Per yesterday's announcement from CEO Ross Dueber, battery firm ZPower will begin developing a silver-zinc battery design as opposed to lithium-ion batteries, thereby offering 40% added run time, according to Dueber.

The CEO stated that the silver-zinc design will sport features such as not degrading in capacity during the first year, whereas lithium-ion designs can lose up to 30% of their capacity over that period. Dueber went on to state that silver-zinc batteries begin to degrade at a rate similar to that of lithium-ion batteries after that time period.

According to Macworld UK, silver-zinc is not a new technology. Early batteries generally designed for one-time use in military and aerospace devices relied on similar technology with ZPower adding recharge capabilities.

Though a cool idea, it remains to be seen if silver-zinc batteries can compete on price, since lithium-ion is relatively cheap. The silver-zinc batteries contain silver, which can be expensive and perhaps nullify cost savings in the short term.

ZPower is starting off with laptops, but it plans batteries for mobile devices like cell phones in a few years, Dueber said. The company needs to get the technology validated to encourage other vendors to adopt it.

No comment has been given as to whether Apple is looking into similar technologies for its next generations of notebook or iPhone batteries.

Let us know what you make of this over in the comments or forums.