Bulletin from the Ministry of Interesting Things:

Bulletin from the Ministry of Interesting Things: For folks who are into battery operated stuff, check out HV LiPo. Essentially much like normal Lithium Polymer batteries, but you charge them to a higher 4.2v per cell using a special charger program - if you use a conventional charge regime on them, you get exactly the same performance as traditional chemistries and batteries. Not really much difference in discharge or current rates, but the higher voltage chemistries let you squeeze 20% more power density, i.e. 20% more range in the same weight. This technology has been around for a number of years in various limited forms but now that multiple manufacturers have jumped into manufacturing it, announced products in the last few months, and the earlier issues with short lifespan have been corrected (though the lifespan is shorter than conventional LiPo’s by still more than half using high voltage, and battery charge cycle lifespan is no different than ordinary LiPo using conventional charging instead of HV on them), it looks to be the future. Not a revolution, but an incremental change that probably has significant impact for cars and flying vehicles. If the costs come down it’ll trickle to mobile devices too, because who doesn’t want 20% more battery life?