New SCiB batteries charge in just 5 minutes

Toshiba introduced a prototype of a new battery that charges up to 90% of its capacity in just five minutes. The battery is the Super Charge Ion Battery (SCiB) withstand 5,000 to 6,000 recharge cycles (after 3000 cycles of less than 10% loss of capacity). By the way, this is several times more than standard lithium-ion batteries.

The increased charging speed of SCiB-batteries has become possible due to the use of new materials that allow recharging with a current strength of as much as 50 amperes. New materials withstand extreme temperatures and severe overheating. In addition, the battery does not explode even in the event of a failure.

A typical SCiB battery module consists of ten 2.4 V cells and has a total capacity of 4.2 Ah. with a size of 10 x 30 x 4.5 cm, it weighs about 2 kg.

It is clear that such heavy modules are unlikely to find application in mobile devices, except perhaps in some especially heavy laptops. By the way, at the presentation of the batteries, Toshiba showed how the Dynabook model works on them.

The first product to incorporate SCiB batteries is an electric bike that recharges from pedaling. Here a two-pound battery is located on the trunk. Thanks to new batteries, the engine of such a bicycle is always at full charge, so you won’t have to pedal uphill. The Schwinn Tailwind model will appear in bike shops in early 2009.