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"The battery has just been charged, and now it needs to be charged again". A new type of Lithium-ion battery developed by US Company Boston-Power is going to resolve this type of problem. The company presented samples to a hi-tech conference in the US in January, and made clear their desire to get into laptop market, which has been dominated by large Japanese cell manufacturers.

It is said that the life of a laptop is around 4 to 5 years, but the current Lithium-ion batteries used in laptop computers start decaying after 4 months in some cases. "There are rarely users who are satisfied with the performance of today's batteries, so there’s a niche for small and medium-sized companies". CEO and Founder, Lampe-Onnerud, said.

The capacity of Lithium-ion cells has been increasing every year. This is achieved in the limited space available by increasing the active materials needed in the chemical reaction involving electron transportation.

As a result, the battery is packed full with electrodes. At the top, there is a thin separator between electrodes to maximize space, or decreasing the additives which are non-flammable to ensure safety. The technology has to strike a balance.

CEO Lampe-Onnerud graduated with a PhD in Chemistry in Sweden, and then became a researcher at MIT. After that she joined the famous management consultant company ADL.

While working as a director and researcher for battery technology development, she also collaborated with many famous companies as an advisor. She then founded Boston-Power with the ambition of developing a safe battery with a long life-cycle.

The company started reviewing the existing products’ shape, materials, and cell design. By changing the industrial standard of the 2P3S cylindrical cell to a 1P3S prismatic cell, the space between cells can be fully utilized. The internal volume increased by about 15%, over-packing has also been improved.

Safe anode and cathode materials have been selected. In addition, in the case of fire, the temperature at which the separator shuts off the current is also higher than products presently on the market, it is also protected against fire by the separator melting in case of a short circuit.

The team combines engineers and experts in PC battery technology from IBM, Dell, and United Technology. There are fewer than 30 people in the company, "Our employees have over 200 years in combined battery experience".

Last year, the company established a production facility in China. Their first partner is HP. Their aim is to work with top players in the industry to promote their reputation and reliability.

The company is focusing on "maintaining quality while increasing production capacity". Since the product was introduced in January, many other large laptop companies have also expressed interest in Boston-Power. "I am very busy", she smiled.

It is predicted that HP products using the new Sonata product will be on the market before the end of this year. Price and timing are not clear yet; the company may adopt a strategy for high end products or niche products where production can be controlled.