Israeli Startup Can Charge Your Phone in 1 Minute
bbc.co.uk
bbc.co.uk
When asked to explain, the spokesman says things like "we use new physics". That alone peaked my bullshit detector.
Every battery tech I'm also aware of cannot handle high amperage charging without things like outgassing, battery seperation, heating effects, and explosions. Even the venerable NiFe battery has problems with high current charging.
But this startup has beat it? [Citation needed]
My concern is over using supercaps: their density is still very low compared to Li-ions on a volume basis.
Also, I noticed they are using a Samsung phone. Last time I used a supercap in a project, I had to build a complex circuit that compensates for exponential voltage drop but outputs constant voltage and amperage. I want to know how they got around that issue as well.
I would have believed it more if they used a MediaTek chip based phone. They could have hacked and modified those all they wanted.
That said, smartphones don't use these batteries, and anyone who tried to put a couple of amperes into a standard lithium polymer battery is going to have an amusing experience.
Minor correction: battery capacity is measured in ampere-hour, i.e. ampere * hour.
I feel like you've mixed up LiFePO4 and LiPo. LiFe has low charge rates, lower energy density, lower voltage, and higher cost compared to LiPo. For R/C aircraft, it's typically used only for the receiver and servos of the really large helis/planes, because its lower voltage is tolerated by the servos whereas a LiPo needs a regulator to step down to 5-6V for driving servos. I can't speak for expensive hand tools, but "everyone" in the R/C community uses LiPo.
(Edit: Clarification)
Gassing (or smoke, not sure which) starts around 15 sec. Plenty of results for 'LiPo explosion', 'overcharge lipo', etc.
A LiPo fire is a chemical reaction, it cannot be extinguished by traditional fire extinguishers (i.e. smothering does not extinguish, it's creating its own fuel) -- you have to wait for the battery to burn out and then extinguish the remains on fire. Treat your batteries (and electronics with batteries in them) well, folks.
That's the only thing that will save you.
Techcrhuch had some articles about them this year http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/07/storedots-bio-organic-batte...
There are specialist lipos used for RC planes/cars/boats that can handle 100C burst discharges but even those can't be charged at more than ~10-20C - and these cells have very high self-discharge and short cycle life, so they're quite unsuitable for mobile phones.
According to some of the more business oriented reporting about the product their current end goal for 2017 is a 100-150$ batter capable of 1500-2000 discharge cycles this means that if it will be put in a phone it will give you a life time of 3-4 years depending on your discharge rate.
Their goals at least seem to be very realistic, even if the price will be a blocker even for most high end phone users. I do see this technology having many applications tho especially for military and emergency services. Considering that the US Army has trialed multiple Samsung phones so far with specialized software an "ultra battery" like this would be very appealing to them even if it will have a horrible life time and a very high price compared to commercial batteries. The Army can and will pay very high amounts if it means that the turn around for a soldier's computing package will be minutes instead of hours.
The company so far raised 40-50 million $ and not via "kickstarter" some of the investors are rumored to be phone giants including Samsung, and in any case venture capitalist firms don't ten to put 50M on the table for snake oil.
You have a much higher view of VCs then I do then. I'm personally aware of a few tech companies that exist solely to siphon money from the investors to the founder. Rich people aren't always careful with their money, particularly when they are putting it into something hot, like tech, that they know nothing about.
1: What is the actual capacity of the battery demonstrated? If it has a high C but low capacity, this isn't really notable. The paper [1] indicates that total charge capacity is a function of how fast the battery is charged; what tradeoff are they making?
2: How many charge cycles is this battery capable of at those rates?
3: What thresholds are they putting in place for temperature, and are all the components of the phone rated for repeated thermal cycles to those levels and back to ambient?
4: What is the failure mode for this battery? Outgassing? What compounds are released in overcharge?
[1] - http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/v9/n12/abs/nnano.2014.24...
Apple has been moving in the same direction for laptops. http://ifixit.org/blog/2763/the-new-macbook-pro-unfixable-un...
https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/PTdAj6LheOiy2Vu1.m... shows 8 of the 16 RAM chips (the others are on the other side) in a Macbook Air. Having them soldered straight on the board means you can't replace 'em, but it also means they use a lot less space than a stick of RAM.
ftfy
Unless I am missing something on Storedot's website, the BBC were actually shown a phone with an ultra-capacitor instead of a battery.
Which sounds rather more believable, and like it might be useful this year. I can live with 15-minute charging, and it being an external battery.
I don't believe their claims that it will last 3 years of regular use, that it will have 1500 charge cycles, or that it has "novel battery chemistry". I'd give it up to a year, and even then you'd probably be experiencing much lower capacity by the end of the year, but that's my rough guess. I'm also a bit surprised that it's deemed safe for consumers and will be certified.