EV Battery Research Powers Ahead Toward Next Big Breakthrough

EV Battery Research Powers Ahead Toward Next Big Breakthrough

BERLIN, GERMANY - OCTOBER 12: An electric car and a plug-in hybrid car charge at a public charging ... [+] station on October 12, 2019 in Berlin, Germany. Germany is hoping to encourage electric car sales as a means to brining down CO2 emissions and combat climate change. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) Any serious discussion of the future of electric cars ends up with a review of where battery technology, specifically battery range and recharge speeds, will be in the coming years. It's complicated - much more complicated than the science that led to semiconductor improvements, which is what made our current computer and smart phones possible. It's also a good example of technology problems that need solving to move towards the carbon-free future described everywhere from the Department of Energy to Greenpeace to ExxonMobil XOM . A big leap is needed to increase the distances these batteries can power cars. To do so, battery technology researchers are focusing on immediate improvements, with an eye on a longer-term move to solid state batteries, which would replace the liquid part of a battery. It's what happens in this now-liquid part of the battery, the electrolyte, that makes this swap so