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Well, the power of a battery the size of a brick in the 80’s is now available in a AA form factor. I’d say the improvement has been profound, if not quite as pr
by bdamm 8y ago
Well, the power of a battery the size of a brick in the 80’s is now available in a AA form factor. I’d say the improvement has been profound, if not quite as profound as Moore’s law is for CPUs.
- thermodynthrway 8y agoSadly, it isn't remotely that good, closer to a change from C to AA. NiCad rechargeables have been around for over a century and LiPo only has a density about 3x higher. Overall we've only increased the energy density of the average rechargeable battery about 5x in a century, with most of the increase from introduction of NIMH then LiPo Improvements in power efficiency have made battery advancements seem better than they are.
- int_19h 8y agoI think most people are looking at flashlights for comparison, and LEDs were a massive leap in efficiency there. Didn't we make it all a great deal cheaper, though? I'm noticing lately that now even very cheap devices - the kind you can buy on eBay for a couple bucks - that used to be powered by AA batteries and such, are now coming with an integral lithium battery (and usually an integral micro-USB charger).
- thermodynthrway 8y agoBatteries have definitely gotten way cheaper over the years, making them usable despite their marginal energy density in things like cars.
- bdamm 8y agoI was going by rated MAh comparing RC batteries from the 80's to the best (rechargeable!) AA battery I can find today. "A brick" might be overstating it, but 10x by volume isn't. It's more like 6 C down to 1 AA.