A team of engineers from Northwestern University has created an electrode for lithium-ion batteries that allows the batteries to hold a charge up to 10 times greater than current technology. Batteries with the new electrode also can charge 10 times faster than current batteries. The researchers used a graphene-silicon sandwich.
"Even after 150 charges, which would be one year or more of operation, the battery is still five times more effective than lithium-ion batteries on the market today."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111114142047.htm
If they can pull this off it solves the EV battery problem. A 10x improvement in capacity means that we could have 200 mile range EVs with batteries only 1/5th size/weight/cost of today's batteries.
Faster charging would mean that no one would need more than about 200 miles range. Drive/charge/drive/charge/drive and you've done a 500+ mile driving day with only two short stops.