Traditional lithium rechargeable batteries have relatively slow power rates because the lithium ions responsible for carrying charge across the battery move very slow through the material. Ceder and his colleagues discovered that the ions should be moving much faster. The ions can move quickly only if high-speed tunnels existed in the material. Thus, the team created a new surface structure which allowed the lithium ions to move quickly around the outside of the material.

Since lithium iron phosphate is already a well-known battery material, we could see batteries using this new process within two or three years, according to Ceder. The picture of the material, above, shows how far along they are. But I can’t wait that long! Waiting a few hours for my cell phone battery to fully recharge is unacceptable. Not only will this process give us fast recharging capabilities, further tests showed that the new material does not degrade as much when repeatedly charged. Finally, I’m tired of dying batteries!

via TG Daily

Last week Panasonic presented [JP] a new electric bicycle to be released on the Japanese market on August 20. The so-called Vivi RX 10-S will cost $1,400. Panasonic hasn’t said yet whether they will bring the bicycle to overseas markets as well.

The bike’s main feature is a braking system that can recharge a 10Ah Li-ion secondary battery, which weighs 2.5kg, has a rated voltage of 26 V and is located next to the rear wheel. Every time the owner brakes, a mini motor mounted on the front wheel generates power. According to Panasonic, charging the battery via this method alone proves to be almost impossible however. The recharging system fails when riding faster than 24km/h.

Panasonic says in internal experiments, the regenerative braking system extended the assisted travel range from 90km to 125km when riding in normal mode. Using the bike’s automatic mode, the maximum distance owners will be able to cover is 182km.

The so-called Vivi RX 10-S comes with an aluminum-made frame and weighs 25.7kg. The company says it aims at selling a total of 3,000 bicycles in the first year.