New Sony battery promises longer life, faster charge

Sony's new batteries are just available for motor-driven devices for now--thus the non-fancy label.

(Credit: Sony)

Sony on Tuesday announced a new type of rechargeable lithium ion battery that promises a life span more than four times that of current lithium ion batteries. Specifically, Sony touts a capacity retention north of 80 percent after 2,000 charge-discharge cycles.

Without getting too technical about the whole thing, the new battery uses as its cathode material olivine-type lithium iron phosphate, which Sony says is ideal for the job "due to its robust crystal structure and stable performance, even at high temperatures."

The material also apparently contributes to the battery's faster charging time--it can hit 99 percent of its full capacity in 30 minutes (approximately half the charge time of Sony's current lithium ion battery line, which mainly use cobalt oxide-based cathodes).

For the moment, the batteries will just be showing up in motor-driven devices like power tools--so if you own a cordless band saw, you're in luck. Those of us who just need to worry about powering our iPods and laptops, however, will have to wait a little while.

[jaguar717]

Any improvement is good, but batteries still have such incredibly low energy density it's ridiculous.

What happened to those portable fuel cells I read about several years back? Inject it with methane like you refill a butane lighter, then run your laptop for days and your cell phone for a couple of weeks.

But don't do something infinitely practical like that, put it in unaffordable cars that take the hydrogen nobody has...

[EvanSei]

if they gave you batteries like that how on earth would you expect the big companies to make billions, and then the ceo's might not get $19 million bonus checks, they would starve!..... and we wouldn't want that would we.

[jaguar717]

Your argument has been shown thoroughly false for the last several hundred years. Or do you believe in suppressed 100 mpg carburetors too?

If anybody out there had somehow defeated the laws of physics to make some super battery, don't you think they'd want to put the rest of the companies out of business and get their own $19 million bonus checks? I know I would.

[LAR Games]

Interesting. I wonder if battery technology is progressing as much as information technology.

-Luis