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The current user-facing gotcha isn't fire, it's capacity. Consumers aren't walking around worrying that their headphones, watch, or phone might explode (except
by zild3d 8y ago
The current user-facing gotcha isn't fire, it's capacity.
Consumers aren't walking around worrying that their headphones, watch, or phone might explode (except for the brief galaxy note stint). They are worried their phone is going to die before they get to a charger, will their laptop last through the meeting, will their headphones die mid-flight
- ChuckMcM 8y agoI think those are the same problem :-) But I may be looking at it in a way that is slightly different than you are. The way I see it, capacity is unbounded if size is unbounded, you can just have giant batteries. But if size is bounded (as it is in cell phones, laptops, cars, etc) then capacity is a function of energy density. And the 'flaming battery pack' problem is a function of energy density. The more surface area, and thinner the electrolyte layer, the more dendrite development you get and the those are the things that start fires. The Galaxy is a good example of the trade-off, they made a battery with as much capacity as possible, that lead to a an area that was 'pinched' which allowed for dendrites to short, which caused phones to catch on fire. If the battery had 10% less capacity (the fix as I recall) the dimensions can be smaller and the fit better. No pinch, no fires.
- mntmoss 8y agoIMHO the experienced future is likely to continue seeing improvements for a good many years without battery technology changes, for the smaller consumer devices. Vehicles aren't going to get hugely more efficient without something massively disruptive like an efficient levitation technology but for a lot of electronics now, things like backlit screens present a bottleneck, and these can be tackled at multiple layers: * Changing the types of device(screenless device, external display with its own battery, wireless peripherals) * Improving average-case device environment(further standardization of charging methods, external displays as part of furnishings) * Miniaturization and efficiency improvements of the internal hardware and software("battery with a phone attached" becomes increasingly true year over year and I have been living with an all-day battery phone for several years now) Although energy density is a critical enabler, and we could definitely benefit from some jet-fuel-grade density in our alternate energy sources, the larger-scale stuff is also just a lot harder to tackle in a short time frame because it's more infrastructure-dependent. Rethinking our cities is a necessary step, one way or another.
- zild3d 8y agoah :) yes in that case it is just a different viewpoint engineers choosing the non-exlodey designs leads to users feeling capacity-limited