What Is The Next Battery Technology That We Can Expect To See In Mobile Platforms?

We have said for some time that in order to extend the battery life of the typical modern notebook, we need a breakthrough in battery chemistry. Things are about to finally heat up on this front with the development of Silver-Zinc battery technology.

Silver-Zinc battery technology may hold the key to reaching the goal of eight hours of continuous battery life for the mobile PC of 2004. In order to achieve eight hours of battery life, it is important to realize that you will need 80 watts per hour battery power. Of course, this is why battery technology continues to be one of the most important and talked about problems with today's mobile technology.

Silver-Zinc and Fuel Cells are two of the latest solutions that attempt to address the need for more battery life in mobile PCs.

Perhaps the most difficult thing for many users to understand about battery life is that the problem is really where you think it is. 33% of the power required to run the typical mobile PC is used to power the panel and the inverter. A breakthrough in mobile display technology is also going to be necessary to achieve the ten watt target that Intel has suggested for 2004. The current crop of notebook PCs average about 15.5 watts of power consumption.

The components that OEMs choose to cut corners and keep prices low often lead to shorter battery life. Many of these problems are found in the display panels that companies choose.

The new Banias platform for mobile PCs is only piece of the puzzle, and there is much more work to be done to achieve the goal of ten watts. Silver-Zinc has good potential, but in order to reach the market, much more research and development is necessary.