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Is it just me or have we been fed stories about potential improvements in battery life for over a decade now with no real improvements? There seems to be a vort

by cutler 8y ago

Is it just me or have we been fed stories about potential improvements in battery life for over a decade now with no real improvements? There seems to be a vortex out in space where all these promises about CPU and battery improvements somehow get swallowed up. Take graphene, for example. Discovered in 2004, it was touted as something which was going to change the world and replace silicon in CPU production. Yet a recent article (https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/what-is-graphene-and-how-will-it-shape-the-future-of-tech/ https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/what-is-graphene-and...) concluded: "Unfortunately, this is all theoretical. Current graphene cells are not yet up to par with silicon cells".

princekolt 8y ago
Another thing to keep in mind: It makes no difference if battery capacity grows but power consumption goes up as well. When you have hungry apps (say, Chrome) hogging resources with no regard to the user's device, there is little to be gained from having denser batteries.
- mathw 8y ago
  There is if those resources are being used to do more stuff... or you put the battery in a car.
mastax 8y ago
Lithium-ion batteries have been slowly improving over the last 30 years. Every year they get a little cheaper, a little higher capacity, a little more reliable, a little higher discharge, over a few more charge cycles. > In 1994, the cost to manufacture Li-ion in the 18650 cylindrical cell was over US$10 and the capacity was 1,100mAh. In 2001, the price dropped to below $3 while the capacity rose to 1,900mAh. Today, high energy-dense 18650 cells deliver over 3,000mAh and the costs are dropping. http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/lithium_based_batteries http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/lithium_based_bat... It's not the revolution we may want, but it is the successful application of battery research.
sitkack 8y ago
And there have been amazing incremental battery advances over the last decade.

by cutler 8y ago

princekolt 8y ago

Another thing to keep in mind: It makes no difference if battery capacity grows but power consumption goes up as well. When you have hungry apps (say, Chrome) hogging resources with no regard to the user's device, there is little to be gained from having denser batteries.

mathw 8y ago
There is if those resources are being used to do more stuff... or you put the battery in a car.

mastax 8y ago

Lithium-ion batteries have been slowly improving over the last 30 years. Every year they get a little cheaper, a little higher capacity, a little more reliable, a little higher discharge, over a few more charge cycles. > In 1994, the cost to manufacture Li-ion in the 18650 cylindrical cell was over US$10 and the capacity was 1,100mAh. In 2001, the price dropped to below $3 while the capacity rose to 1,900mAh. Today, high energy-dense 18650 cells deliver over 3,000mAh and the costs are dropping. http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/lithium_based_batteries http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/lithium_based_bat... It's not the revolution we may want, but it is the successful application of battery research.

sitkack 8y ago

And there have been amazing incremental battery advances over the last decade.