Battery Maker Takes Lithium-Ion Up a Notch

Chief executive Christina Lampe-Önnerud says her company, Boston-Power, is the first American battery maker to provide power for a major-label laptop. Next stop: cars. (Photo: Boston-Power)

The battery company Boston-Power has existed for just three years, but last week Hewlett-Packard — one of the largest technology companies in the world — said it will offer the startup’s earth-friendly lithium-ion batteries in notebook computers in early 2009.

This is the first time a battery company based in the United States has ever sold a battery to a top provider of notebooks, according to Christina Lampe-Önnerud, Boston-Power’s founder and chief executive officer. “I think the revolutionary aspect of our battery is that its fast charge coupled with a long cycle life has never been seen before,” she said.

Boston-Power says their “Sonata” batteries can operate at 80 percent of original charge capacity for three years of typical use. Existing lithium-ion batteries will typically lose half their charge capacity after just one year, and will be all but dead after three.

“I’ve basically been able to have four hours or close to four hours [between recharges] for two-and-a-half years now,” Ms. Lampe-Önnerud said of using a Sonata battery on her own laptop.

When the time to recharge does come, Sonata batteries can charge to 40 percent power in 10 minutes and 80 percent in 30 minutes. In comparison, Hewlett-Packard’s best lithium-ion battery now charges to 90 percent in 90 minutes, according to Ms. Lampe-Önnerud.

The safety of lithium-ion batteries has been an issue for the industry because of instances in which batteries have exploded or caught fire. But Ms. Lampe-Önnerud said the same “quality control systems of exactness and precision” that enable Sonata batteries to work better also make them safer.

“The risks are much, much lower, from already having very low risks,” she said. Hewlett-Packard will offer a three-year warranty on the new batteries — said to be the longest in the industry — and reportedly will price them at $20 to $30 more than a standard replacement battery.

In addition to better performance, Boston-Power is also promoting the batteries for their greenness. Their main advantage in that regard is fairly straightforward: batteries that last longer mean less waste and fewer resources expended to make new batteries.

“The biggest green claim that we make, and frankly, the aspect we’re the most proud of, is you need one battery for three years, not three or five or ten batteries,” Ms. Lampe-Önnerud said.

Also, Boston-Power batteries don’t contain PVC plastic or toxic flame retardants, as some other lithium-ion batteries do. The company is the first provider of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries to earn a Nordic Ecolabel certification — akin to a green thumbs-up from one of the world’s leading agencies in evaluating sustainable products.

Casey Harrell, a spokesman for Greenpeace International on toxics and electronics, said extending the lifespan of lithium-ion batteries would indeed have valuable environmental benefits in terms of reducing waste and preserving resources. He speculates that extended-life batteries could have a sustainability impact beyond just the battery itself.

“We live in a world of planned obsolescence, where things are designed for the dump and longevity is a non-concern,” he said. “Having a laptop battery that is very long in life could do wonders for extending the life of the entire product.”

Mr. Harrell also credits Boston-Power for eliminating all PVC plastic and toxic flame retardants. “PVC, when burned — which is common disposal practice for electronics — releases dioxin, a known carcinogen,” he said.

The Sonata batteries will be manufactured in Taiwan and China, and the company has also received a Chinese eco-label certification. Ms. Lampe-Önnerud said a team from Boston-Power will be present at factories “24/7″ to ensure that manufacturing guidelines are adhered to.

Looking toward the future, Boston-Power hopes to expand well beyond laptop batteries. It opened a new lab dedicated to developing batteries for electric cars and other large format systems in October.

“We have a battery that has shown remarkable performance criteria that I think the auto industry would welcome very, very much,” Ms. Lampe-Önnerud said. “In fact, we see quite a bit of interest from the automotive industry.”

Developing this technology will take some time. Boston-Power’s batteries are more likely to appear next in other consumer electronics, or simpler modes of transportation like power-assisted bicycles and electric scooters.

When it comes to electric car batteries, Ms. Lampe-Önnerud said the industry is making progress but still far from having formulated the perfect solution. “Batteries need to be dependable to really make a difference,” she said. “The ability to get the same type of performance every day is going to make or break any one of the players that are coming out now.”