Li-ion batteries: news, progress, history and background

It was September 20, 1995 when Apple recalled their new PowerBook 5300 for the first time. The PowerBook 5300 was a big product for Apple. The company had entered into a cross-promotional deal with the producers of Mission Impossible wherein the computer appeared (with a command line interface) throughout the blockbuster movie. Apple was also charging a phenomenal price for the machine, a whopping $6,500 for the 5300ce partly because it was Apple’s first PowerPC-based laptop. The good times didn’t last long. Less than a month after it was introduced, the machine was recalled when preproduction units caught on fire. The problem was blamed on batteries manufactured by Sony, but Apple recalled all the computers sold to that point (claiming that was less than 100 units). The 5300 went on to be recalled again for case problems, but the first recall (and the impetus for a lot of jokes) came this week in 1995 less than a month after the PowerBook 5300 had been released. Source

By Michael Kanellos Staff Writer, CNET News.com Published: December 7, 2006, 9:08 AM PST A battery technology that was touted nine years ago for notebooks may finally get its day in the sun. Notebook makers will "likely" soon choose to incorporate lithium polymer batteries over the current commonly used type, lithium ion batteries, Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow said during a meeting with reporters Wednesday. Stan Glasgow Lithium polymer batteries use lithium as an active ingredient. Lithium is a volatile material, but the lithium in these batteries isn't packed into cells as it is in lithium ion batteries. Instead, it is contained in a polymer gel. These gel batteries can't provide the s...