Solid-state battery with 100x energy density could be used in Apple devices | Hacker News Reader

Solid-state battery with 100x energy density could be used in Apple devices

9to5mac.com

16 pointsricc12 comments

Factually incorrect title, should be changed to "up to 2x" since the implicit comparison is to existing lithium-ion batteries used in the devices, not the far lower energy dense existing solid state batteries that the 100x applies to.

Article is also pretty worthless because it also implies that's the actual factor of improvement.

> which offers the prospect of charging a MacBook once a month

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/06/tdk-claims-insane-en...

Was posted here just yesterday and is a far better article.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40706164

That's 100X compared to TDK's previous product, which had already been far surpassed by competitors.

How far? I.e. do we know what is the improvement (if any) vs competing products?

The Ars article linked below seems to indicate about 20x vs competing solid-state products and 2.5x vs liquid electrolyte batteries.

"The new material provides an energy density...1,000 watt-hours per liter, which is about 100 times greater than TDK’s current battery in mass production. Since TDK introduced it in 2020, competitors have moved forward, developing small solid-state batteries that offer 50 Wh/l, while rechargeable coin batteries using traditional liquid electrolytes offer about 400 Wh/l, according to the group. "

While not 100x, a 20x improvement still sounds like a solid (heh) breakthrough in my book, to be fair.

The important thing to know here is that Li-ion batteries are not solid state, they've got a gel in them.

TDK are claiming this new solid state battery provides "1000 watt-hours per liter"

Whereas for comparison a Panasonic Li-ion battery like a UPF496171Z offers 650 watt hours per litre.

So compared to competing Li-ion batteries, they're claiming a 50% improvement in energy density.

The article title from the source is completely wrong. The 100x is comparing TDK's previous (best?) solid-state battery to a new one they claim to have developed.

Most batteries found in laptops can be found in 200-600 Wh/L depending on the exact chemistry. TDK is claiming 1000 Wh/L

I recently upgraded my iPhone 13 pro to iPhone 15 pro and the battery on the new phone seems to have degraded performance.

I would love to see any improvement on this front.

The benefit to this is obvious but what is the risk? If a battery is punctured in a present-day phone, it can ignite in a pretty dangerous way.

The benefit is there is no risk of puncture in the first place since solid state batteries are solid and usually use a ceramic matrix.

Normal lithium cells use electrolyte gel and metal sheets.

Basically think ceramic vs electrolytic capacitor.

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