Zinc-airBatteries
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Energizer promises new and improved zinc-air battery for summer 2010
Energizer has been working on zinc-air batteries for quite some time now (along with plenty of others), but it looks like its now finally set to deliver with a new "standard battery" that's said to be on track for a launch sometime in the summer of next year. What's more, while some of the company's previous attempts at zinc-air batteries have only been able to manage average run times of between one and three months, Energizer says it's recently been able to triple things in time for the batteries' big debut. That will first come in the form of some AAAA batteries from Energizer itself, which will apparently be priced similarly to "special lithium batteries," and will eventually be followed by zinc-air batteries in a range of different sizes. During the same time, we should also start to see some of the first products with integrated zinc-air batteries from some of the 30 odd OEMs now working with Energizer, who are working to put the batteries into everything from Bluetooth headsets to remote controls to portable audio players.
Rechargeable zinc-air batteries promise a lot, we'll see if they deliver in 2010
Is there any other field of technology that promises as many revolutionary innovations as battery makers do yet delivers so few? We've heard of battery life being made four times, eight times, even twelve times better... and seen pretty much none of it pan out in any sort of meaningful way. Zinc-air batteries are also nothing new, but now some whizkids up in Norway have figured out how to make them rechargeable and set up an entire company, ReVolt, for their commercialization. With more than double the energy density of regular Lithium-Ion batteries, safer operation, lower cost of production, and environmentally friendlier ingredients, ReVolt's tech sounds as sweet as anything, but we'd advise waiting for the pudding-based proof before getting excited. Plans are for small hearing aid and cellphone batteries to show up in 2010, and if all goes well there, larger cells for electric vehicles could also follow. Sure. [Via PhysOrg]
