New battery technology

[Norton]

Thought this might be of interest to some. Toshiba has developed a battery that recharges 80% in one minute, and fully charges in a few more minutes. Scheduled to go into service next year in hybrid cars. Check link. http://www.dpreview.com/news/0503/05032903tosh1minbatt.asp

 

[Gord May]

Li-ion

The prototype Li-ion battery is only 3.8mm thick, 62mm high and 35mm deep and has a capacity of 600mAh (0.6 A/H), meaning you’ll need about 175 of them to get the equivalent (105 A/H) of a standard lead-acid deep cycle battery.Interesting, but of no immediate practical use.

 

[Reudi Ross]

Interesting article

Rayovac has a charger and AAA or AA batteries that charge fully in fifteen minutes using special NiMH batteries. They really work, great for the battery hungry GPS, digital whatever, kids toys, etc. Its especially nice on a boat cause you only have to run the inverter for 15 minutes vs. overnight. A thought about using this technology in hybrid cars, boats, or anything else with a large battery bank. To charge a 500ah bank 80% in one minute would require a charging current of 24,000 amps, not factoring in the effeciency if I did the math correctly. That would be some whopper battery cables

 

[TT]

Thanks Rob

Appreciate any sharing of info on new products and the technology may be worth keeping an eye on for the future, but ditto to Gord & Reudi's posts. The battery may have relevance in the hybrid auto application where weight & size are at a far greater premium than in marine apps.Also, even if it were viable, the cost would probably be outrageous.Thanks for trying.

 

[Norton]

electric propulsion

I do not think the prototype mentioned is the same that would be used in the hybrid cars, 600mAh are not even the equivalent of a single AA. Of course it is not of immediate practical use, it is not even scheduled to be available until 2006, if it even makes it on time. I am not sure of the charging requirements but they claim "The new battery can quickly store energy produced by locomotives and automobiles. This speedy and highly effective recharge characteristic of the battery will support CO2 reduction, as the battery can save and re-use energy that was simply wasted before."   If used with an electric propulsion system, http://www.cruisingworld.com/article.jsp?ID=36169&typeID=396&catID=0 size and weight of the system would matter greatly, so would the efficiency of the batteries. There may be a future practical use. I am sure initially the cost will be expensive. If serious production ever began it would probably come down. Of course all of this is if the technology pans out. Whatever, the post was just a fyi.