When news leaked out this week that Apple was experimenting with a new way of charging its anticipated iWatch possibly using kinetic movement, magnetic induction or solar power it should have been an “a-ha” moment for innovators everywhere. We’ve been so accustomed to thinking in terms of “battery life” and plugging cords into electrical wall sockets that we never ask the obvious question: Why isn’t there more innovation when it comes to powering our digital devices?
At a time when the pace of innovation in the technology world seems to be increasing at an exponential rate, it seems that there should be a similar pace of exponential innovation for batteries. In short, there should be a Moore’s Law for batteries, in which the power capacity of batteries doubles every 18 months or so.
By now, batteries should have been shrunk down to such an infinitesimally small size that they shouldn’t even be a consideration in the way we buy digital devices. We should have a surplus of power for our digital devices. Yet, the “battery life” spec continues to be one that appears in just about any head-to-head comparison of digital devices. And, say scientists, the unique chemistry and physics of the battery means that we probably won’t be seeing any Moore’s Law-type breakthroughs any time soon. You simply can’t shrink things much smaller than they already are.
As a result, most of the incremental innovations intended to extend battery life like the Mophie JuicePack or the Duracell Powermat will continue to seem more like short-term patches rather than long-term solutions. They will keep your batteries going for just a little longer, but never really get at the heart of the problem: society’s reliance on the humble lithium-ion battery to power technological progress.
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