BAE Systems promising battery revolution

13 February 2012 11:38 GMT / By Hunter Skipworth

BAE Systems is claiming to have totally reinvented the way portable devices are powered with what it calls structured batteries. The new technology does away with what you would consider to be a traditional battery pack, instead storing power within the actual structure of the device itself.

Designed initially to help save weight on the battlefield, incorporating the batteries into devices frees up room in soldiers' rucksacks. So far the tech exists only in unmanned air vehicles and torches, but BAE says its scope is limitless.

BAE is planning on incorporating the design into a prototype Le Mans car called the Lola-Dreyson B12/69EV. It will have a lot of its on board devices powered using structural batteries - no doubt a huge weight saver, vital in a race car.

Incorporating the structural batteries into conventional consumer electronics will allow for a drastic change in the way things such as mobile phones and tablets are designed. No longer will conventional designs, limited by square batteries, be necessary. Expect things using structural batteries to get a lot thinner and lighter; not sure about cheaper though.

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Full tags

Gadgets, Batteries, BAE Systems