Battery Maker Bets on Silver-Zinc for Laptops

ZPower, a company based in Camarillo, Calif., is developing a new kind of battery for consumer electronics that it says will be more powerful than lithium-ion, safer, and potentially more earth-friendly as well.

The technology ZPower is banking on is called silver-zinc, which it says will provide up to 40 percent more power than a lithium-ion battery of the same size.

Ross Dueber, the company’s chief executive, says a top-tier laptop manufacturer will release the first computer designed to accept silver-zinc batteries in mid-2009. The laptop’s runtime with silver-zinc will increase from the roughly 5 hours afforded by a typical lithium-ion battery to at least 7 hours, according to Mr. Dueber.

Silver is relatively expensive and silver-zinc batteries will cost more than their lithium-ion counterparts. Mr. Dueber wouldn’t say how much, but he expects laptop manufacturers will charge a “modest premium.”

I wrote about silver-zinc batteries over two year ago. Hopefully this time they will actually make it to the market.

I also don't understand why they aren't focusing on cellphones. Seems like that would be a better market given how much smaller the batteries are in cellphones and therefore the additional cost for these batteries wouldn't be as great. Also, to keep the phones as small as possible they need batteries as dense as possible.

via Green Inc.