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Toshiba's One-Minute-Recharge Li-ion Batteries

Posted by timothy on from the zap-zap-zap dept.

TheGuano writes "No idea if this is related to Altair's six-minute-charge Li-ions,, but Toshiba has just announced a similar Li-ion that recharges to 80% capacity in one minute, while losing only 1% total capacity after 1000 cycles. It's set to debut in 2006 for use in hybrid cars (my current Toshiba Satellite doesn't get very far on battery power, but it's a beautiful shade of blue), but 'should' make its way to other, hopefully smaller devices eventually."

3 of 413 comments (clear)

  1. Different recharging techniques. by sanityspeech · · Score: 5, Informative
    To answer the submitter's implied question (i.e. No idea if this is related to Altair's six-minute-charge Li-ions...) I would have to say that it is unlikely that both are using the same technology.

    From the New Scientist article:
    Altair's patented modification is ... achieved using a carefully controlled sequence of evaporative steps when making the lithium titanate [nano]crystals.
    From the press release by Toshiba:
    A breakthrough technology applied to the negative electrode uses new nano-particles to prevent organic liquid electrolytes from reducing during battery recharging. The nano-particles quickly absorb and store vast amount of lithium ions, without causing any deterioration in the electrode.
    It would be futile for Toshiba to try to mimic Altair, since the New Scientist article also states:
    ...The firm is keeping the chemistry that allows it to do this pretty close to its chest for commercial reasons. But the patent (US 6689716) reveals that the increased surface area is achieved using a carefully controlled sequence of evaporative steps when making the lithium titanate crystals.
  2. There go the circuit breakers by JoeBuck · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you can put the same power into your battery in one minute that your laptop sucks out in two hours, it follows that, for that one minute, your battery sucks 120x the power. So, if your laptop uses 100W or power, you need 12 kW for a minute to recharge it. It's going to take a special circuit to deliver that power (100 amps at 120V).

    1. Re:There go the circuit breakers by wramsdel · · Score: 5, Informative

      The extended-life battery for my laptop is 7.4V, 7800 mAH, discharge rate not stated. That implies that its capacity is 57.72WH. Given that I can run my laptop for ~4 hours on this battery, I think it's safe to say that my laptop does not consume 100W.

      If I wanted (or were able) to charge this battery in one minute, it would require 468 amps at 7.4V, or 28.86A at 120V. Charge it in two minutes (ignoring all system losses and heat issues) and you've solved the 120V issue. You're still trying to push 234A at 7.4V, though, which would be a problem. At 10 minutes charge time, especially if you were able to integrate the charger with the battery pack, I can see how it might be feasible.