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ZPower Seeks to End the Lithium-Ion Battery Era

Posted 08/25/08 at 10:35:36 AM  by Paul Lilly

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Call ZPower ambitious or destined to fail, but whatever you do, don't tell ZPower's brass that lithium-ion batteries are the way to go. Instead, this company has made it their mission "to be the leading global provider of silver-zinc rechargeable battery technology for portable power applications."

Toppling lithium-ion as the technology of choice is no easy task, but according to ZPower, next generation silver-zinc rechargeables will offer 40 percent more runtime than traditional Li-Ion while also being chemically stable. And in a nod towards environmentalists, the company says over 95 percent of the primary elements in silver-zinc batteries can be recycled and reused.

Does it all sound too good to be true? Perhaps, but if it means we can kill time during a cross-country flight by watching a 3-hour flick and getting in a round or two of gaming, then here's hoping ZPower can pull it off.

Image Credit: ZPower

COMMENTS:9
TAGS: mobile, notebook, laptop, battery, lithium-ion, zpower
COMMENTS
avatarYour right. Litium Ion

Submitted by Keith E. Whisman on Mon, 08/25/2008 - 1:01pm

Your right. Litium Ion batteries were really expensive when they first arrived, now they power sex toys for crying out loud. So any new battery technology is going to be expensive until it becomes mainstream and alot of companies are producing them.

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avatarI don't think there's any

Submitted by jwalch.hawk on Mon, 08/25/2008 - 12:08pm

I don't think there's any question that these batteries will be expensive (btw, Keith, you can *sorta* make silver from lead, but it's an expensive process and there had to have been at least a small amount of silver in the lead ore to begin with...  So it's not like it really saves you anything in the long run).

I'd be willing to pay up to 40% more compared to Lithium-ion batteries if they have the extra life as advertised.  Should be interesting to see how ZPower plans to keep the price of these down.

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avatarSo your saying that there is

Submitted by Keith E. Whisman on Mon, 08/25/2008 - 12:27pm

So your saying that there is something to Alchemy? Alchemy is legitimate?

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avatarYes and no.  It's not

Submitted by jwalch.hawk on Mon, 08/25/2008 - 5:33pm

Yes and no.  It's not exactly the something for nothing that its original intention was...

 

If you have to spend two bajillion dollars to produce the energy required to fuel the chemical reactions to produce one bajillion dollars worth of silver, does it really count?  I'd say no. :P

It's kinda like a certain favorite "green" alternative energy source where you actually have to burn more carbon to produce it than you would have burned just using the fossil fuel in the first place.  You're not exactly getting yourself anywhere if you have to pollute the environment twice as much just to get something that doesn't pollute it.

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avatarYour right both Zinc and

Submitted by Keith E. Whisman on Mon, 08/25/2008 - 11:18am

Your right both Zinc and silver are expensive but through the miracles of alchemy we can make silver and zinc from lead and lead is cheap.

I've been able to turn lead into gold. The secret is yellow paint.

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avatarMay be

Submitted by wk on Mon, 08/25/2008 - 11:05am

it is really good to hear that a new technology may solve lithium-ion batteries short battery life, but what about the cost, silver isn't cheap.

hope they'll produce a good products that can extend battery life.

MPC is my home page

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avatarI have had a Li-Ion blow up

Submitted by mlee19 on Mon, 08/25/2008 - 11:00am

I have had a Li-Ion blow up on me, not fun! It would be great to have a more stable battery on the market that is also better for the envioremnt.

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avatarCool how did you get the

Submitted by Keith E. Whisman on Mon, 08/25/2008 - 12:58pm

Cool how did you get the Li-Ion battery to explode? I know that Litheum does'nt react to well to either air or water. So I guess it's easy to get a boom out of it.

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avatarI would also like to add

Submitted by Keith E. Whisman on Mon, 08/25/2008 - 9:48am

I would also like to add that silver is a good antioxident and zinc is also good for the body. So I guess finally we have a safe edible battery?

When you battery is dead just swallow it. The Vitamin battery or vitabat.

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