Whether it’s the iPhone 6, the Apple Watch or some other hot piece of tech, battery life is one of the most commonly criticized aspects of today’s devices.
That may be about to change, however, courtesy of a University of Michigan spinoff company called Sakti3, which has developed a new type of solid-state battery capable of storing twice the energy of traditional liquid-based lithium rechargeable batteries.
En route to saving our smartphones, the company has picked up a cool $15 million investment from vacuum company Dyson.
“Sakti3 has achieved leaps in performance, which current battery technology simply can’t,” Dyson founder James Dyson told The Guardian newspaper. “It’s these fundamental technologies – batteries, motors – that allow machines to work properly.”
The technology, which will be commercialized by Dyson, means that companies like Apple will no longer have to choose between long-lasting battery life or beautiful thin designs for their devices, battle that is almost always going to be lost by people arguing for the former while Jony Ive holds so much sway.
Sakti3’s technology uses solid lithium electrodes instead of a liquid mix of chemicals, resulting in the battery’s ability to double the amount of energy it can store — with more than 1,000 watt hours per liter, versus the 620 watts per hour per liter seen in today’s best lithium-ion batteries.
The technology’s not just limited to future-generation iPhones or Apple Watches, either. If Apple does indeed decide to launch a mass-market electric car by 2020, a supercharged battery could be just the crucial ingredient it needs to secure its success with the public.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
5 responses to “Revolutionary new mobile battery delivers double the juice”
1. Electrodes are always solid, so you must be talking about the electrolytes.
2. Double the juice would be 1240 w/h/L. This is closer to 61% increase
So why hasn’t this company been bought by Apple, Google or Samsung yet?
Math is hard, but this isn’t a doubling. It’s impressive, but all it will allow manufacturers to do is shrink batteries by roughly 32% for the same charge OR use the same size as today to get you through a Real Full Day of usage. Either are nice, but neither is truly revolutionary.
That said, technology improves over time. If they can scale 20% improvements per generation, they’ll have something truly special in a decade.
Also, am SHOCKED that they only raised $15MM. I guess with Dyson doing most of the heavy lifting this is likely more of a quasi buyout (Dragon’s Den style) than a true investment. This company could have raised $500MM or more from large firms… why didn’t they? Easy money or …?
Honestly, my iPhone battery is just fine it’s about 11 months later by miracle it begins to hold less charge, that’s when it’s time to go to the Apple Store and exchange for a brand new phone !
That’s because it’s designed to give you approximately 300 full charge cycles before it degrades exponentially.