New battery tech promises one-minute charging time for eight hours of play

A new battery technology described by PDP at CES 2016 seems a bit hard to believe, but the company told Polygon it has a working prototype ... although we weren't able to see it. The pitch is intriguing though: The technology is supposed to be able to provide eight hours of play for your Xbox One controller with only a 60-second charge time.

"We’ve developed a technology to charge your controller in a new way, it’s not using a battery pack," Christopher Dingle, director of product development at PDP, told Polygon. "In the past it has been about either your dry cell battery chemistries or your lithium ion or lithium polymers, but we’ve developed a new type of power pack."

Few specific details were given about how the pack works. "It’s a physical reaction rather than a chemical reaction," Dingle explained. "It’s a new type of power pack chemistry."

Don't expect to be able to buy one anytime soon; PDP is aiming for pre-orders to begin near the end of 2016, and a single battery with the charging base will cost around around $99. For now, they're non-working prototypes for the Xbox One, although I was told a PlayStation 4 model is in the works.

This is also just the first step for the rapid-charging technology.

"The very next step for us is to create products for the mobile space, we’ll be creating power packs similar to what you’re seeing now, but the ones that exist now are lithium ion or lithium polymer," Dingle said. In the future, PDP is hoping to create rapid-charging power packs for things like your phone or laptop, at entry-level, mid-tier and premium price points.

These power packs will use the same technology as the power pack described for the Xbox One, but will come in a form factor similar to what you're used to for this sort of portable charging solution, although I was told PDP's products will be a bit lighter than what exists on the market.

It sounds great, but right now we're just going on their word. We'll be keeping an eye on this.