A battery is simply a device that stores chemical energy that can be converted into electric potential energy, and thus electricity. Many different types of batteries exist, with varying shapes, sizes, energy capacities, charge and discharge rates, lifetimes and functions. We may not be aware of it, but we encounter batteries throughout our daily routines; starting cars, using cell phones and computing.  Batteries make up a big part of the modern lifestyle.

Both newer, smaller companies, as well as larger corporations with established battery production are currently doing research in improving battery performance. Three of the most important factors in making a battery for the future are: how fast it can charge, how long it will last without needing to be replaced, and how long it can provide power. All of these must be accomplished without compromising the safety of the battery for consumer use.

Hewlett-Packard, teaming with battery maker Boston-Power, recently announced that this year it would offer a laptop battery that can maintain its ability to charge and discharge over the lifetime of the laptop (an average of three years). Currently, the capacity of a laptop battery is significantly reduced after twelve months of use (approximately 300 charges). However, improvements from Boston-Power have yielded a battery that lasts three years without fading and charges to 80 percent capacity in only 30 minutes (many batteries currently take about 2 hours to do so).  This results in happier consumers as well as a battery that is more environmentally friendly, since the ratio of batteries produced for and discarded from one laptop will decrease.

In association with GP Batteries, one of Asia’s largest battery manufacturers, Boston-Power, founded in 2005, now claims to have risen over $68 million in venture financing and to be able to manufacture a million battery cells per month. While its first laptop battery, called the Sonata, will not have a greater energy capacity (running at an industry average four hours per charge), Boston-Power hopes to improve this technology and eventually spin it off to smaller devices, such as cell phones, as well as hybrid electric vehicles.

Another battery company that promises to deliver improved performance through nanoscale electrode technology, initially developed at MIT, is A123Systems. This company delivers high-power lithium-ion batteries for a variety of applications, and already mass-produces cells used in power tools, hybrid vehicles (including hybrid buses), and aviation engine starters. Recently, A123 installed a Hybrid Ancillary Power Unit storage system at a Southern California power plant in order to provide grid stability during times of excess or deficient amounts of energy. A123 plans to build several more such systems as it attempts to widen the use of its unique nanotechnology in the battery market.

California-based ZPower creates fully recyclable batteries using silver and zinc rather than lithium. Thus, ZPower wishes to appeal to consumers who are concerned with the environmental impact of mining for raw materials in order to create a new battery, as most elements in a lithium-ion battery cannot be reused. Silver-zinc batteries also have the advantage of having a higher energy density, meaning that a lithium-ion battery of the same size will not provide as much power, but with a major drawback being the high price of silver. In addition to providing financial incentives to consumers who recycle old batteries, ZPower plans to introduce its battery recycling technology to the mobile electronics industry in 2009.

One innovative Chinese battery company has decided to launch its own plug-in hybrid car. BYD, a private company based in Shenzhen, has grown from a manufacturer of rechargeable batteries into an electric car company, with a notable investor being MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., a unit of Warren Buffett’s empire. Its first vehicle, known as the F3DM sells for about $22,000 and can run up to 60 miles on its electric engine before shifting back to its gasoline engine.  Top speed for this vehicle is over 90 miles per hour. The battery can also fully charge in nine hours from a standard electrical outlet and has a lifetime of over 370,000 miles, or 2,000 charges, which is approximately six years if the battery is charged and discharged every day (which is not likely for the average driver). With the Chevrolet Volt and Toyota’s plug-in hybrid due to be introduced soon, and Ford’s version at least five years away, BYD has gotten a jump start over the competition on both time to market and cost. The company plans to export the vehicle to the United States once strict U.S. safety standards are met.

While the current economic situation is sure to hinder some research into new battery technologies and smaller battery makers, we may see some interesting developments in this market soon. Newer, safer, longer-running, and greener batteries are an integral part to the way we increasingly consume energy in more places than at home or in our cars.