Nokia unveils new phone with 35-hour battery

With some manufacturers jamming as many features, services and methods of mobile connectivity as will fit into their newest models of smartphones, it seems as though the latest devices are struggling more than ever to maintain a strong battery life. However, one company is going in the opposite direction, announcing a new phone that will hold its charge for an astonishing 35 days – and it only costs $20.

The Nokia 105, is a bit of a throwback for the Finnish phone producer, which had gained a reputation for producing simple, durable phones before going heavy into the smartphone market in recent years. Like many of its ancestors, the Nokia 105 is marketed as a tough phone with a keypad that is dust-proof and splash-proof. As to features, though, the phone doesn't offer much else.

With a 1.4-inch screen, the Nokia 105 provides little visual feedback for users and features a handful of games and multimedia options. It also lacks a camera. The phone will make calls and send and receive text messages, but that's about it – an unusual concept considering the dominance of smartphones on major markets today.

It's for that exact reason that Nokia is only releasing the phone in smaller, developing countries, as part of an effort to make its devices available to the many people around the globe who wouldn't normally have the money for a cell phone and have only limited access to power sources.

Nokia's move flies in the face of what many cell phone manufacturers are doing. While companies like Apple and Samsung are in a slugfest to find out which one can produce the device that is most aesthetically pleasing and has the most power, it's a fascinating change of pace to see companies like Nokia focusing on a phone's fundamental elements, such as the bonding of battery terminals and thermal management technologies.

Now is the time for advance battery and alternative energy technologies to leap forward

In the month of February we have seen two incidents that have brought the need for advanced battery technologies to the attention of millions of Americans. Earlier this month, sports fans – and fans of funny TV commercials – had their gameday festivities interrupted when a power outage at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, halted the Super Bowl for 34 minutes.

And, more recently, the winter storm playfully named Nemo – reminding many of the animated film “Finding Nemo” – was anything but humorous when hundreds of thousands lost electricity thanks to heavy snowfall and jarring winds. We could even look back a few months further at the outages that lasted for more than a week in some areas following Hurricane Sandy.

Each of these offer strong arguments for a renewed focus on backup power and advanced battery technologies. Not only can they help to avoid the disruption to daily life and major events that come with blackouts, but they also offer a  critical component in the success of alternative energy technologies like solar and wind power installations.

James Greenberger, the executive director of NAATBatt, a trade association representing many companies in the advanced battery technologies industry, recently wrote an article for The Energy Collective. In it, he said that the best and most effective advertisement during this year’s Super Bowl didn’t cost millions of dollars, nor did it last 30 seconds. It was a free 34-minute commercial for better battery and backup power solutions.

“The message that the industry needs to deliver is clear:  While battery backup power systems are by no means a complete solution to power reliability problems, they can provide a margin of power and comfort in moments of grid interruption that would be welcomed and highly valued by millions of American consumers,” Greenberger wrote.

Ultimately, innovative methods for bonding of battery terminals and other power storage technologies can improve the energy efficiency of everything from wind turbines and solar panel installations to eco-friendly cars and more. Could there have been a more effective Super Bowl ad than 34 minutes without power during the biggest sporting event of the year in America?

Battery technologies could bridge gap between electric vehicle expectations and performance

The demand for more alternative energy technologies and efficient, eco-friendly modes of transport is on the rise, as evidenced by the recent fracas between automaker Tesla and The New York Times.

Times reporter John Broder took the Tesla Model S electric car for a test drive to see if it lived up to the hype. In reading his article, one would have to surmise that it fell short – both literally and figuratively.

According to Broder, he charged the vehicle at a charging station in Newark, Delaware, before beginning his journey. The car gave him a 242-mile estimate before another charge would be necessary, which suited him just fine considering the next charging station was 206 miles away in Milford, Connecticut. But, Broder reported that he just barely made it to Milford.

Then, when stopping for the night in Groton, Connecticut, the vehicle told him he had about 90 miles of range left before another charge was needed. When he awoke the next morning however, that number dropped to 25 miles. After using a low-power socket to charge the Model S, the car reportedly died 17 miles short of his destination.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk decried the Times report in a public statement, saying that it was “false” and that Broder did not charge the vehicle to full capacity, that he traveled at speeds substantially over the posted limit and took an unplanned detour through heavy traffic in downtown Manhattan.

Of course, the Times stands by Broder and his account, so we’ll have to wait until Tesla releases the vehicle logs for the journey before it is known exactly what happened. But this example perfectly illustrates how there is a clear desire and demand for electric vehicles not only to work, but to eventually replace their fossil fuel-reliant predecessors.

