[bnejad]

What makes you think this? Portable batteries like this are dime a dozen (maybe not for macs, I don't own one). Or the real play is licensing the battery tech which doesn't really seem Microsoft like at all since the company would likely fade into the background as the big battery companies use the technology.

I don't mean to be offensive, just curious why you are so confident this company or product is a industry game changer.

[andrewparker]

You need to read to the end of the post to understand PG's analogy. There is software that controls the charging rate of the battery that (if the claims are correct) could be fundamentally disruptive to batteries going forward, so the Altair analogy implies a potential software licensing strategy as an upside in this company.

[chillingeffect]

But is this new technology? Have they really figured out something that other battery companies don't know?

This charger takes 2.25 hours to reach 80% or 4.5 hours to reach 100% capacity. Could it simply be that they're charging more slowly?

Maybe other battery makers know about this, but they don't implement it because they (and consumers) don't value using the battery effectively. Hoping for some lithium-charging experts (I know there are people out there with this as their primary research focus) to weigh in.

[veemjeem]

Since they filed a patent on it, I assume it is new tech. There is new charging tech from time to time, but most of the IP belongs to those big semiconductor companies, like TI. I know TI has an innovative power management module for LiPoly batteries, but it is pretty expensive.

[dchichkov]

It could be a new tech. While there are quite a few BMS chips available around, from a bunch of companies [ http://liionbms.com/html/BMS_IC_table.html ] it is possible that they did some careful research onto what charging cycles are used in these products and found charging cycles that work even better for particular battery chemistries.

On the other hand, research is tough and it is so much easier to learn about the existence of a few hot words (like BMS), file a provisional patent and smooth-talk an investor or two with 'BatteryOS platform' . Considering that they are comparing their charging cycle with the "conventional" charger and throw words like "Chevy Volt, which only charges its battery to 50 percent capacity" I'm finding this scenario as a more likely one.

Still. It is not like I wouldn't like having more well designed LiIon BMS/charger combos on the market! There aren't many available and it's always nice to have more choice! So good luck!

[dchichkov]

Looked at it a bit more, I think this story could be a good illustration of confirmation bias in research [1].

They've probably tried their best, but it is really really really easy to make a mistake when you are designing an experiment. Or post-processing your experimental data. Or plotting the results. Or doing your math.

As it was noticed in the comments below, it looks like in that particular case an outcome of an experiment was decided using insufficient (n = 1) number of samples [ http://www.getbatterybox.com/bos.html#highexpl ]. Also there is at least one mistake in the math, a 50Wh battery can not be charged from a discharged state to 80% by 5 Volt 1 Amp power source in 4.5 hours [ http://www.getbatterybox.com/index.html#faq ]. The math is wrong.

[1] As per Wikipedia article: confirmation bias (also called confirmatory bias or myside bias) is the tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses. People display this bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it in a biased way. The effect is stronger for emotionally charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs. People also tend to interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing position.

[brohee]

You'd think that someone on this site would know patent haven't worked like that for a while...

[esmi]

In the paper reference to arxiv, which supposedly explains what this tech does, that is exactly what they are doing. Equation (1) shows that rate of SEI growth is proportional to charge rate (note: this equation given is actually a simplification as their rho should be proportional to how full the pack is) so you can limit SEI growth to whatever you want by just taking a charge time hit. Your users may or may not like this.

I can promise you none of this is new to anyone in the battery industry. The problem is not lack of knowledge. In general, the problem is the lack of desire to pay for a micro controller which can run the software necessary to do the math in the battery pack.

[gagaga]

It charges slowly because they are charging over micro usb.

[prawn]

The new YC fascination (recent RFS) appears to be in solving big problems without building the big product right away. You can build an add-on that works you towards some level of driving automation well before you build an entire robotic car, for example.

PG's line there is a reinforcing hint for those that missed the Boosted Boards example previously or weren't too optimistic in response to that RFS. Hopefully it helps more people think about how they could approach big problems in an initially accessible way.