Batteries

In 2019, we looked at an innovative battery for electric vehicles that could be charged in 10 minutes. The researchers behind it have now added a couple more desirable attributes, including a cost they say is on par with internal combustion engines.

Whether it is crafting the world’s fastest electrodes or building battery parts out of microwaved plastic, 2020 showed us just how imaginative scientists can be when it comes developing technologies for next-generation energy storage.

In an effort to assist the shift away from the rare and expensive metal cobalt, scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed an alternative nickel-based battery architecture, which they say ticks a few important boxes.

QuantumScape has announced stunning performance figures for what may be the first commercially viable solid-state lithium-metal battery. It's claimed to add as much as 80% to the range of an electric car, and charge from 0-80% in just 15 minutes.

Scientists investigating an experimental battery chemistry have developed a flexible device they say offers up to 10 times the energy density of current lithium-ion solutions, making it an ideal fit for a number of applications.

A research team in Russia has discovered a new bright, blue mineral they say could solve one of the problems with sodium-ion batteries, which shape as a far more cost-effective form of energy storage than today's solutions.

Scientists at the University of Central Florida studying alternative lithium battery designs have come up with a modification to one they say could lead to great performance gains, thanks to a new protective coating for one of its electrodes.

Battery researchers are continually experimenting with alternative materials in an effort to boost performance, and a group from Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is claiming to have landed on a winner.

French company Nawa technologies says it's already in production on a new electrode material that can radically boost the performance of existing and future battery types, delivering 3x the energy density, 10x the power, and vastly faster charging.

By focusing on the way lithium moves between the two electrodes, scientists in the Netherlands have come up with a new battery design that promises much faster charging rates, which could help improve the grid storage capability of renewable energy.

Tesla's Battery Day and annual shareholder meeting involved a foreshadowing of big leaps in battery technology, the promise of affordable electric cars and the unveiling of a mind-bending new performance option, known as Plaid mode.

Estonia's Skeleton Technologies and Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have partnered up to complete development on what they're calling the SuperBattery for EVs – "a groundbreaking graphene battery with a 15-second charging time."