The worst feeling that you can feel is when you sit down in your car and try switching it on and it refuses to do so owing to the dead battery. Yeah, not everyone is fond of this feeling; we are kidding, no one is. Meet the Ohm smart battery that has been designed so that you never have to feel this way again.
Ohm Laboratories is a Silicon Valley startup that is aiming at improving the standard car battery by incorporating new thoughts into the process of battery manufacturing. The Ohm battery is the result of this thinking and works as an energy storage device while also doubling up as a management system; all within the same battery sized case. The processor that has been incorporated within it gauges the power level and will automatically shut off the power once the battery drops to a pre-determined level. How does this help? When you accidentally leave the lights on, Ohm will automatically shut itself down before it dies and shall be able to switch itself back on after about 30 seconds once you start the car up.
This system comes in handy when you are trying to increase the effective life of the battery. The battery also features its own replacement warning system. The system beeps to let the user know that it is time for replacement and reportedly works more effectively as compared to the dashboard light intended for the same purpose. As opposed to the conventional lead acid construction of batteries, the Ohm makes use of a combination of lithium iron phosphate batteries along with super-capacitors. The super-capacitors provide the instant burst of electricity for the starting process. The LiFePO4 batteries keep the super-capacitors charged even when the engine has been switched off and thus allow the user able to switch the car on.
As per Ohm, the LiFePO4/super-capacitor assembly imparts a life span of 7 years to the battery. This is about twice the size an average lead acid battery is able to crank out. Claims for better performance in cold weather have also been made. Right now it is in prototyping phase and weighs in at 2.7kg. That’s quite less when you compare it with the size 35 lead acid battery that weighs in at 15.9kg. Despite the loss in size, the battery still connects to the car in the same way a lead acid battery does. The battery is being offered in two sized; one has been designed to fit in cars that are compatible with the size 35 batteries while the other one fits the smaller battery cars.
Ohm has been working with the seed funders at Y Combinator and is also running an Indiegogo campaign for raising funds that will be used for completion of testing and to finalize the design along with purchasing the tools and starting production. The target fund is $50,000 and the campaign has about 20 days left to go. We wish the Ohm Laboratories luck!
