Battery Breakthrough

A new high-capacity battery material could lead to super-efficient hybrid cars and electric vehicles, helping to slash U.S. gas consumption.

Researchers have long known that a material based on lithium, nickel, and manganese could be used to make lithium-ion batteries that store large amounts of energy. The problem is that batteries based on this material could be charged and discharged only slowly, otherwise the amount of energy they could store would drop dramatically.

Now researchers at MIT and the State University of New York in Stony Brook have shown a way around the problem.

Technology Review