver-oxide.

Silver-zinc batteries were initially developed for … Read more

MWg Zinc and E-Ten Glofiish: Two peas in a pod

Boldly going where few other tech journalists bother to travel, we at Crave UK make sure to check out as many new phone makers as possible--because you just never know. Only yesterday we plunged into the depths of sweaty London to see MWg's latest handset, the MWg Zinc II.

You're probably thinking who the potatoes is MWg? It stands for Mobile Wireless group, and it used to be O2 Asia--but O2 ditched it, so now it's gone solo and is coming up with some pretty interesting Windows Mobile handsets. The Zinc II is a compact handset that … Read more