lithium ion batteries

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Swedish Company Says It's Made Huge Battery Breakthrough

High-capacity battery doesn't use any critical minerals

(Newser) - Europe's leading battery maker says it has made a breakthrough that could reduce the world's reliance on China. Swedish company Northvolt, founded in 2015 by two former Tesla execs, says its new sodium-ion battery doesn't use the critical minerals lithium, nickel, graphite, and cobalt—and it has...

Lithium-Ion Battery Blamed for Another 3 Deaths in NYC

New York officials say something must be done

(Newser) - New York City officials say retailers and food delivery companies must do more to halt the proliferation of unsafe e-bike and e-scooter batteries, after a fire blamed on an electric scooter's lithium ion battery killed three people over the weekend, the AP reports. "There is blood on the...

World's Oldest Nobel Winner Leaves a Lasting Impact
He Was One
of the Biggest
Scientists
in Tech
obituary

He Was One of the Biggest Scientists in Tech

John Goodenough, who has died at 100, helped invent the lithium ion battery

(Newser) - A scientist by the name of John Goodenough has died at age 100, and if the name doesn't sound familiar, the device he played a crucial role in developing surely will: the lithium ion battery. Goodenough shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work on the battery—...

Lithium-Ion Batteries Blamed for Fire That Killed 4 in NYC

FDNY commissioner says it was an 'incredibly deadly' scenario at e-bike store

(Newser) - A deadly fire in New York City has brought fresh attention to the dangers of lithium-ion batteries. Four people died early Tuesday and two others were critically injured after a fire broke out in an e-bike store on the first floor of a six-story building near Manhattan's Chinatown neighborhood...

Seconds After Takeoff, 'Gasping' and 'Screaming'

United Airlines flight makes emergency landing after passenger's battery pack catches fire

(Newser) - The Federal Aviation Administration posts warnings on its website about the dangers of lithium batteries, and for good reason: They can cause fires if not stored properly during transit. Passengers on a United Airlines flight Tuesday morning found that out firsthand, when the battery pack for a passenger's laptop...

Experts Warn of Harm When Children Swallow Batteries

Emergency room visits doubled over the decade before

(Newser) - Electronic devices around the house seem to be multiplying, so it stands to reason that more small batteries—health threats when swallowed by children—are being used to power them. "If I only paid attention to the kind of batteries the remote controls required!" one woman wrote on...

South America's Lithium Reserves Are a Boon—Maybe

'Wall Street Journal' looks at the obstacles in extracting one of world's biggest reserves

(Newser) - As the appetite for electric vehicles grows, the Wall Street Journal sees an obstacle in the way of production expanding at a similar clip: South America. The continent is one of three places on Earth—the others being Australia and China—that have substantial reserves of lithium, the metal needed...

Tesla 'Spontaneously Caught Fire,' Kept Igniting

Electric vehicle had been damaged in a crash weeks before

(Newser) - A Tesla Model S had been sitting in a scrapyard for three weeks following a collision when it spontaneously burst into flames this month, then kept re-igniting, transforming into "a heap of melted and burned metal," per the Washington Post . The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District described how the...

Inside America's Race for a Better Electric Car Battery

Auto giants hope small start-ups can propel America in the race for a better battery

(Newser) - Big problems in the supply chain for electric-car batteries came to light last March, when Elon Musk partnered directly with a New Caledonian nickel mine amid rumors that China was planning export limits, Forbes reported at the time. China retains a "near-monopoly position" on the world’s production and...

Do We Have a 'Moral Obligation' to Mine for Cobalt in Idaho?

One of the country's largest stores of cobalt is there

(Newser) - As the planet's need for lithium—or, more specifically, lithium-ion batteries—continues to swell, so too does the need for metals needed to make those batteries. Cobalt is one of them. As Michael Holtz explains in a lengthy piece for the Atlantic , a White House report issued in June...

From Nobel's Chem Prize Winners: Batteries

John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino brought us lithium-ion batteries

(Newser) - The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to the US' John B. Goodenough and M. Stanley Whittingham, and Japan's Akira Yoshino for the development of lithium-ion batteries, per the AP . "Lithium-ion batteries have revolutionized our lives and are used in everything from mobile phones to laptops...

Apple Apologizes for Secretly Slowing Down Old iPhones

It's offering $50 off replacement batteries

(Newser) - Apple says it is sorry about secretly slowing down older models of iPhone —and to make sure there are no hard feelings, it will offer battery replacements at a reduced price. In a letter on its website, the company says it would never "do anything to intentionally shorten...

Elon Musk Made Bold Promise, Fulfilled It

World's biggest lithium ion battery is installed in South Australia

(Newser) - Elon Musk promised to have the job done in 100 days or it's free . Well, it looks like Australia will be paying up. Tesla has completed installation of the world's biggest lithium ion battery in South Australia and will be turning it on next week, ahead of a...

Elon Musk on Newest Project: Done in 100 Days or It's Free

Tesla to build world's largest lithium-ion battery in South Australia

(Newser) - Elon Musk has an ambitious new project on his plate: building the world's largest lithium-ion battery. The 100 megawatt battery, which will be put together by Tesla and French energy company Neoen, will store renewable energy for the state of South Australia, the Guardian reports. The battery will be...

A Peaceful Snooze on a Plane, Then an Explosion

Woman's headphones caught fire as she flew from Beijing to Melbourne in February

(Newser) - A flight from Beijing to Melbourne, Australia, turned terrifying last month when a woman's headphones exploded midflight, burning her hands, face, and hair, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The unidentified woman had dozed off a couple of hours into the Feb. 19 flight while wearing the headphones, and per...

Go Ahead, Bend Panasonic's New Battery Over and Over

Flexible battery made for watches now, perhaps smartphones down the line

(Newser) - A flexible lithium-ion battery that can be used in a wide array of consumer devices may be closer to market than ever. At the Ceatac technology expo in Japan, Panasonic showed off its new bendable battery, for now designed for "card-type and wearable devices" such as watches and fitness...

Cyclist Burned After He Falls on His iPhone

Australian Gareth Clear has third-degree burns on his butt

(Newser) - Sydney cyclist Gareth Clear was riding his bike with his iPhone 6 in his back pocket over the weekend when his foot slipped off the pedal and he lost his balance and fell—all par for the course for riders of any level. But he was not expecting his phone...

Family Says Toddler's Shoes Burst Into Flame

They were powered by lithium batteries

(Newser) - A Texas couple is warning parents about light-up shoes after their 2-year-old son's pair apparently burst into flame. Attila and Jovan Virag say they found a fire in the backseat of their SUV on Saturday. When the flames were extinguished, there was a hole in the floor, a melted...

How Portobello Mushrooms May Power Your Phone

Their porous structure is key

(Newser) - It isn't happening just yet, but a new scientific paper shows that it's possible, and perhaps even advantageous, to make batteries out of organic biological materials that have the added benefit of being cheap, environmentally friendly, and easy to produce, reports CNET . Engineers at the University of California,...

New Battery Could Charge Smartphone in 60 Seconds

Aluminum-ion battery is also greener, inventors say

(Newser) - Designers of a new aluminum-ion battery say it could charge a smartphone in about a minute and endure far more rechargings than today's lithium-ion batteries. Only problem is it has about half the voltage, Stanford University reports via the Telegraph . "Otherwise, our battery has everything else you'd...

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