No Moore’s Law for batteries: Improvements come in dribs and drabs

Maxell recently introduced improvements in its line of primary lithium manganese dioxide (LiMnO₂₎ batteries which boast an improvement in capacity of 8-9%. The CR17450 (17mm (dia.) x 45mm (height)) has a typical capacity of 2600 mAh at 3.0V, and a life of 10+ years over an operating range of -40 - +80[deg]C (These specs are comparable to lithium thionyl battery technology. Both technologies are aimed at long-life applications such as automatic meter readers). Prices are in the $5 range.

Now compare the 10% improvement of batteries to that seen in semiconductor computing power in the past couple of years. Just another reason why battery and system manufacturers are so hard-pressed to keep up with the demands for higher power density in laptops, consumer electronics, automotive applications, and the like.