New battery could boost viability of electric cars

A new lithium-air battery with 1,000 times the energy density of its closest conventional lithium-ion equivalent could change attitudes to the viability of electric vehicle travel. IBM's lithium-air battery can enable electrically-powered vehicles to travel for 500 miles and could establish the electric car as a serious competitor to petrol-powered transport.

The best current lithium-ion battery, which employs metal oxides in the positive electrode, cannot provide much more than 100 miles of service; however, IBM's new lithium-air cells use carbon, which reacts with the oxygen in the air around it to produce a current.

Don't expect to see a full-scale roll-out this decade, though; the current product is limited in its recharge capacity and a secret material is now being explored to circumvent the problem. However, IBM has set a tentative commercial production date of 2020.