The Great Battery Challenge I

How often do you think about batteries? If a battery is designed well, that means it is effectively doing the job, which gives us one less thing to worry about. Batteries are silent operators in the many things we use daily, and yet we don’t realise how beneficial the power they provide, truly is. For instance, when we take that leisure holiday in a canal boat or campervan, we don’t exactly think how batteries power the critical devices or comforts we have within those types of vehicles. When you take that long-haul coach to Edinburgh, you don’t sit to think about the USB socket being battery powered. They have always been silent operators, allowing us to use our connected devices on the go. However, there are challenges with this.

What is the great battery challenge?

As a society we have become accustomed to using more and more energy. The alternating nature of solar and wind power production requires vast storage capacity. This can be generated through various arrangements, from pumped hydro to flywheels, even compressed air, but no technology is as impeccable and reliable as batteries.

In times bygone, the campervan we once travelled in comprised of a few lights and maybe a small radio. Fast-forward to today, we have advanced the campervan, adding a small TV, perhaps some air conditioning; can’t forget the mobile coffee maker, and the trusty hair dryer. These reliant devices are a comfort that we have become used to, however, there is nothing wrong with having these creature-comforts. It’s just a sheer consequence of development as we form more directable access to such novelties.  

Still, the batteries of yesteryear do not meet today’s needs. This is why lead-acid batteries are progressively being replaced by lithium technology like Aceleron’s product line.

Let’s tap into why lithium technology is better. It’s lighter, holds far more energy and lasts much longer than lead-acid. For context, we could only use a lead-acid battery of similar spec to power a small radio and a mere few lights in our campervan. But with lithium technology, we can also power a microwave, a hairdryer and coffeemaker. The long-haul coach where we could slow-charge our mobile phone via USB is now enabling us to run our laptop and charge it via the USB sockets on the go. This accessibility and convenience is far more beneficial for the end-user and is entirely due to better batteries.

Continue reading (part 2)