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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."

1 of 413 comments (clear)

  1. This is cool because it helps efficiency by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Lightly touch the brakes in a Prius, and the drive motor spins backwards as a generator, putting drag on the wheels and transferring the energy to the battery.

    Stomp hard on the brakes in a Prius, and the battery can't absorb current fast enough to deal with the power surge. Mechanical brakes come into play. Energy that could have been recycled turns into heat in the mechanical brakes.

    A super-fast charging battery could eliminate any need for mechanical brakes except as safety backups.