- Samsung's Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) has developed a new battery technology with more capacity and extremely fast charging times.
- The new graphene-based technology could charge a battery in 12 minutes, where the same capacity battery could charge in an hour with standard fast charging.
- It could remove the risk of ever running out of battery simply because it could be more convenient to charge your devices.
Samsung's Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) announced on Tuesday that it has developed a battery technology that can fast-charge mobile devices and electric vehicles faster than ever before.
For a battery that usually takes an hour to charge with current fast-charge technology, Samsung claims the new technology could fast-charge a battery in 12 minutes.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
Current fast charging is great, but Samsung's new battery could charge significantly faster.
The new technology includes a single layer of carbon atoms from graphite, known as graphene, which is "100 times more effective than copper in conducting electricity." It also transfers energy "140 times faster" than silicon used in current lithium technology, which makes it "an ideal material for fast charge," according to Samsung.
Samsung's new battery technology might even give mobile devices and electric vehicles more battery life compared to current batteries, as they have the potential for more capacity. It's unclear how much longer these batteries would last, but the extremely fast charging would make it more convenient to top off your device when you need a charge simply because it takes less time. So if you can spare the occasional five minutes here and there for a top up, you'll be less likely to run out of battery.
Thomson Reuters
Electric vehicles, like those from Tesla, could charge a lot faster thanks to Samsung's new technology.
The concept is exactly the same as today's fast-charging technology in smartphones, where 30 minutes of regular fast charging gets you 50% of battery charge. As its name suggests, fast charging is, indeed, faster than regular charging, which could take over two hours to fully charge a smartphone battery.
This all sounds great, and Samsung has found a way to mass produce the technology at an "affordable price." But there's no mention of when, or if, Samsung would ever use its new battery technology in mobile devices and other electric devices.