SolidEnergy Li-Metal batteries promise to double battery life

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New lithium battery tech is coming to drones first, this November.

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Calling it right now, if this tech reaches iPhone and Galaxy, they will opt for thinner phone over double battery life.....

Finaly they do something to get a better battery, good to hear that.
Regards,

What customers hear: "Finally! Better battery life for the same size!"
What companies hear: "Finally! Even thinner and smaller batteries!"

Sigh.

Is it too much to ask for decent-quality battery tech?

HOLD YOUR PITCHFORKS!
I for one, would like thinner phones..

Lighter, & harder to break if they were lighter, potentially easier to hold, & would be like normal phones with a good protective case.

I want this for the Nintendo NX !!!

In any sensible world, this tech ... if it lives up to claims .... ought to be available in both configurations, lighter/thinner, and same size but double power.

Personally, I'm much more interested in the double-power variant, in no small part because I am very interested in air time for drones, and not at all in phone life. Depending on the drone, 8 mins instead of 4, or 30 mins instead of 15 can be game-changing.

But that's why in any sensible world, both variants will exist - different strokes for different folks, and markets exist for both. Manufacturers will be missing a large trick if they don't offer both.

But is our world sensible?

No. our word is not sensible. Brexit. 'nough said. ;)

There are cases where the same power but lighter is a benefit. Eg the XPS15 weight is a lot to do with the battery. Going from the (too small) 52Wh to the 84Wh battery sees the weight leap from 1.7kg to 2.0kg which is a noticeable hike. If they could make that same power in a smaller unit then I would be the first one on the order list. And imagine the XPS13 with the same battery but more powerful? FANTASTIC.

Are there many situations at this point where maintaining current levels of battery life is a bad thing while not heavily effecting the market? Phones and many laptops happily last a day, and more powerful laptops and vehicles are striving quite hard for extra battery life. That doesn't really leave much else.

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Originally Posted by Atemporal

No. our word is not sensible. Brexit. 'nough said. ;)

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Exactly. We should have done it years ago. Or better yet, vetoed Maastricht and Lisbon and kept the EEC, and strangled the EU at birth. ;)

But this is not the place for that argument. Let's leave that for GD.

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Originally Posted by HW90

Are there many situations at this point where maintaining current levels of battery life is a bad thing while not heavily effecting the market? Phones and many laptops happily last a day, and more powerful laptops and vehicles are striving quite hard for extra battery life. That doesn't really leave much else.

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Agreed, but with a caveat. Power and weight are probably the two most important battery criteria, but not the only relevant ones. Another would be cost. This development appears to be based on materials technology, which means no expensive retooling of manufacturing, so provided the cost of materials hasn't rocketed, cost shouldn't be much if any different,

Another difference, potentially at least, is longevity. If this relies on an ultra-thin anode, does that affect battery longevity? I don't mean power from a charge, but the number of times a battery can be recharged before you bin it and buy a new one. It's not unknown for anodes to be somewhat sacrificial, at the electron level, and for what can be expensive batteries (like laptops, big drones, etc) I sure don't want to be replacing a couple of £100+ bstteries every few weeks or months because the ultra-thin anode won't recharge as many times.

This new tech sounds great, but the cynic in me wants to get hold of a couple and do some extensive testing before getting too excited by company PR. Been had like that before, so now, before buying a horse, I like to walk round, count the legs and verify that there's one on each corner. And then test-drive it. Twice.

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Originally Posted by Saracen

Exactly. We should have done it years ago. Or better yet, vetoed Maastricht and Lisbon and kept the EEC, and strangled the EU at birth. ;)

But this is not the place for that argument. Let's leave that for GD.

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Agreed and agreed.