I saw a colleague of mine switching off his phone, taking the battery out and recharging his phone. Something unique, which stuck me on writing about future of recharging of battery.
The apps and the UX of smart phones are getting to the next level. The viewing experience now puts the TV to shame. But one basic problem is the battery life. It is a difficult nut to crack, but also lies a huge opportunity.
If a company can take battery life from current 10 hours to 100 days will definitely have an edge. That’s why Universities and companies are investing in R&D.
Future of most of the amazing things that are being invented are dependent on battery technology. There is a huge mismatch between hardware of mobility devices and the battery. Energy density of Lithium batteries are now comparable to hand grenades. Recently a phone has been banned to be carried out in flights due to overheating & even blasting.
As the demand grows for smartphones, smart cities, smart wearable etc. The requirements are simple, battery needs to be charged in seconds and last for months.
In next decade as air breathing batteries may become a reality where Lithium-air breathing batteries are charged in seconds, cost One fifth the cost and weight. The concept is simple, just like you tap to open your camera on your phone, similar front end would be created for you to tap and aerodynamics air filters will open for self-air charging. With a simple swipe charging will kick start. No need of chargers or charging pods.
Batteries are such an important space that as future electric cars, spacecraft’s and phones will need new batteries. As our dependency on the gadgets increases, we need to be sensitive towards the environment as well. Therefore, eco-friendly companies may consider the power of photosynthesis to charge your device. This already exists and can be bought now. Imagine an entire forest providing 100 percent clean energy to power the entire city and its devices. It will give us a reason to protect our forests and plants.
Future of digital transactions is also dependent on power consumption. As more and more people opt for digital transactions, the load on power consumption will keep on going up. The excuse that the phone is dead in order to do a digital transaction will be extinct.
As the world explore space stations and life in Mars, batteries that never run out of power would be required. Whosoever makes this breakthrough, will have made one of the biggest breakthrough of this century.