The Battery Landscape of the Future

You cannot talk about battery power without talking about the future because batteries are the future. Or, at any rate, they are the future of energy – or at least hold a central place in it. Batteries have been around for longer than the majority of technologies that we still use today, but it would not be unreasonable to say that they are only now reaching their apogee and the beginning of their true ubiquity in our lives. 

Pale Blue Earth, a tech company out of Utah, are a good case in point. Pale Blue Earth have been developing USB and USB C rechargeable smart batteries that are identical in shape and compatibility to the traditional AA and AAA batteries which have been a feature of households for decades. Thus, batteries are not disappearing at all – they are just getting better and being used more frequently. 

Energy and the Environment 

Of course, the consumer household batteries like those produced by Pale Blue Earth are only part of the story. Batteries are also popping up where they were never used before. The most pronounced example of this has been the rise of the electric vehicle, which is expected to take over our roads completely by some point in the next couple of decades. The batteries used in such vehicles are large, multi-celled lithium behemoths that can provide enough power efficiently enough to supersede the performance we have come to expect from advanced modern gas-powered vehicles. There is, however, a problem with such batteries. While the electric cars themselves are certainly environmentally friendly, the production of these batteries certainly is not. 

This leads us to something else which is driving the development of new battery technologies – the environment and the imperative for us to take care of it. Battery power – in conjunction with things like solar power, hydro power, and controversial nuclear energy – is touted as one of the means by which we can finally make a break with fossil fuels. This gives batteries a certain moral fashionability among a consumer base all too aware of these pressing issues and keen to make their governments and the companies which make their products do something about them. It should be noted though that this is just one the things that makes batteries so popular today. Their amazing capabilities is another. 

An Investment Frenzy 

So, when we talk about the battery landscape of the future, this is the key thing to bear in mind – batteries are hot stuff and investors want in on what is a huge industry only set to get bigger. 

There has already been a colossal boom in investment into battery technology as companies all over the globe aim to carve out key positions in this massive emerging market. As of right now, we are living through a frenzy of activity, but what will the future look like after the dust has settled? 

And it seems likely that it will settle. As mentioned above, we are going through a period of rapid development and innovation right now. But soon enough it will become clear which battery technologies are best and worth diverting energy towards (no pun intended). 

At this stage, it really is anybody’s guess but the key point is this – investors right now are choosing their horses to back (and some are hedging their bets), but one or two horses will eventually pull out in front. This will lead to unprecedented success for some companies and a pile of losers in their wake.

Whatever the future of batteries holds, we can be sure it will not look anything like today. Things rarely look the same after seismic shifts of this magnitude.