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How battery size shapes future technology

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Telecomdrive Bureau
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In the same way that the first computers needed a whole office block to run the same performance level as a smart phone offers every single individual today, battery technology has also shrunk in size while growing in power.

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The comparison is almost unbelievable to today’s expectations. The very first computer was nicknamed ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) and was first switched on in November 1945, narrowly missing the Second World War, but with an important role to play in the Cold War. It was housed in 1800 square feet of warehousing, weighed more than 25 tonnes and could execute 5000 instructions per second.

Compare this with the iPhone 6, which weighs in at just 130 grammes, sits in the palm of your hand, and is capable of 25 billion instructions per second. In its day, ENIAC was a technological wonder which heralded the onset of limitless possibilities. Today, we take the functionality of our smart phones for granted, and complain about the slightest glitch that tests our patience. Instant gratification and attention deficit are growing psychological issues that are currently driving behavioural changes.

A revolution that led to more mobile technology

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As computers got smaller and smaller, and IBM launched the more compact desktop PC, the next stage was for this processing power to go mobile, rather than being restricted to being used in one fixed location. The development of rechargeable lithium ion polymer batteries was a game changer. With the first patent filed in 1985, they became commercially available in the early 1990s, leading to an explosion in the availability of lightweight, compact, mobile technology, from laptops and first generation mobile phones to Sony Walkmans.

As battery technology advanced, and more power could be discharged at a lower rate in increasingly smaller sized batteries, so did the expanse and range of technologies evolve, impacting not just opportunities of difference commercial operations, but also the very habits and behaviours of the consumer. Below is an outline of different products which would barely grace the pages of sci-fi magazines 75 years ago.

Electronic and portable devices: communication, entertainment, monitors, tracking devices, Smart technology, wearable technology, remote working devices, agritech… the application and functionality of any device is these days limited only by the imagination. And considering that imagination is a self perpetuating muscle that feeds off itself on a rolling basis, that imagination will never be exhausted.

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The biggest driver in the rate of development is the ability to load ever increased amounts of power into ever smaller battery units that can last for longer and longer periods of time. For example, the batteries attached to the ear tags as part of a herd management system can last for several years, more than covering the life of an individual animal.

Large scale energy storage: at the other end of the scale, large battery storage centres are being developed to subsidise the national grid and ease the country’s reliability on fossil fuels as the primary source of energy. Keeping in mind the current drive to achieve carbon net zero levels by 2050, significant investment is being made in renewable energy sources. Solar, wind and wave power in particular have proven to be effective means of generating power, but if there is nowhere to store that energy then it is about as useful as hot air in the desert. It needs somewhere to go, and dedicated large scale battery farms are the solution. When connected to renewable energy sources, such as wind farms, energy can be fed back into the national grid, saving on fossil fuels and contributing to achieving green targets.

technology Battery Size Future Technology
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