"CAN RECHARGE 80%"
I think the important thing to remember here is that the life
of most batteries is affected by how low you drain them, how
often, and how hard to charge them. There was another link to
a www.newscientist.com article posted recently. The name of
the article was "Charge a battery in just six minutes."
This newer technology should lend itself nicely to high power
applications like electric cars, power tools, battery backups,
etc. The article also mentions that the number of charging
cycles of typical LI-ION batteries is around 400, but with the
new technology that number has been estimated at as many as
20,000 cycles! Even if reality only puts this at 1/4 of this
estimate with minimal capacity loss over time, this would be a
huge improvement! This would be 10+ years of charging/discharging
the batteries every day, if we stick with a conservative 5,000!
Also, I believe that charging most batteries to 80% capacity is
the fastest part of the cycle, and the remaining 20% is where you
need a longer, more gradual charge. My battery charger that
switches to trickle charge comes to mind here.
However, if these batteries are as "TUFF" as they are claiming,
then perhaps charging to 80% capacity would be sufficient for
most applications. For example, I could see waiting 5-10 minutes
get my batteries to 80% for example at a "FILLING" station, but
wouldn't want to wait around for maybe 2-3 or more times that just
to get them to 100%. However, if I could plug it in at a Park &
Ride or a station at a large retailer while I shop, then this
wouldn't be that big of an issue.
Just my thoughts on this issue!
Patrick