New tech could charge a phone battery in 10 seconds

Batteries are both the unheralded worker bees and the fatal flaw in every mobile technology product produced today. We can't do anything without them, but batteries are almost always the reason we can't do more than plugged-in technology would otherwise allow.

While research has yielded few new advances in squeezing higher capacity into existing battery form factors, there's one spot of good news on the horizon: Technology that would dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes to recharge a battery.

The technology is an update to traditional lithium-ion energy storage and involves using a special iron and phosphorus mix within the battery cell structure which allows the lithium ions to move in and out of storage within the lithium compound much faster than normal.

It's been part of battery theory for many years, but only recently does it seem that anyone is actually thinking of putting the technology to practical use. But the results, wow, they speak for themselves: With this design in place, you could charge a 1Wh cell phone battery in just 10 seconds -- or an entire electric car in about five minutes.

And that, it turns out, creates a whole new problem: Charging your cell phone that fast would draw 360 watts of power. Fine if it's just one, but not so great for the power grid if everyone on the block plugs in simultaneously. The real problem comes with larger devices: That electric car would pull 180,000 watts, which would pretty much send your electric meter into immediate and complete meltdown.

Bummer, man!