Nanotech Lithium batteries shipping (in power tools.)

[skids]

From the "sometimes the most important news sounds so boring at first" department. Well, oggle this:

DeWalt's lithium-ion batteries come from A123 Systems Inc., a Watertown, Mass., start-up that has licensed patents from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Germany's Robert Bosch GmbH also plans new high-powered cordless tools next year, and says it is working with two lithium-ion battery suppliers. Earlier this year, Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp., a unit of Hong Kong's TechTronics Ltd., introduced slightly less powerful 28-volt cordless tools powered by lithium-ion batteries made by a Canadian unit of Taiwan's E-One Moli Energy Corp.

...

A123 says it coats an aluminum electrode inside the battery with nano-scale particles, a few hundred atoms in size, of lithium metal phosphate. It declines to disclose more detail, but Dr. Chiang says the phosphate is safer than the oxide-based chemistry used in lithium-ion batteries today. He says that when compared with the same weight of larger particles, the nano-scale particles release more ions, thereby freeing electrons to create an electric current.

...

For hybrid electric/gasoline cars, manufacturers have adopted nickel-metal-hydride batteries because they weigh less than lead batteries. A123 believes its lithium-ion batteries could pack the same punch as nickel-metal-hydride at 20% of the weight.

http://www.a123systems.com/html/home.html

I thought this was a scam when I read it, but there are respectable papers are quoting Black and Decker sources confirming it.

[tridim]

1. This is great news for me and my toys..

I use Lithium Polymer batteries now and they're amazing, but they also have a tendency to explode violently.

[madrchsod]

3. i work at the plant that prints and mails

rc flyer..these planes are getting really high tech! i think these batteries will advance rc to the next level. just think of the fight time and distance by doubling the battery power at 1/2 or 3/4 the weight. digital camera power and increased controller funtions...hell you can make a spy plane at a fraction of the cost of the militarily drones

[hunter]

2. These will be fun to play with!

I'll be watching for them.

[phantom power]

4. If only they'd sell these in the formats that fit my existing tools...

[skids]

5. Hey you got tools...

...bodge it together :-)

A lot of tools are really simple -- just a polarity switch and a DC brush motor. Worst case, a multi-way switch that activates additional coils, though more often speed controls are done mechanically through the torque transmission.

They don't care how much current you send into them precisely like more complicated electronics do. So you might get a little more or less power, as long as you're in the ballpark and can manage to cram them in there and tape together an adaptor for the charger, you're in business.

[phantom power]

6. I could try. I'm pretty hardware-challenged.

:dunce: