Kalafrana Rambler: Next10 and battery technology

The Next 10 Years: Battery technology

What is this technology?

A battery is a device that uses a chemical reaction to generate electricity.

Batteries power virtually any device that requires mobility or needs to be kept running in the event of the primary (mains) power source failing.

We use batteries everyday. Nickel metal hydride (NiMH), nickel-cadmium, lead-acid, lithium-ion - chemical elements contained within a metal housing that allows a chemical reaction to create electricity that can be directly harnessed by the host device.

They power the tiniest LED in a torch to the family car.

So, it's already happening but where will it go next?

What will happen?

Battery technology is changing fast. The materials used in convention batteries are often very heavy and caustic to our environment. Leakage from batteries pollutes our landfills with highly acidic discharge. Battery recycling is expensive, messy and poorly implemented so consumers and industry continue to dispose them in an ecologically damage manner.

Conventional batteries for everyday use

Single use (disposable) batteries will gradually be phased out and multi-recharge units will replace them. The number of recharge cycles will increase and the disposal facilities will be implemented to reduce the toxic dumping of spent batteries.

New radical materials like Aerographite will make batteries substantially lighter and smaller. Batteries used to power high capacity devices such as electric cars will reduce the weight considerably, and require a lower power input for the same level of performance.

Materials with built in elasticity will allow for non-rigid, flexible batteries to be woven into textile, bringing clothing that has built-in power.

How will this impact society?

Batteries have long been the Achilles heel of sustained performance from our electrical devices.

New technologies will substantially prolong the endurance of battery packs, make them much more portable and less toxic to the environment.

Government, industry and consumers will better understand the ecological damage wreaked by traditional battery materials and will demand the phasing out of the toxic elements.