New battery management technology could boost capacity by 40%

Lithium-ion batteries are the rechargeable life forces powering most portable consumer electronics. If you have a smartphone or laptop, there’s a good chance you’ve also dashed for a power outlet in a public space once your device reached its first birthday. After a year of trial and error, the Ottawa-based father-son duo hit an engineering bull’s-eye. By pairing batteries with their own special printed circuit board, they were able to increase a battery’s capacity by 30 per cent. 

One of the biggest sources of frustrations for users of mobile devices, from laptops to smartphones, is the relatively short life and small capacity of their lithium-ion batteries. But one father and son team believe they have a solution for that, and it’s not a new type of battery, but rather a better way to manage the batteries so they can hold a bigger charge and last for more recharge cycles. While we keep hearing about the coming age of the supercapacitor, which could have huge capacities and very quick charge times, it may be quite some time before we see them in the devices we use every day. In the meantime, it stands to reason that getting the most out of the batteries already in production would be a big step forward for the mobile tech industry.