Charging your iPhone in 5 minutes sounds like a fantasy. The plague of battery life has been the crutch of technology since the inception of stored energy. However today at TechCrunch Disrupt, a company known as Nucleus Scientific introduced brand new battery technology that could drastically address this longstanding issue.
Tyler Ellis, Nucleus Scientific’s Vice President of Business Development, went on stage to explain 8 years of development that has led to drastic innovations in the battery space. The new technology uses a combination of software and hardware to drastically reduce charge times while also increasing the lifespan of the battery cell; two things that rarely go together. Ellis claimed that this new technology can charge “a battery twice as large as an iPhone 6 in only 5 minutes.” Additionally, the company claims that lab results have shown the ability to charge a battery with the same energy as 9 smartphones in under 100 seconds; an astronomical feat!
On stage, Ellis displayed a power bank which they will be making available that fully charges in just 15 minutes. While Ellis was giving his presentation, he demonstrated that the Power Bank had stored enough energy in just 3 minutes to fully charge an iPhone 6. This is light-years faster than the closest current competition in the power bank space which charges in 1.5 hours. Incredibly enough they accomplished this while also improving the lifespan of the battery cell by 4.5 times.
Currently, the largest inhibitors of using this technology with today’s smartphones are the device’s internal hardware and connectors. They simply don’t support the algorithmic controller nor the amount of energy needed to charge the battery at such a rate. However, their future business plan is to license this technology to established players within a variety of industries. A partnership with Apple or Samsung could bring this technology to the most popular handsets on the market. Ellis did not provide any explicit details on which companies they are currently in discussion with.
This technology also has huge potential in the electric vehicle space. Ellis stated that their advancements could bring “the ability to charge up an electric vehicle in the same amount of time it takes to pump a tank of gas.” If that is the case, this could be the solution to our fading oil resources. This is especially critical after BP recently made the claim that the world has only 53.3 years of oil left.
On a more important note, this could be the solution to the Apple Watch having such short battery life. (Sarcasm) If charging the Apple Watch involved setting it down for a couple of minutes, people are much less likely to complain.
You may be skeptical of such a drastic improvement to technology that has progressed at such a slow pace over the years. However, the company claims they have hired independent battery testing firms to verify and back up their claims. If everything pans out as stated by Mr. Ellis, our lives are about to change as we know it. You can watch the full presentation below.
What are your thoughts on this new technology? Let us know in the comments below.