Battery Technology May Finally Catch Up To Consumer Needs

As anyone who reads this blog is well aware, we’re a bit obsessed with battery life around here.  And with good reason!  One of the things anyone who uses mobile technology wants most is more time away from the plug and the outlet.  After all, it is supposed to be mobile. Manufacturers are creeping toward 8 hours of actual battery life (slowly), but they are doing so with batteries that haven’t changed much for decades.  And, let’s face it, there’s only so much hardware and software can do.  What we really need are battery cells that last longer. Happily, that may be on the horizon. From CrunchGear:

Researchers in South Korea, led by one Prof. Cho Jae-phil at the Hanyang University, have developed a new type of lithium battery that lasts as long as eight times as long as traditional lithium batteries. So, for example, your laptop that gets five hours of battery life all of a sudden gets 35 hours of battery life.

As CG points out, this is still in development, so it could be a few years before consumers get the benefit.  Still, it might benefit laptop and other mobile manufacturers to throw some R&D money at this to help it along.  The first company to bring out an ultraportable that gets 30 hours of battery yet is still light and not bulky will be in for some serious bank.