They can stream Netflix, play incredible video games, and connect us with people around the world at anytime, all in the palm of our hands.

只靠著手中的手機，就可以用收看 Netflix 和玩很棒的手遊，而且可以隨時與世界各地的人互相聯絡。

So, how come the battery life sucks so much?

那麼，為什麼電池壽命會如此糟糕呢？

You remember your old phone?

還記得你的舊手機嗎？

The one that just played Snake and made calls?

那個只能玩貪吃蛇和打電話的手機？

Those things had batteries a fraction of the size our modern smartphones but somehow they lasted a week.

舊型手機的電池大小是現代手機電池的一小部分而已，卻可以維持一週。

So with all the leaps and bounds we've made in modern technology, why can't our current phones just last until the end of the day?

我們在現代科技中快速的發展，但為何現在的手機電池沒辦法持續一整天呢？

To find out why our batteries are so bad, I talked to Dr. Venkat Srinivasan, an expert in battery technology.

為了找出電池如此糟糕的原因，我與電池科技的專家 Srinivasan 博士進行了談話。

So I mean, part of this is obviously as you know very very well, the demands of the apps coming off the mobile devices increased dramatically, right?

顯然你十分清楚一部份的原因，你知道行動裝置對於 app 的需求顯著地增加，對吧？

I mean that was pre-touchscreens, pre all of us on Twitter and Instagram and taking pictures and getting on these high resolution screens.

我是指在觸控螢幕發明前，在我們所有人用推特和 Instagram、照相和使用高解析度的螢幕之前。

So, much of it is just the fact that the draw has become dramatically more.

大部分的原因是吸引力明顯增加了。

Okay, so phones have gotten way better and they need more power because of that.

所以手機越變越好，而正因如此，現代手機需要消耗更多電量。

An original Nokia 3310 had 100 MHz, single core processor, and a 4,000 pixel display.

最原始的 Nokia 3310 擁有 100 MHz 的單一核心處理器和 4,000 像素的解析度。

The Galaxy S10 plus from 2019 on the other hand, has a 2.4GHz, eight-core processor that pushes 4,377,600 pixels.

2019 的三星 Galaxy S10 plus 擁有 2.4GHz 的八核心處理器和 4,377,600 像素的解析度。

So yeah, things have come a long way.

所以事情已經有長遠的發展。

For processor speed, we even have a rule for this, called Moore's Law, which says that roughly every two years, the number of transistors that we can fit on a single microchip will double, which means proportionately more powerful computers and phones.

對於處理器的速度，有一個法則稱作「摩爾定律」，在單一晶片上的電晶體數量，大約每兩年就會加倍，代表電腦和手機會成比例地越變越厲害。

We all talk about Moore's Law for electronics.

我們談論電子產品時都會提到摩爾定律。

Unfortunately, battery energy density don't scale at the same rate as Moore's Law is scaling.

不幸的是，電池能量密度的成長速率與摩爾定律不同。

Also, batteries have been evolving.

此外，電池也在演進。

It's just at a different pace in which things happen.

只是電池的演進速度跟其他事物不一樣。

So our batteries don't improve as fast at the rate of the rest of our phones.

所以電池改良的速度跟不上手機進步的速度。

They have been improving, to a point.

一定的程度上，電池是有在進步的。

We've been squeezing out more and more power from materials in the technology that we have now, but there are limits to how far we can go.

我們已經從現有科技的材料中擠壓出越來越多的能量，但我們能做到的程度有限。

A lot of what has been happening for a long time is being sort of shrinking all the devices that are inside of the chip to make things better and better and better.

長久以來發生的事是將裝置裡面的晶片縮小，讓裝置越變越好。

In a battery equal to that would be removing you know, unwanted stuff from the battery.

在一個像那樣的電池，你知道，就得把電池內多餘的東西移除。

So that I add more and more and more dense, energy dense materials so that I can ultimately pack in a lot more energy into the system.

