By David Ponce
Proving once again that it’s mighty difficult to actually own a cake while eating it at the same time, company Sion Power is claiming to have developed a battery that greatly outlasts even the most efficient of today’s Lithim-Ion powerpacks. There is, however, one major drawback that just might be a dealbreaker.
Let me explain.
Sion Power’s batteries work on a different chemical reaction than Li-Ion altogether: Lithim-Sulfur. And these babies pack some serious juice, capable of keeping an HP TC1000 tablet PC alive for an entire day. Considering most batteries die out after roughly 6 hours, this is a heck of an improvement. There are even talks of some sort of involvement with Intel, though I don’t have enough concrete information about that to even speculate. So, why aren’t people lining up at Sion’s doors to buy these?
Well, for one, they’re much heavier than standard Li-Ion batteries (though I don’t know by how much). But worse yet, they have a life cycle of only 60 charges. And that is a heck of a problem. The battery is not in production just yet. It’s slated to come out sometime in early 2008. So hopefully by then, things will look a little better.
[Sion Power] VIA [Gadget Buzz]
[…] My laptop battery is a target of frequent distress and complaint, since it only lasts about 12 minutes between charges these days. I want one that is much better and Sion Power has come through with a pretty cool solution. Not perfect, mind you, but pretty cool. It?s a Lithium-Sulfur battery and it can give you a full day of power from a single charge. There are some drawbacks, of course, because nothing cool can ever be completely cool. The new battery is heavier than the typical Lithium-Ion battery. More distressingly, though, it only has a lifespan of 60 charges before you have to chuck it out and buy a new one. Not nice to the environment or the pocket book. It won?t be on the market until 2008, though, so hopefully they can fix those problems. Pretty cool. (Oh Gizmo!) […]
Hi,
seems to be a mistake: the SION batteries ar lighter than lithium-ions.
http://news.com.com/Power-saving+pitches+for+notebooks+at+IDF/2100-1005_3-6047480.html
Regards,
Andreas
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