The Next Notebook Battery? Lithium Polymer

Lewis Clarke writes "Sony is changing its course to use an old technology for its new battery manufacturing. ZDNet is reporting on comments from Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow, where he said that Notebook makers will 'likely' soon choose to incorporate lithium polymer batteries (a battery technology that emerged nine years ago) over the current commonly used type, lithium ion batteries." From the article: "Lithium polymer batteries use lithium as an active ingredient. Lithium is a volatile material, but the lithium in these batteries isn't packed into cells as it is in lithium ion batteries. Instead, it is contained in a polymer gel. These gel batteries can't provide the same sort of energy density as lithium ion batteries, but that's now a plus."

Comments

Why?

[TheUnknownOne]

Why is less energy density a plus? I would like a laptop with a long battery life, and improvements in processor technology should be used to increase battery life, not reduce the capacity of batteries.

lifetime?

[compro01]

unless things have changed, i remember that the original iPod used a Lithium-polymer battery and i've heard that the useful lifetime of the battery wasn't that great (less than 50% usable capasity after 1 year), which prompted Apple to switch to a regular lithium-ion for the 2nd and later generations.

has anything changed with this or is what i've heard BS?

NOT TRUE

[IflyRC]

Actually Lipo are more likely to explode. Most Lipo battery cells contain plastic whereas lithium ion cells are metal.

Lipo battery warning for R/C aviation

I use both battery types in various aircraft. The lithium polymer is much less stable. I've seen a pack swell and be ready to vent just by knocking one off of a table onto the ground. Lithium ion will not do this. Also, keep in mind that any battery will explode if you overcharge it.

Interesting priorities

[Mr. Hankey]

I guess whether or not it's a plus depends on how much you value your life. I've used Li-Po batteries in other devices, and they're not that much worse than Li-Ion for most uses with reasonable draw. The lithium inside these batteries is dangerous, put in too much energy (typicaly more than 4.6v per cell for Li-Po) and it'll blow up regardless of whether it's a Li-Po, Li-Ion or Li-Mn. Have a look at this video clip, from a company that makes a Li-Po charging safety device, to see the effect:

http://www.liposack.com/video.html

That's with Li-Po cells, imagine the reaction from a more dangerous battery. Li-Po batteries have a relatively safe medium in which to pack the lithium vs the other technologies, and they're more tolerant to bad treatment. The batteries do indeed come with somewhat less energy density, but if you have too high of an energy density you have a bomb instead of a battery. That is indeed a tradeoff. Loss occurs when you lose an arm, or the plane you're on crashes due to a laptop fire. Whether or not it happens to you is irrelevant. It only needs to happen once to do damage, and in the case of a plane it needn't be your laptop.