Current battery design and implementation is not optimal, but it's cheap.  A new effort seeks to make conventional battery systems more standardized and increase interoperability of battery and charger parts, which creates energy waste, extra costs and operational inefficiencies.  But it's not for the casual user.

It's called the Intelligent Battery system and it also isn't cheap - the charger is about 20 percent more expensive than alternatives but the developers say the extra initial investment is recuperated in the medium and long term through prolonged battery life and better performance and the system provides real time information on the health and charge level of their batteries.

The new Intelligent Battery designed by Abertax Quality Inc of Malta and Mentzer Electronic GmbH of Germany focused on three areas:

1) The battery’s electronics match the load - electronic circuitry monitors critical battery vital signs such as temperature of the battery acid and charge level. The data obtained by these circuits is sent to a server, where it can be accessed through a variety of interfaces such as desktop computer displays and handheld devices.

2) The charger communicates with the battery so the battery is charged at optimal level each time, rather than overloaded or even damaged by the charger.

3) The battery casing design is designed like Lego blocks so dimensions are a 2:1 width to length ratio, allowing several batteries can be stacked on top of one another and connected without the need for supplementary connector cables and allowing them to be easily placed together in a relatively small area.

The Intelligent Battery system has been patented internationally and is set for market distribution and use in a range of applications, including uninterrupted power supply systems in buildings, solar power storage systems and small scale renewable energy systems.   For example: real time information on a vehicle’s power system delivered directly to mobile communication devices.