Battery Technology to Potentially Double Laptop Life

Jun 15, 2004 11:50 AM
Edited by PETech Staff

Zinc Matrix Power Inc. has signed a technology collaboration agreement with Intel Corp. to develop a new battery technology for laptop computers that could result in laptop run times of up to 10 hours.

Zinc Matrix Power develops a polymer-based rechargeable alkaline battery technology that is similar to common flashlight battery chemistry, but has demonstrated about two times the energy to volume of today’s lithium-based laptop batteries in lab tests. This could potentially double run times in the same package size as current laptop batteries. Additionally, this technology, like common flashlight batteries, uses a water-based electrolyte, which, together with its low-pressure, flexible plastic casing, minimizes the risk of fire or explosion due to abuse.

Zinc Matrix Power and Intel will work together to develop several aspects of this technology, including the battery packaging, charging circuits and fuel gauges, which could enable computer manufacturers to build Intel processor-based laptops powered by this new battery technology.

This new technology will be previewed in September at Intel’s upcoming developer forum. The company plans to introduce this technology commercially in 2006.

For information visit, www.zmp.com.

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