Toshiba Battery Charges In 10 Minutes

Slatterz writes "Toshiba has unveiled a battery prototype that offers a 90 percent charge capacity in just 10 minutes. The Super Charge Ion Battery (SCIB) is capable of handling 5,000 to 6,000 recharge cycles, compared to the typical 500 offered by standard lithium-ion batteries. The new battery is composed of a durable material that offers a high level of thermal stability and prevents overheating."

Re:a better link

[Nefarious Wheel]

I respectfully suggest we should call this a "Shipstone" (obligatory Heinlein reference ("Friday")).

Re:Sounds like LiFePo4

[eebra82]

But they have a drawback: Only about half the energy density compared to normal Lithium Ions. Not to mention that in order to really charge them that fast, you will need a much higher rated, and thus bigger/heavier PSU brick for the notebook...

On the other hand, this is only (to become) the first commercial version of this battery. Give it a few years and we might be seeing promising things.

Having said that, I don't think this product is directly targeting the laptop industry. For starters, as you mentioned, it requires more space. Secondly, when and if it gets commercially available for laptops, we'll be seeing fuel cell batteries as well. They offer more performance and that instant recharge factor as well.

I think this is an excellent product for items like lawnmowers, bikes and cars. But there is also another incredibly useful product segment. Think of things like electric toothbrushes and other small peripherals which don't require huge batteries and dozens of hours of usage. On one hand you get less power than Li-on batteries, but it makes up for the fast recharge.

More importantly,

[CSMatt]

How long does it take to discharge?

my mp3 suppose to recharge in 3minutes

[holywarrior21c]

Guess what, my mp3 [sonystyle.ca] gets recharged 80% in 30minutes. This is sufficient for me. And one full charge lasts 50 hours on my mp3 player. i listen to the music on my mp3 very often and quick recharging really comes in handy. i no longer need to buy dozens of batteries each time i go to the walmart. but i wouldn't see this helping that much when it comes to power hungry laptops. my 4 year old laptop lasts less than 50mins without power. i don't think i wanna move around charging for 3minutes and work for other 40 mins. Raw battery time is more important than how quick it charges when it comes to case like my laptop. if my laptop lasts good 2hours than quick recharge time would worth having so. This would be a good application for electric cars also. quick visit to the station or nearby outlet for couple of minutes every 100 mile wouldn't be too much of hassle.

More details - this tells me nothing

[theBike45]

It's almost a given that any details about some new battery technology always avoids the negatives. Those hopeful or shilling simply avoid the bad stuff. other li ion batteries can be recharged quickly and either 1) cost a fortune and weigh a ton (Altair) or 2) diminish their lifespan by so doing. Regardless, it all comes down to cost.This article says nothing about practicality, weight, etc.

Re:Previously on Slashdot:

[nobodyman]

Are you implying that the this story is a dupe? It's not really, when you read TFA's. The article from the previous slashdot story is from before Toshiba has released anything. Now the battery is out (for industrial applications), and the most recent slashdot article refers to Toshiba's laptop battery prototype.