DYSON, THE UK COMPANY best known for its vacuum cleaners and other household appliances, has invested in a company that aims to improve battery life.
It has invested €14.2 million in Sakti3 which claims its solid-state batteries offers about twice as much power as a standard lithium-ion battery.
According to MIT Technology Review, it achieves this by using new materials and manufacturing techniques to improve its storage capacity.
Sakti3 uses new materials and manufacturing techniques to achieve higher energy density. The company’s battery does away with the flammable liquid electrolyte used in conventional lithium-ion batteries, which makes it feasible to use a different set of high-energy storage materials.
Solid-state batteries can be miniaturised and tend to have a longer shelf-life than standard batteries. They can withstand high temperatures meaning they can use materials that would normally be too dangerous to use in a traditional lithium-ion battery to increase the amount of energy stored.
While the initial applications for this technology will first appear in Dyson products, it could be used for other devices such as smartphones, tablets, and electric cars. Sakti3 says its methods allows “high quality, large scale production” which can be done at a lower cost.
While device technology quickly improves with every passing year, battery technology has struggled to keep up. The only way to improve battery life is to increase its size meaning you either choose a device that’s thin and light but only lasts a day, get a device with a bigger battery but is thicker and heavier, or buy an external battery pack.
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