我加入越來越多的密度材料，所以我最後可以把更多的能量裝載至系統裡面。

Turns out, people have been doing this game for the last 20 years.

結果顯示，人們在過去的 20 年都在做這件事。

And if you do this game for the last 20 years, you start to reach a point where it's very difficult to squeeze out anymore stuff.

而如果這件事已經做了 20 年，你會到達一個很難擠壓出其他新東西的境界。

Pretty much, most of the battery today, is being used for something.

現今的電池很可能是為了某方面使用而演化的。

Our modern batteries basically use up all the internal space they have for power and the only way to get more is by shrinking down those internal parts, like the barriers between cells.

我們現代的電池基本上用盡所有的內部空間，而我們唯一能做的就是縮小內部，像是零件之間的空隙。

And when those get too thin, that's where safety issues can happen.

當零件變得太薄，很可能會引發安全問題。

And when things get pushed too far, well, we get products like the Galaxy Note 7.

當過於追求極致的結果，嗯，就會產生像是 Galaxy Note 7 的事件發生。

Basically, in modern lithium ion batteries, energy transfers between the positive and negative electrodes through a liquid solution.

基本上，現代的鋰離子電池中，能量利用液態溶液在正負極之間轉換。

Now, that solution's flammable.

而這是易燃的溶劑。

But, it's okay because there's a separator between the electrodes.

但沒關係，因為在正負極之間有一個分隔器。

In the Note 7, that separator was too thin.

三星 Note 7 手機的分隔器太薄了。

It sparked and then the liquid caught on fire.

它引起火花，接著液體著火了。

What happened five years ago was that it became clear that these limits were getting hit where we couldn't remove anymore things.

五年前開始，我們清楚地意識到我們已經到達極限了，再也無法移除任何一項東西。

But we reached a stage where new improvements in energy density got to come from changing battery materials.

但是我們到達一個新境界，藉著改變電池的材料，能量密度有了新進展。

And new materials are always slower.

然而，新材質總是會特別慢。

So what does the future look like?

所以未來會是如何呢？

Well, right now the material we use is called lithium cobalt.

我們現在使用的材料稱作「鋰鈷」。

A battery technology that we've been using since the early 90's.

我們從 90 年代就開始使用這項電池科技。

But researchers have already started work on what comes next.

但研究員已經開始著手下一步。

Actually all the batteries have a liquid electrolyte in them.

事實上，所有的電池裡面都有液態電解質。

The next big thing and I think this is going to be a huge thing is solid state batteries.

我認為下一件大事會是固態電池。

Things that don't have liquids but a solid that can conduct lithium back and forth between them.

電池裡沒有液體，取而代之的是一個可以來回傳導鋰的固體。

You can't predict a breakthrough, so you don't know when that's going to happen.

突破是無法預測的，所以你沒有辦法知道這些事何時會發生。

But we think that's where things are going.

但是我們認為未來正邁向這條路。

And if that happens, cellphones and laptops will start getting more energy dense.

如果發生的話，手機和筆電會開始有更多能量密度。

There is one slight issue that could come up though.

這是一個可以討論的小議題。

By the time better batteries do come around, our phones might be even more powerful than they are right now.

等到新電池來臨的時候，我們的手機可能會變得比現在更加厲害。

Which might leave us right back where we started, with less than a day of battery life and external batteries galore.

這可能會帶領我們回到最初，不再過著電池只能撐一天或是使用大量外接電源的生活了。

Progress always has a price.

發展總是會有代價的。

Thanks so much for watching.

感謝您的觀看。

For more great videos like this, make sure to like and subscribe to The Verge.

想要看更多像這樣的優質影片，記得按下喜歡和訂閱 The Verge 頻道。

And if you wanna learn more about phone batteries, check out this video about overcharging them.

如果你想要得知更多有關手機電池的資訊，可以看看這部關於過度充電的影片。