Google Battery in the Works

Google research is working on a new battery. The search giant reportedly only has four people working on this though.

The world needs better batteries. Current battery technology is limited in capacity and recharge time. The advance of electric cars has amplified the problem of lithium-ion and other battery systems. A lot of effort is now put into developing the next generation of batteries. Earlier this week we covered a new promising Aluminum Battery that charges in 60 seconds. The battery is currently under development at Stanford University.

A new WSJ report says that Google is also working on new battery technology. There are supposedly four researchers that have been working on this since 2012 as part of Google X research lab. The Battery research is led by Dr. Bhardwaj. The team is aiming at advancing current lithium-ion technology and also works on the new solid-state batteries for consumer devices, such as Glass and the Google glucose-measuring contact lens.

A solid-state battery is a battery that has both solid electrodes and solid electrolytes. The solid-state battery technology allows batteries to be smaller and bendable. This would be ideal for wearable devices. 

Google is a very research oriented company. The company takes a hybrid approach to development and research. Most research is done in software and internet related areas, but Google also works on self-driving cars for instance.