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Google's Project Ara is an effort to create a modular smartphone. Users can dynamically swap hardware modules to upgrade or alter the configuration of the phone. It is scheduled to debut in Puerto Rico in the second half of 2015 for testing. Now SolidEnergy has announced a high-density battery module for the platform:
Module makers for Project Ara are already lining up to create third-party modules for the platform, and one of the more interesting ones is SolidEnergy, which promises to make revolutionary batteries that have twice the capacity of current batteries.
SolidEnergy is an MIT startup with $4.5 million in funding, and it has 12 employees who have been working on this new technology for the past three years. The company has developed an ultra-thin metal anode that has twice the density of the graphite and silicon anodes commonly used in smartphone batteries."Our battery basically makes the Project Ara phone more practical," said SolidEnergy founder and CEO Dr. Qichao Hu in an interview. "Right now, one of the major challenges with this phone is that the battery life is too short."
Because the company can just sell its own battery modules to consumers and because its batteries can store twice as much energy than the competitors, SolidEnergy has chosen to make batteries for Project Ara at first. Project Ara only has room for so many modules, and the battery module isn't particularly large in size. That makes high storage capacity very compelling. SolidEnergy will begin commercializing its own batteries in 2016. Batteries targeted at electric vehicles will follow in 2017.
(Score: 2) by Open4D on Tuesday February 03 2015, @05:27PM
It's not too short for me.
At least, not if the following is true: an Ara phone's "supporting framework will also contain a tiny backup battery, which can keep the phone alive while you swap a dead battery module for a charged one [ieee.org]"
I have stated previously [soylentnews.org], with regards to mobile phones, that I want it to be "easy & cheap to have multiple batteries that can be swapped out during the day", probably by means of a new type of standardized battery. "You carry a few in your pockets in a (standardized) protective case, have a few at the office, a few in the car, etc.. If you're ever caught short, you can always borrow one from a friend or buy a pre-charged one from any shop / vending machine / cafe / bar."
Until seeing this story it hadn't occurred to me that Project Ara might be my best hope for this ambition.
So it's great that SolidEnergy think they can double the energy density. But for me it's not that big a deal, because getting through 2 battery modules in a day is only moderately more convenient than getting through 4 battery modules in a day.