// battery technology

All signals tagged with this topic

Jul 21

Apple's iOS 27 Code Hints at Dual-Battery iPhone Design

Apple appears to be engineering a multi-battery architecture into a future iPhone, a structural change requiring significant redesign of the phone's internal layout and thermal management. The move targets either extended battery life without proportional thickness increases or the ability to swap batteries mid-cycle—both responses to persistent complaints that modern iPhones lack easy repair and power-capacity extension. If Apple ships this, it would reverse years of making batteries harder to access, likely driven by EU right-to-repair regulations or market pressure from competitors offering modular devices.

theme-connected hardware battery technology wearable/iot

Jul 6

EV Batteries Outlast Early Degradation Predictions

Source: Slashdot: Hardware

Used EV dealers are documenting battery packs surviving 200,000+ miles with minimal capacity loss, contradicting the 8-10 year replacement horror stories that fueled early consumer hesitation. This shifts the total cost of ownership calculus for EVs. If batteries routinely outlast the vehicle itself, the economic argument against gas cars weakens as legacy automakers work to retool their supply chains.

theme-connected energy infrastructure battery technology data center power

Jun 10

GM Pivots to Sodium-Ion Batteries for Data Centers and Grid Power

Source: TechCrunch

General Motors is repositioning itself from pure-play automaker to energy infrastructure supplier by developing sodium-ion chemistry optimized for stationary applications rather than vehicles. EV battery margins are collapsing while the margin pool for powering AI compute clusters and grid storage remains intact. This move legitimizes sodium-ion as a commercial alternative to lithium just as hyperscalers face supply constraints and cost pressures. Legacy automakers see more profit in selling to Microsoft and Meta's data centers than to consumers buying their cars.

theme-connected battery technology hardware innovation energy storage

Jun 9

Donut Lab's Solid-State Battery Claims Unravel Under Expert Scrutiny

Source: Slashdot: Hardware

A coordinated investigation by battery researchers and 20+ independent experts found that Donut Lab's flagship product is conventional lithium-ion technology with misleading marketing—a credibility failure that exposes venture capital pressure to claim breakthroughs faster than they can deliver. Solid-state batteries are a genuine industry goal with real commercial stakes. False claims distort investment signals, waste capital, and create skepticism that slows legitimate R&D. The expose shows that peer review in deep tech still depends on specialists willing to publicly challenge venture-backed claims.

theme-connected hardware battery technology automotive infrastructure

Jun 6

GM's $900M Wager on Unproven Battery Chemistry Targets 2028 Price Drop

Source: The Next Web

General Motors is betting heavily on sodium-ion batteries—a chemistry that remains lab-stage at scale—as its path to materially cheaper EVs within five years, a timeline that requires simultaneously solving manufacturing, supply chain, and performance challenges that competitors haven't cracked yet. This is a commitment of capital and engineering, not a hedge. GM views incumbent lithium-ion supply chains as a bottleneck to mass-market EV adoption, not a solved problem. The risk is binary: if sodium-ion scales as promised, GM gets a 2-3 year cost advantage; if it doesn't, the company has burned $900M on an R&D bet while competitors continue incrementally improving lithium economics.

theme-connected hardware battery technology device design

Jun 1

User-replaceable batteries return as regulatory pressure mounts

Source: The Verge

The EU's right-to-repair mandate and similar legislation in California, India, and elsewhere are forcing manufacturers to redesign flagship devices—Apple now includes battery pull-tabs in iPhones, and Samsung offers swappable batteries in some Galaxy models—reversing a decade of engineering choices that prioritized thinness and seamlessness over consumer control. This shift extends device lifespans, reduces e-waste, and shifts battery replacement costs from manufacturers to users, changing the replacement device cycle that underpinned hardware profit models. Regulatory leverage, not consumer demand alone, can overturn industry-wide technical standards when enough markets align on the same requirement.