Hasta La Gadget!

The last time we heard of lithium titanate battery technology was when learning about the £120,000 Lightning GT, and while we’ve no way to confirm, we’re definitely hoping that the latest development from Toshiba ensures that we’re talking about it far more frequently than once per year. According to a report over at Nikkei’s Tech-On, said outfit has crafted a cell of a Li-ion secondary battery (aimed at electric vehicles, mainly) that sports an energy density as high as 100Wh/kg. Needless to say, the invention relies on lithium titanate for its negative electrode, and considering that Tosh is currently producing a 4.2Ah cell with an energy density of around 67Wh/kg for electric bicycles, it’s easy to see what kind of improvement we’re staring at. Now, if only this stuff could be applied to AA cells, our power-gulping camera flash would be forever grateful…

Filed under: Peripherals

Toshiba dramatically increases energy density of Li-ion battery originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been tracking MIT professor Angela Belcher’s attempt to build batteries and nano-electronics from viruses since 2006. Scientifically speaking, the so-called “virus” is actually a bacteriophage, a virus that preys only on bacteria while leaving humans of diminishing scientific knowledge alone to doubt that claim. Now, in a new report co-authored by Belcher, MIT research documents the construction of a lithium-ion battery (pictured after the break) with the help of a biological virus dubbed M13. M13 acts as a “biological scaffold” that allows carbon nanotubes and bits of iron phosphate to attach and form a network for conducting electricity. Specifically, MIT used the genetically engineered material to create the battery’s negatively charged anode and positively charged cathode. Best of all, MIT’s technique can be performed at, or below room temperature which is important from a manufacturing perspective — a process that MIT claims will be “cheap and environmentally benign.” Already MIT has constructed a virus-battery about the size of that found in a watch to turn on small lights in an MIT lab. Belcher claims that just a third of an ounce (about 10 grams) of the viral battery material could power an iPod for 40 hours. In time and with enough effort MIT expects to scale the technology to power electronic vehicles. Remember, when the time comes choose the red pill.

[Via Scientific American, Thanks James]

Continue reading MIT builds battery from bacterial virus, humans to power machines by 2012

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

MIT builds battery from bacterial virus, humans to power machines by 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Apr 2009 04:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While the Big 3 seem to be visiting Washington on an all-too-regular basis trying to secure funding for future success, $25 billion in loans set aside to promote electric car usage in America has been sitting untouched for nearly two years. As the story goes, the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan program was established in 2007, but administrations have been toying with ideas about how to use it until present day. Some 75 applications from hopeful companies have been whittled down to 25, but there’s no telling how long it’ll be before we hear who’s getting the cash (and when). Many are irate that this dough is still sitting idle, but we tend to agree with the “let’s wait until we find truly remarkably beggars” approach before it’s just handed out to those without a viable plan. The takeaway? Electric vehicles may still end up progressing as planned despite the current economy, but only if brilliant plans can cut through miles of red tape.

Filed under: Transportation

$25 billion in electric vehicle loans still waiting for perfect beggars originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony plans to demonstrate the latest revision of its hybrid fuel cell battery technology two days from now in Tokyo at FC EXPO 2009, the world’s largest fuel cell conference, Engadget reports.

Sony’s system employs a methanol fuel cell and a lithium ion battery that can switch between one, the other, or even both under high-draw situations, the report said.

The company will display two versions at the show: a portable unit (pictured) that’s capable of powering a cell phone for a week, and a larger “interior” model that could power the same handset for a month—perfect for all those 3G cell phones that can barely get through four hours of talk time on a full charge before falling silent.

Volkswagen sure is talking tough about going green, but we’ve yet to actually see any of these long-teased concepts hit the show floor. In case a plug-in Twin Drive hybrid just wasn’t enough to look forward to, the suits in Wolfsburg have just inked a letter of intent with Toshiba in order to form a collaborative agreement that will see the two working together in the development of “electric drive units and the accompanying power electronics for Volkswagen’s planned New Small Family.” If rumors prove accurate, the NSF crew will mimic that Up! concept we’ve been drooling over for ages, and if you were wondering where the batteries would be coming from, this here arrangement suggests that it’ll be from within the partnership. Oh, and you want a launch date, don’t you? How about “forever from now,” or as VW’s Dr. Martin Winterkorn put it: “A considerable amount of research and development work still has to be carried out until we can produce the electric vehicle.”

Continue reading Volkswagen and Toshiba to link up on electric drive systems

Filed under: Transportation

Volkswagen and Toshiba to link up on electric drive systems originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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