He hoisted himself up a 500 meter-cliff at Grand Canyon, did his magic on the Le Mans 24 circuit in France, and traveled 500KM from Tokyo to Kyoto last year And now, he completed the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii, too.
We covered Panasonic’s plan to let its EVOLTA battery-powered mini robot start at the 230km race back in September, and now the company announced the little guy finished it on October 30. → Read More
A Japanese accessory maker called Century started selling the “monolith” [JP] today, a case for the iPhone 4, a 1,900mAh battery, and a mini projector rolled into one (it’s still unclear if the device works with the iPhone 4S as well). The monolith is sized at 63.5×126.6×22mm and weighs 97g.
Century says that users can expect images sized at up to 60cm (in 16:9 format), in 640×360 resolution, with a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, and with 12 lumens brightness. → Read More
Auto maker General Motors and LG Group will be working together to design and engineer electric vehicles thanks to a new partnership that expands on LG’s earlier work for GM in lithium-ion batteries. Previously, LG delivered batteries for the Chevrolet Volt, the Opel Ampera, and later for a demo fleet of Chevrolet Cruze electric vehicles.
According to the companies, their goal is to reduce both the cost and the time it takes to build electric cars.
→ Read More
Sony Japan announced [JP] the ESSP-2000, a storage battery for professional use that serves as a backup power supply unit in the case of emergencies and blackouts. The lithium ion battery stores 2.4kwh, can be charged to 95% in about 2 hours (using conventional power plugs), and it boasts an impressive life span of over 10 years, according to Sony. → Read More
There is probably no one left doubting that electric vehicles will be a huge market in the future, and now it seems that Sony is agreeing, too. The company yesterday announced it will start making lithium-ion batteries specifically for electric cars and hybrids “from the middle of this decade”. → Read More
NEC is ready to use some of the expertise it gained by developing lithium-ion batteries for Nissan’s electric vehicles in recent years for home use: according to a report in Japanese business daily The Nikkei that was published today, that new 6kwh household power storage system will only cost around $12,300 – which is about 50% cheaper than comparable systems on sale today. → Read More
Lithium: it’s everywhere and we know nothing about it. It powers our phones, our computers, and our cars and the control and use of lithium will, in part, define how we handle the coming petroleum crisis. That’s why Seth Fletcher’s Bottled Lightning is so fascinating.
The book explores lithium from its earliest beginnings to its use in almost everything that we use today. Fletcher, a writer for Popular Science has done his research and although the topic sounds as dull as lithium-infused brine he keeps the book well-paced and interesting throughout.
Unlike many single-topic non-fiction books (Salt,Cod,Adult Diapers), Fletcher tells us the history of a modern chemical that turned the lowly battery into a real powerhouse. Where will lithium take us next? Fletcher explores the future of lithium-air batteries in this excerpted chapter. → Read More
Looks like we’re getting better, cheaper batteries soon: Sumitomo Electric Industries succeeded in developing a molten-salt battery that’s supposedly 90% cheaper to produce than lithium-ion batteries. The company claims that even though molten-salt batteries are nothing new, the sodium material in their prototype starts melting at 57C to keep the electrolyte in a liquid state (and not at more than 300C like in existing batteries). → Read More
Sanyo today announced it has sold 150 million eneloop-branded batteries at the end of December 2010. The company introduced its “green” sub-brand in 2005, and the eneloop product line-up was one of the main reasons Panasonic acquired Sanyo as a whole in December 2009 for $4.6 billion. → Read More
This is rather a creepy line of research. The tobacco mosaic virus, which normally preys on tobacco crops, has been modified in such a way that it is essentially being used as a tiny helper, and millions of them can line up and bind themselves to the walls of battery cells, increasing the surface area and consequently the potential charge. → Read More
Sanyo keeps on adding products to its eneloop brand of eco-friendly, rechargeable batteries. Today the company announced the so-called KBC-9V3U Pedal Juice for the US and other markets, a 9V lithium-ion battery unit designed for charging multiple guitar effects pedals at the same time (it features two 9V outputs and can power multi-effect units and portable recorders, too). → Read More
Back in September, Panasonic announced an unusual publicity stunt: let a cute mini robot walk from Tokyo to Kyoto – powered solely by the company’s rechargeable EVOLTA batteries. The 1kg robot started the journey on September 23 in Tokyo, and today, Panasonic proudly announced the robot has arrived safely in Kyoto. → Read More
Can you imagine Sanyo without eneloop? Sanyo’s “green” sub brand is now 5 years old, and to commemorate the anniversary, Sanyo plans to roll out special batteries. They even issued an English press release to announce the so-called “eneloop tones glitter” battery pack. → Read More
Panasonic has apparently enjoyed quite a bit of success with its previous, rather unusual promotion campaigns for its EVOLTA batteries. In 2008, we blogged an EVOLTA-powered mini robot that climbed up a 500 meter high cliff at Grand Canyon. Then, in 2009, we’ve shown you how such a robot ran 24km on the famous Le Mans 24 Hours circuit in France (on 2 AA batteries). → Read More
The never ending story between Apple Japan and the local government may have finally come to an end. Following months of disputes whether overheating first generation iPod nanos pose a security risk (some iPods caused fire) or not, Apple last month announced it will put up a special warning message on its Japanese company site and offer to replace batteries in all models affected for free. → Read More
Do you own an iPad, iPhone, iPod, Sony Xperia, a Nintendo DS, or other mobile devices? Do you need a power source when you use these gadgets on the go? If yes, then the mobile chargers Sanyo announced today might do the trick for you.
There will be two versions: one, the so-called “eneloop stick booster” (pictured above) comes with adapters (licensed by Nintendo) to power your DS and the other mobile devices mentioned above on the go. The other (dubbed eneloop mobile booster/pictured below) is not compatible to the DS – as is one of the stick type boosters, actually. → Read More
Someone with a better grasp of biochemistry is going to have to suss this one out, but it’s interesting even to a chump like me. It seems that researchers are using a custom virus as a biotemplate (?!) for a new type of battery structure that would allow the charged material to be woven into clothing or other materials. It’s really, really not clear what’s going on here but if their tests bear fruit, you might soon be changing your shirt when it runs out of juice. Of course the military gets all the cool toys first, so we’ll have to wait our turn. → Read More
Energy storage system producer 24M Technologies spun out of lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems today to become a separate venture.
The company raised a $10 million Series A funding round from Charles River Ventures and North Bridge Venture Partners. → Read More
Didn’t you notice it, Brick? Didn’t you notice a powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room? While it was my understanding that Steve Jobs owns a number of nickel mines and brings up tons of ore himself to stay in shape, pounding each core into a delicately wrought battery and then selling the produce of his labor as Apple’s rechargeable battery offering, it seems that Apple is actually using Sanyo Eneloop batteries, wrapping them in their own packaging, and selling them as their own. At least that’s what some Czech dudes think. → Read More
Harvesting kinetic energy to “charge” a power element is something that goes back thousands of years, to the wind and water mills among other things. And in a more germane form, the self-winding watch goes back decades, if not longer (I’m not the watch expert here). So it’s not really a surprise that it’s being put into batteries — though I wonder whether this is the most efficient way of going about this.
At first I thought these were like the “parametric generators” we saw back in March, but those harvest ambient harmonics. These batteries from Brother are designed to be shaken, not hummed at. → Read More
