David Flynn30 May 2007, 12:33 PM
The notebook maker plans a 25% increase in battery capacity and has its eye on 'fast charge' technology which will recharge your notebook in five minutes.
 Hot new battery technology: Lenovo hopes its new Lithium Metal batteries won't suffer the same fate as many Lithium Ion batteries have (pic: engadget) |
Last week we reported on concerns by Lenovo over
power-hungry notebook components which are out-stripping advances in battery technology.
Discrete graphics accelerators, faster hard disks, more RAM and additional wireless radios such as those used by the nascent 802.11n Wi-Fi spec are all contributing to the overhead.
However, Lenovo's worldwide competitive analyst Matthew Kohut tells us that new lithium-metal cells and fast charge technology are both on the company's radar.
"Battery technology is now increasing about five percent per year, in terms of overall capacity, but using lithium-metal instead of (today's) lithium-ion allows a 25% increase in energy density in the same amount of space."
Kohut says that lithium-metal cells "are one of those things that works well in the lab but commercialising it becomes a question of cost, stability and recharge cycles before it becomes more widely available. It's probably going to be three years before we start to see it."
Lenovo is also watching developments in fast charge systems which can force-feed a notebook's battery to go from empty "to fully charged in under five minutes" says Kohut.
But the systems aren't yet ready to appear as a ThinkPad accessory. "With today's technology, rapid charging isn't good for battery longevity. When you fast charge something you generate a lot of heat, and heat will basically warps the battery cells, the metal plates and insulators wrapped up inside the system. Over time those warped cells can't hold as much charge, so the battery's capacity slowly decreases and the battery eventually just wears out."
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