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Lancey will make smart radiators with recycled e-bike batteries
Batteries are the future of home energy consumption. But where do you put them? In the garage, or the side of your house? French startup Lancey has a more discrete solution: inside radiators. The team is already producing electric heaters that have a 600W or 1200W battery inside. If you have solar panels, or another form of energy generation, they can theoretically store the resulting power and conveniently heat your home when it's cold. Alternatively, the battery can serve as a distributed grid system for energy providers, drawing electricity at quieter, cheaper times and warming your house or apartment during the busier, pricier hours.
Mophie's wireless iPhone battery case keeps your Lightning port free
Many iPhone battery cases use the Lightning port to keep your handset topped up, and that's obviously a problem when there's no headphone jack. Case makers either need to add a port back or make you forego wired listening altogether. Mophie, however, has a simple solution: wireless charging. Its newly unveiled Juice Pack Access relies solely on Qi to power the iPhone XS, XS Max and XR, keeping the Lightning port open for wired headphones while adding 25 to 31 hours of extra talk time. This also avoids the bulky chin that you've seen in the past.
AT&T portable battery will charge both your Apple Watch and iPhone
Apple's AirPower charging mat may be a no-show, but that doesn't mean you're out of luck if you want a multi-device charger from a big-name brand. Entries at both the FCC and the Wireless Power Consortium have revealed that AT&T is working on the Power Drum, a portable wireless charger and battery bank meant to top up both an Apple Watch and a recent iPhone (or really, any Qi-compatible smartphone). While the concept isn't completely novel, it's very compact -- the biggest issue is the 3,000mAh battery, which could handle an overnight stay but not much more.
Tesla's utility-sized Megapack battery may debut in California
Tesla chief Elon Musk once dropped a hint about a "large product on the stationary storage side" in an interview, and some clues found online showed that the company is calling that product the "Megapack." Now, Electrek has obtained a copy of Tesla's proposal for PG&E's Moss Landing energy storage site, which gives us a more concrete idea of what the Megapack actually is. Based on the documents, Tesla plans to use its new power storage product for large-scale projects instead of the Powerpack. And it makes sense, because each Megapack battery system will apparently measure 23'5" x 5'3" and will have a capacity of around 2,673 kWh.
How Rivian is building the longest lasting batteries in the EV business
The Rivian R1T "adventure vehicle" made headlines and dropped jaws when it was revealed at the 2018 LA Auto Show last month, namely because nobody has ever really tried to make an all-electric pickup for the US market before. Much less one with more than a 400-mile range. That capability is due to the vehicle's gargantuan power pack with capacities up to 180 kWh -- 80 percent larger than today's biggest batteries.
Fluoride discovery could lead to much longer-lasting EV batteries
Researchers have announced a new battery breakthrough that focuses on the negative. Rather than using lithium, the most electro-positive element on the periodic table, they used fluoride, the most electro-negative. It can store more energy than its lithium doppelgänger, but until now, batteries needed to run hot at 150 degrees Celsius or more. Honda, Caltech and NASA scientists discovered a way to make it work at room temperature, which could eventually yield more energy dense and environmentally safe batteries for EVs and other devices.
Jarvish's smart motorbike helmets hit Kickstarter with deep discounts
Jarvish announced two new smart motorcycle helmets earlier this year -- the Jarvish X and Jarvish X-AR, which offer a plethora of helpful riding features, such as voice activation and support for Siri, Google Assistant and Alexa, a 2k front-facing camera, Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, a retractable heads up display in the more expensive model, a lightweight carbon fiber design and hours of battery life. These are, arguably, the smartest helmets on the market. Now, bikers can finally put their money down to get in line to own one themselves -- and for a big discount on regular retail prices.
A Chinese startup may have cracked solid-state batteries
Solid-state batteries have long been heralded as The Next Big Thing after lithium-ion, with companies from all quarters racing to get them into high-volume production. Dyson, BMW and car manufacturer Fisker are just a few names that have been working on the tech for the last few years, but now, reports suggest a Chinese start-up might be the first to have cracked it.
iFixit takes a peek inside the new MacBook Air
You know the drill -- new hardware arrives and iFixit pulls it apart. Apple's revised MacBook Air just hit the shop table, so you can look inside while figuring out which of the company's portable computing solutions fits your lifestyle (if any of them do). A peek inside confirmed Apple's butterfly keyboard setup with silicone gasket that reduces noise and -- just coincidentally -- contaminants from breaking things, as well as a battery cell that can be replaced without swapping the laptop's entire top casing with the keyboard and trackpad.
New solar cell generates hydrogen and electricity at the same time
In the ongoing pursuit of abundant, renewable alternatives to fossil fuels, scientists have produced hydrogen for fuel cells through artificial photosynthesis, which splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. Traditional processes have struggled to use optical, electronic and chemical properties in a way that makes this method efficient, but now researchers from Berkeley Lab have created a recipe that could completely bypass the limitations in current materials.
iPhone XR teardowns take a peek at its XL battery
Now that Apple's iPhone XR is officially available, the usual cast of characters are waiting to tear the device apart and see what's inside. The first teardown video came courtesy of the Germans over at kaputt.de, while iFixit is also busy with its own look inside that includes a few shots take via X-ray. Either way you look at it, the iPhone XR, once pulled apart, shows its status as a device straddling generations. It has hints of the iPhone X, with a rectangular logic board, but also an iPhone 8-style rectangular battery. Speaking of that cell, at 11.16Wh, it's larger than the iPhone XS (10.13), iPhone 8 Plus (10.28) and smaller than the iPhone XS Max (12.08). Since it's also driving a lower-res 6.1-inch LCD screen than the OLED-equipped XS phones, we'd expect the excellent battery life seen in our review to hold up. There weren't any surprises elsewhere -- as expected, breaking its glass back will mean replacing the entire chassis -- but you can see everything from the taptic engine to its single-lens camera below.
