[Chris Gohlke]

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/05/...-in-10-minutes/

"Imagine this -- you, sitting in a dingy airport terminal waiting on your flight with a lifeless laptop and just 10 minutes to spare. You've got oodles of spreadsheet work to do before 8:00AM tomorrow, and unless you get it done on this flight, you're fubared. Toshiba is looking to make said scenario seem like one that's not so grim, as its prototype SCIB (Super Charge Ion Battery) purportedly has the potential to get 90% full in just 10 minutes."

I've been traveling a lot lately and can really appreciate the need for something like this.  This will be a killer feature that hopefully Toshiba will license out for all sorts of devices. Of course the cynic in me thinks that technology like this would be kept out of the marketplace in order to maintain the market for extra batteries.

 

 

[Chris Gohlke]

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/05/...-in-10-minutes/

"Imagine this -- you, sitting in a dingy airport terminal waiting on your flight with a lifeless laptop and just 10 minutes to spare. You've got oodles of spreadsheet work to do before 8:00AM tomorrow, and unless you get it done on this flight, you're fubared. Toshiba is looking to make said scenario seem like one that's not so grim, as its prototype SCIB (Super Charge Ion Battery) purportedly has the potential to get 90% full in just 10 minutes."

I've been traveling a lot lately and can really appreciate the need for something like this.  This will be a killer feature that hopefully Toshiba will license out for all sorts of devices. Of course the cynic in me thinks that technology like this would be kept out of the marketplace in order to maintain the market for extra batteries.

 

 

[virain]

It is great! I just hope it won't discharge as fast

[Jason Dunn]

Sounds like a great idea, but like every single other battery technology I've seen, I won't get excited until it comes to market. In fact, has ANYONE seen a SINGLE improvement in batteries in the past 24 months? I've lost track of the number of battery-related technological advances that we've posted about here, yet in two years none of them have come to market in any way.

[kzemach]

Don't get too excited. There are many battery techs out there already that can safely do a 90% charge in 10 min (A123, power cells from E-One Moli, Sony, Sanyo, Samsung, LG Chem, Panasonic, Lischen, etc).

What's the problem then? The problem is that to achieve this, the separator is thinner (and more fragile, thus they don't wind as tight), the cathode and anode have to have more porosity (to get the ions in/out fast enough, thus less active material), modifiers are needed on the anode side to make sure the SEI layer isn't too thick (otherwise you get li metal plating; that's bad), anodes and cathodes must be thinner (thus less active material), foils must be thicker to move the charge (thus less active material), etc etc.

The end sum of all this, to include the technology listed in this topic, is that you get ~half the overall battery capacity: yes, you can charge it 90% in 10 min, but it only runs half as long. In addition, practical implementation of this never results in a 10 min charge due to litigation and liability (as well as sensible risk factor) fears.

For instance, the Makita Li-Ion 18V power tool battery charges 100% in 30 min. It COULD do 90% in 10 min, but that's too much risk for them to take on; too small a margin for potential error. And the 18650 (that's a size) cells they're using to achieve this are 1.5Ah, whereas most 18650 laptop cells are coming in at least at 2.4Ah, with 2.6 and 2.8 shipping in quantity as well.

So, yeah. Don't get excited. The only way it's relevant is for things like OLPC and the netbooks where the power usage is low enough for a low energy/fast charge cell to be useful.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by kzemach

The end sum of all this, to include the technology listed in this topic, is that you get ~half the overall battery capacity: yes, you can charge it 90% in 10 min, but it only runs half as long.

Wow. Not worth it at all to me...I don't mind a battery taking a few hours to charge - what I care about most is how long it lasts overall...

[Constant Caffeine]

If Toshiba has anything to do with a product I will have to pass. After owning the e570, a Satellite A75 and several other products from Toshiba, I cannot see myself buying any other Toshiba product. As you may know, their slogan is "Toshiba - In touch with tomorrow". It should be "Toshiba - In touch with tomorrow because today we have no clue".

I view Toshiba products much like I do Packard Bell, worthless.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Constant Caffeine

I view Toshiba products much like I do Packard Bell, worthless.

I agree with you somewhat regarding laptops - I will not purchase another Toshiba laptop - but I have a Toshiba DLP and a DVD player, and have been really impressed with them.