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Stay Updated with Qnovo

Explore the latest breakthroughs, expert insights, and upcoming battery tech industry events, along with resources and blogs where we are shaping the future of battery performance technology.

March 3, 2026

Software is the “Seoul” of the Battery Asset

Qnovo announces a strategic investment from Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation to advance the deployment of battery software across electric mobility and future platforms.

Publications

HOW TEMPERATURE WREAKS HAVOC ON YOUR BATTERY

You probably suspected that temperature swings are not good for your lithium-ion battery. But what is the extent of the damage, and what are the temperature limits that one should attempt to follow? This is the subject of today’s post. If you were to review a specification...

Publications

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER 80%?

I wrote in a previous post that the standard for a dead battery — at which point it should be replaced — is 80% of its original capacity as a newly manufactured battery. Why is that? Is this a random value or is it based on a valid rationale? At the surface of it...

Publications

THE BATTERY INDUSTRY IS HITTING THE WALL!

I am an avid photographer. I have been one for a long time. My first camera was vintage ca. 1968. Its body was simple. It had a mechanical shutter; no battery; no metering; no autofocus….but I was proud of the lenses that I accumulated over the years; I labored...

Publications

KIDS, DON’T DO THIS AT HOME!

The new iPad Air 2 is a beauty, isn’t it? At 6.1 mm thick, it is nearly feather light. The new iPhone 6 is 6.9 mm. The Android competition is not far behind. The race to make ultra thin smartphones and tablets is on. Thin is in…but certainly not easy! One very important design...

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WHICH SMARTPHONE CHARGES THE FASTEST?

My prior posts are begging for today’s post: “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fastest of them all?” Yes, you guessed it right, not all mobile smartphones are created, ehem, designed equally. Yes, some are designed in Cupertino, others in Taipei or Tokyo or Seoul...

Publications

DECIPHERING CLAIMS OF CHARGE TIMES

Samsung recently announced their new Note 4 with a claim that it charges from zero to 50% in thirty-ish minutes. What is thirty-ish? Is it 31 or 39? Motorola also announced that their newest Moto X will provide 6 hours of mixed use after only 15 minutes of charge. Mixed...

Publications

WHAT’S THIS FUSS ABOUT CHARGING?

Charging your mobile device’s battery was pretty much a non-issue for many years…customers seldom complained; manufacturers did not see charging as a limitation; and charging, well, was really not a problem. That began to change in the past year or two...

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I WANT MORE BATTERY CAPACITY IN MY SMARTPHONE

You own the newest smartphone model; you love its screen; it has a very fast processor; you are a power user and you are glued to your device….but you are unhappy with the battery. You ask “Why can’t I get a battery with larger capacity?”, but no one seems...

Publications

YOUR GUIDE TO SELECTING A MOBILE BATTERY

So you decided to buy a new mobile smartphone. You researched the internet; you looked at the web reviews; you have decided on what OS you prefer, iOS, Android or even Windows; you looked at the quality of the built-in cameras and you know how many megapixels...

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MEDIA AND BATTERIES: MANIA OR EDUCATION?

We are happy and flattered by Antony Leather’s report today in Forbes on Qnovo’s fast charging. A self-described passionate of gadgets, Antony understands many of the subtleties of the batteries and their challenges in mobile devices. The media is now paying a...

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THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH!

I was greatly entertained to read about a newly reported discovery from Nanyang Technology University claiming a new battery that can charge to 70% in a mere 2 minutes, yet last 20 years, or about 10,000 cycles. There were recent reports in the media for similar...

Publications

WHAT’S THIS STEP CHARGING?

I covered in the prior post about the ill consequences of charging a lithium-ion battery using constant current, constant voltage (or simply CCCV). The damage incurred within the battery during charging with CCCV is attributed to a series of undesirable side reactions...

Publications

WHY IS CHARGING WITH CCCV BAD?

CCC…what? Yes, it is a mouthful and it stands for “constant current constant voltage.” It is presently the charging approach used for lithium ion batteries. As I indicated earlier, it was invented in the 19th century for charging lead-acid batteries, and somehow...

Publications

WHAT IS A BMS?

No, it is not “Batteries Made Simple,” nor “Better Make Sense,” though BMS do indeed try to accomplish both in a very indirect and implicit way. BMS stands for Battery Management Systems. These are electronic systems, both hardware and software...

Publications

A PEEK INSIDE A LITHIUM ION BATTERY

Today’s post takes us on a brief journey inside a lithium-ion battery. What is its internal structure and how does it actually store electrical energy? Let’s first start with a capacitor…the kind of stuff you studied in high school physics. It has two plates separated by an...

Publications

DID YOU KNOW…?

Did you know that the first battery was invented in 1791 by Volta using alternating zinc and copper plates? Did you know that the first rechargeable lead-acid battery was invented in 1859? It remains to date used in automobiles worldwide and is one...

Publications

THE BATTERY CONUNDRUM OF MOBILE DEVICE MAKERS

So you are happy with the large battery in your new iPhone 6 Plus. Finally, Apple listened and put a large, nearly 3,000 mAh, battery in your device. Finally, Apple followed the rest of its Android-based competitors who already had scaled their batteries to...

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WHY ARPA-E HAS GOT IT WRONG?

For those of you who are not familiar with ARPA-E, it is an acronym that stands for Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy. It is an agency of the U.S. Department of Energy, and was formed in 2007 by the America COMPETES Act with the intent...

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YOUR BATTERY; YOUR ANXIETY

I love my electric vehicle, or EV, as we affectionately call our electric cars here in California. I love that it is quiet. I love its fast pickup from a stop. I love that it requires practically zero service: no oil change; no transmission service; no timing belts. Of course...

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I WANT AN HONEST DAY OF BATTERY USAGE

I talked about capacity, cycle life, tricks of the industry….today, I will distill it down to some simple thoughts for you to keep in mind when you are ready to select your next mobile device or smartphone. In particular, today’s writing is about selecting a device with...

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LIARS, LIARS AND BATTERY SUPPLIERS

Several years back, as we were doing our initial fundraising round for Qnovo, lithium-ion batteries were the craze! A123 had just gone public at an insane valuation. Gas prices were through the roof and GM announced the all-exciting electric Chevy Volt. Tesla Motors...

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MORE ON DAMAGE AND CYCLE LIFE

Damage in a battery happens. You can’t stop it. It’s part of the physics. Yes, it is possible to mitigate it. It is possible to postpone its onset. It is possible to reduce its impact (that’s part of what our company Qnovo does)… But it’s always there and we need...

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DID YOU SAY DAMAGE TO YOUR BATTERY?

Yes, I did. That’s when you wake up a few months after you make a proud investment in a new mobile device, then you realize that the battery is not lasting as long as you wanted.‍ Well, first to be safe, you have to make sure that you don’t have too many apps running...

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SOME VERY FIRST, AND OBVIOUS, TIPS

The most common complaint about the battery is that it “does not last.” In other words, we have in our minds the expectation that our mobile device shall remain powered by this battery for an indefinite time…and when it’s empty, it should recharge very quickly...

Publications

WHAT’S THIS mAh?

The lithium-ion rechargeable battery lives in many of our devices today, from our laptop PCs, to our tablets, and our smartphones, and many other devices that are not tethered to a power outlet. It has replaced the older generation of batteries such as...