Batteries have come a long way in the last century, with advancements in lithium batteries giving us smaller, thinner and lighter batteries with thousands of charging cycles, and all the new things happening with AGM batteries, it's exciting to think what lays ahead.
Here are some exciting new advancements in battery technology to look out for in the next few years.
Graphene is an up and coming battery technology that could potentially displace lithium. Graphene has the potential to give us an EV battery with a range of 800km on a single charge, and a charge time of only a few minutes, talk about convenience! These batteries don’t use a chemical reaction, but instead, use superconductors that store the energy in an electrical field. This means that graphene batteries won’t degrade they lithium batteries do, giving you a longer lasting, more durable power source.
Another exiting technology that has been tested and proven in Korea, this flexible battery is like a tough paper that’s waterproof. In testing, it has been folded over 200,000 times without loosing any of its performance ability.
This will come in handy with foldable phones and tablets starting to enter the market, not to mention wearables.
A new way of storing energy generated by the sun as heat, thermal storage could potentially be used to power homes on a large scale. There is currently a thermal solar plant in the Mojave Desert in California, which had been generating energy for nearly 5 years, and there is one proposed in Port Augusta right here in Australia.
Thermal energy storage used molten salt to store the heat generated by the sun, and convert it into energy for later use.
There’s nothing worse than having to wait to leave the house because your phone still at 20 percent.
The Ultra-fast-charging-battery by StoreDot has been gaining traction, and BP announced a $20 million investment into the company this year! The battery allegedly maintains a goof energy density while being able to charge at an insanely fast rate.
If this comes to fruition, this will be great for EV owners who need to get places quickly.
Apple and Samsung have already normalized wireless charging in recent years, and it’s pretty cool!
The next step is charging through the air, imagine being able to walk around with your phone in your pocket as it charges.
This is achievable by using an electromagnetic field to transfer the energy through induction. This has many benefits including, no corrosion, less wear and tear on the socket, makes it easier to charge EV's and no tangled wires getting in the way.
This may be beneficial for the progression of lightweight batteries. This battery is made of copper foam and consists of 98 percent air.
With faster charging rates, higher capacity, and potentially lower cost, this 3D battery could change everything.