In order for this to happen, automakers are going to have to invest in innovative battery technologies, including cutting-edge methods for the bonding of battery terminals.

Electric car comes with individual motors for each wheel

Research being done at Ohio State University could foreshadow a new generation of electric cars that weigh half as much as traditional consumer vehicles while making substantial improvements to energy efficiency, traction and maneuverability. And it could all be possible through innovative battery and thermal management technologies.

“With four wheels that turn independently, each with its own built-in electric motor and set of batteries, the experimental car is the only one of its kind outside of commercial carmakers’ laboratories,” according to a recent Tech Briefs article.

The news source added that “conventional cars are much more limited in maneuverability by the transmission and differential systems that link the wheels together mechanically. The four independent wheels of the electric car give drivers greater control and more freedom of movement.”

With each wheel having its own 7.5 kW electric motor and a 15 kW lithium-ion battery pack, motorists will have far greater control over their vehicles if these become commercially available. For example, as the article explained, the car has no traditional engine or transmission because of the wheel-specific electric motors. The resultant reduced weight and the ability to have one wheel brake while others accelerate mitigates risks of fishtailing in wet road conditions.

More and more, we are seeing technology breakthroughs that hinge on advanced manufacturing techniques, like state-of-the-art bonding of battery terminals or heat sink assembly. These processes hold the keys to more powerful and efficient consumer products, clean energy systems and a myriad of other market game-changers.

And even if one project does not ultimately make it big in the business and consumer spheres, the lessons learned during its evolution often help to write the first chapter of the next great success story.

The right thermal management technologies could correct the course of Boeing’s Dreamliner

As this blog discussed last week, the woes that have beset Boeing’s 787 Dreamliners appear to be related to problems with thermal management technologies used in lithium ion batteries onboard the craft.

Several airlines operating Dreamliners have reported swollen and leaking batteries and subsequent fires. Such incidents have prompted emergency landings, flight cancellations and aviation regulatory bodies in several countries issuing orders grounding the jets until their investigations can be completed.

These are the latest in a series of technical difficulties Boeing’s newest 787s have encountered since they were first used in late 2011, not to mention numerous production delays prior to that. So, is the 787 Dreamliner the aviation industry equivalent of a lemon? A recent article in The Verge says that it is not, and makes a compelling argument as to why.

“Government regulators, manufacturers like Boeing, Airbus, and Embraer, airlines, and pilots operate out of an abundance of caution because the stakes are so high with every flight that leaves the ground, and you’d be hard pressed to find a single model of airliner that hasn’t been beset with numerous upgrades and retroactive fixes designed to make them safer,” the article says.

The news source goes on to cite a bevy of difficulties other manufacturers and commercial aircraft have faced throughout the years. In the case of the Dreamliner, there doesn’t seem to be a particularly vexing problem that has Boeing engineers scratching their heads. Dealing with thermally conductive materials and innovating the appropriate battery and active solder technologies is something that companies like S-Bond have been doing for years.

Does Boeing have some adjustments to make? Sure. But, thanks to industry leaders that are never caught resting on their laurels, they are far from having to scrap the more than $30 billion The Verge reports Boeing spent on research and development for the Dreamliner.

Green taxis help save the environment

As evidenced by previous posts in this blog, it is impossible to stress the importance of alternative energy technologies enough. Solar and wind power have come a long way in the last decade, and as we continue to develop innovative ways of making these power sources more efficient and affordable, they will play an increasingly significant role in the preservation of our global environment.

Battery and energy storage technologies are perhaps equally important in the struggle to curb climate change and pollution. With the world's population climbing at the fastest rate in history, there are more and more automobiles hitting the streets every day.

Consider major metropolitan areas like New York, Chicago, Boston and Washington, D.C. The vehicle traffic alone in these cities accounts for staggering amounts of greenhouse emissions. And, it's not just individual car owners contributing to this. Think of the thousands upon thousands of taxis transporting people to and from points all throughout these cities.

Thankfully, several cities are beginning to recognize the benefits of a green cab fleet. As a recent article in The Atlantic Cities points out, a fleet of all-electric taxis is awaiting what many feel is an inevitable approval from the county government to launch next year in Arlington, Virginia.

The city of Chicago started its own green taxi program last year, and across the pond in London they have been embracing hybrid taxis since 2004, the news source reports. In fact, this past summer, the city tested out five zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell cabs that can travel up to 250 miles before needing to be recharged.

Through state-of-the-art bonding of battery terminals and energy storage technologies, the harmful emissions in these metropolitan meccas can be drastically reduced, while air quality improves by leaps and bounds.