[headdie]

So researchers in America have figured out a method of construction which allows batteries to last 100k+ cycles rather than the 5-7k seen today.  The gist is to coat certain internal structures in manganese dioxide.

found the paper on this pulished here http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00029

[Mikes]

So researchers in America have figured out a method of construction which allows batteries to last 100k+ cycles rather than the 5-7k seen today.  The gist is to coat certain internal structures in manganese dioxide.

found the paper on this pulished here http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00029

Oh noes, what will happen to the throwaway society if cellphones and tablets with their sealed batteries don't automatically stop working after 1-3 years!? ;-)

This is a potential disaster for the entire economy! :coughs:

[Bobboau]

I bet tesla will be interested in this.

[jr2]

I was waiting for something like this after they looked at some batteries under an electron microscope and figured out what was causing them to eventually die (corrosion building up) a while back.

[Klaustrophobia]

Nice research for improving the overall understanding of batteries, but I'm not holding my breath for the immortal rechargeable battery anytime soon.  These kinds of lab results take a LONG time to filter in to actual products.  If ever.

[jr2]

Yeah, plus, right now, revenue from buying new rechargeables is whatever, if they improve the life of the battery by 15x, unless they raise the price by 15x, it's not going to make the same amount of money, and even if they do raise the price, they might not make enough due to people being squeamish about paying more for a product.

..at least, I think  xD

[Scotty]

I'm 90% sure that most people buy new phones before they would buy a new battery regardless, since phones' capabilities are increasing faster than average battery decay becomes a significant problem.

That is to say, phone companies can brag about this being a new feature and people will flock to it, and then when the next phone comes out, they'll get that one too.  Any phone that doesn't upgrade to keep up will be operating at a marketing disadvantage.

Cost is not the only influencing factor for supply.

[Black Wolf]

Exactly. I honestly don't remember the last product I upgraded because of the battery failing. This is a big deal for electric cars, renewable energy storage, that sort of thing, but will barely influence the consumer electronic market beyond bragging rights.

[Luis Dias]

I have never bought a new phone because the battery of the old was gone, I have however bought several batteries in ebay. I will never understand the decision to buy a 200 dollar phone because it's easier than to order a 10 dollar battery. I will also never understand the urge to buy the "newest best thing evah", as if phones from 3 years ago aren't already amazing by themselves. But hey.

Regarding the cynicism of having much better batteries being against the capitalist mindset, I'd also say that this is somewhat true but false enough. That is, the market of EVs could be bigger if batteries would have this kind of life expectancy. And that is sufficient market pressure for these kinds of things to be pursued (future market of batteries will be dominated by renewable power sources and, most likely, EVs).

[Dragon]

I did buy a replacement battery once, and ended up getting a new phone soon afterwards. Though unless someone starts making phones with an extendable QWERTY keyboard again, I guess I'm sticking with that one. It's not the "newest best thing evah", but it's the last model of that particular line, and also one of the last phones can carry around in a trouser pocket. Most of the new phones these days won't fit into my jacket pockets, which IMO kind of defeats the point of a smartphone.

While I don't see a point of using this technology in phones, UPS units and laptop batteries could be a very useful consumer application. The replacement rate on those (especially the former) is much lower and reliability is generally higher, meaning the battery will usually be the first thing to fail.

[WeatherOp]

Hmm should be really nice for power tools. Buy one battery and it will last thirty years.

[Bobboau]

Though unless someone starts making phones with an extendable QWERTY keyboard again, I guess I'm sticking with that one. It's not the "newest best thing evah", but it's the last model of that particular line

Photon Q?

[Scourge of Ages]

Photon Q?

I'd wager a Samsung Galaxy S Relay. As far as I was able to find, it's the most powerful mainstream phone with a slide-out keyboard.

[asyikarea51]

For some reason when I saw this thread the first things in my head were "LaFerrari", "P1" and "918". Okay maybe throw the Prius in there, but virtually nobody where I am will own one.

miss the 90's... but then again, an 80's person would say the same against a 90's person, and a 70's person would also say the same against the 80's...

[Dragon]

I'd wager a Samsung Galaxy S Relay. As far as I was able to find, it's the most powerful mainstream phone with a slide-out keyboard.

Doesn't look like all that much of an improvement over what I have. Both this one and Photon Q are designs from mid-2012, my Xperia is from mid-2011. Galaxy S Relay has an advantage of memory and CPU, but is larger, which is a big minus for me. It'd be a lateral move at best. Photon Q seems to have a better camera, but it lacks a removable battery, so I probably wouldn't want that one.

They do seem to be still supported (or at least "available" on the comparison site I used), but I don't think they're still producing them. 4 years is a lot in this business.

[karajorma]

Well there's always BlackBerry's android phone(s).