Apple and Samsung fined in Italy for throttling phone performance
Apple found itself in some hot water last year when it was discovered that the company was throttling the performance of older phones. But it look like its Batterygate woes aren't quite over. Italy is fining Apple and Samsung 5 million euros each for intentionally slowing down phones. According to Reuters, Apple was slapped with an additional 5 million euro fine for failing to provide customers information on maintaining and replacing batteries.
Electric cars could store energy in their carbon fiber bodies
Electric cars typically need larger, denser batteries if they're going to meet the range expectations of people used to gas-powered vehicles, but available space and weight limit the size of that battery. Researchers might have a solution: turn the very body of the car into a battery. They've conducted a study showing that carbon fiber shells could serve as battery electrodes. The trick is to optimize the size and orientation of the fibers so there's a good balance between stiffness and the electrochemical traits needed to store energy.
Now you can buy a Model 3 for $45,000 before incentives
The Tesla Model 3 was originally announced with a promise that the car could be purchased for as little as $35,000 before federal and state tax incentives were applied, but until now, the cheapest model started at $49,000. Now, Elon Musk announced that his company has added a "mid range battery" option with a price that starts at $45,000 before incentives are applied. According to the exec, if you apply federal tax credits of $7,500 (hopefully you reserved one already) plus California's state tax rebate its price drops to $35k. In response to questions, Musk tweeted that "It's a long range battery with fewer cells." The still-cheaper-yet "standard" battery option that should cut the price more is still months away from availability, while the company can deliver this version (which is equipped with just rear wheel drive instead of a dual-motor AWD setup) right now. If you check its revamped ordering page right now, the next-highest priced model jumps up to $54,000 before incentives since it includes AWD -- an option that Electrek notes has seen a price bump back up to $5,000 -- but if you'd prefer the combination of a long-range battery with an estimated 310 mile range and RWD for $49k, it's still available for ordering "off menu" for a few days. Opting for this mid-range battery means living with an estimated 260 mile range, which should still be more than enough to cover most commutes and trips several times over.
Researchers 3D print custom-sized lithium-ion batteries
One of the challenges in creating smaller and smaller devices these days, such as wearables and phones, is that the batteries can take up a lot of room. Cases are often designed around standard battery sizes, and it often creates wasted space. Now, new research published in ACS Applied Energy Materials shows that it's possible to 3D-print lithium-ion batteries into whatever shape you need.
How to safely charge and store lithium drone batteries
By Signe Brewster This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full blog here. Although flying a drone might sound like the biggest risk in operating one, dealing with the batteries is potentially more explosive. At the 100 hospital emergency rooms that report electronics-related injury cases to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 200 incidents (PDF) involving drone batteries, stemming from fire, smoke, and explosions, were recorded between 2012 and 2017. Not every drone-battery incident results in an injury, but each pilot and expert I interviewed had a story about an exploding or fiery lithium battery going off especially after it had repeatedly crashed to the ground inside a drone. "When the batteries go, it's like a little bomb," drone pilot and HubHobby employee Brandon Reinert said. "It's usually pretty spectacular." The most common type of battery that powers racing and photography drones is lithium-polymer, or Li-po, a kind of lithium-ion battery that packs more energy storage into smaller spaces. To find out how to reduce the risk of a spectacular battery failure and get drone batteries to last longer and perform better, I spoke to battery and drone experts about the right way to charge, use, and care for them.
'Flying battery' drone can apparently hover non-stop for two hours
A startup called Impossible Aerospace claims its "flying battery" drone has a flight time of up to two hours. If that holds true, the US-1 will be able to stay in the air almost five times longer than many other drone makers' devices before you have to recharge the battery system.
Researchers create safer lithium-ion batteries that harden on impact
Lithium-ion batteries have a world of important applications (smartphones, electric vehicles and the Mars Curiosity Rover, to name a few), but they're also notoriously unstable, and if damaged can result in burns, house fires and even plane crashes. Now, researchers think they've found a way to eliminate these dangers, by creating a lithium-ion battery that hardens on impact.
Liquid metal battery could lower cost of storing renewable energy
As dreamy as it might be to combine renewable energy sources with storage batteries, there's a problem: those batteries are expensive. It might take you years to recoup the costs. You'll be glad to hear, then, that Stanford scientists have a way to make those batteries more cost-effective. They've developed a liquid metal-based flow battery that can store electricity at a lower price, even on a large scale. A metal-producing mix of sodium and potassium serves as the negative side of the battery, providing nearly twice the maximum voltage of typical flow batteries (making them high-value) without having to resort to exotic chemicals or extreme temperatures.
Honda will use electric bikes to test swappable batteries
Honda has teamed up with Panasonic to start testing the swappable rechargeable batteries it debuted at CES this year. The partners are bringing Honda's Mobile Power Packs to Indonesia, where they'll be used to power electric mobility products, particularly electric bikes. Indonesia is the third largest motorcycle market in the world after India and China, and its government has been thinking of ways to reduce traffic and pollution brought by the rise of the two-wheeled vehicles. One of the solutions it came up with is to encourage the adoption of electric-powered vehicles, making the country one of the best places to test the batteries.
