Electronic devices are more and more evolved: it is impossible not to find any electronic home appliance in a wireless version. This is also true for notebooks and smartphones, products that we knew were plugged only thanks to their parents: personal computers and telephones.
There is a great problem, though: every electronic device depends on the battery charge, and after a certain amount of hours (depending on the kind of device), we will need to recharge them.
Wireless home appliances and the issue of battery autonomy
There are wireless home appliances in every product category you could imagine: from the kitchen to the garden, through home cleaning accessories. Washing machines, ovens and fridges are obviously excluded, from the moment, since their high power requests cannot still depend on wireless technology.
The benefits for wireless home appliances are many, starting from the little space they take, instead of the many cables you have to use in narrow spaces such as the kitchen and other rooms where you are cleaning.
Many examples come to our mind thinking about wireless home appliances: the wireless iron allowing a free movement around the ironing board, which quickly recharges when it is on pause, and the vacuum cleaner with 60 minutes of autonomy, fit for every floor surface.
The battery autonomy of Portable Notebooks
When you are looking to buy a notebook, you certainly hear that the battery autonomy promised by the producer is very high, up until 12 hours. Then you buy the notebook, and you discover that the device has a battery autonomy shorter than you expected. That promise is due to the fact that many consumers perceive the battery autonomy as a real problem: computer producers tend to declare that the notebook battery lasts up until a day. Such a declaration is a marketing move, in a very competitive business enviroment.
Notebook producers do tests in normal conditions, and not under-stressed conditions. Reality is that the user with a notebook is connected with the Wi-Fi and multi-tasks through a lot of complex content, such as videos. That generates a stronger energy expenditure. It is normal, though, that 12 hours of autonomy “declared” are actually five or six at best.
Improve smartphone battery life will be the big next step in innovation?
We started from 4′ smartphones and then we got to mini-tablet smartphones: why? They say consumers prefer smartphones with bigger screens, but the truth is that more performing batteries can only exist if the smartphone is bigger. Lithium-metal batteries are about to come, promising a 2x battery autonomy for smartphones. But actual technology is still lithium battery.
There is also Fuel Cell battery, developed in South Korea: by converting hydrogen into electricity through the migration of hoxygen ions, it feeds the electrode with an electrolyte. The promise is that users will recharge smartphones every seven days.
These are still instable technologies, which will take many years to be marketed and to be integrated into smartphones. What is sure is that to improve smartphone battery life will be the big next step in innovation for the smartphone market.
That is why, for many years, power banks will still be useful: there is not a technology able to replace lithium batteries. Our smartphones are condemned to die and to resuscitate every ten to twelve hours of usage. If we are on the move for a lot of time during the day or we use the smartphone a lot, all we can use are power banks.
