One of the most daunting challenges facing the widespread adoption of electric vehicles is battery range. Simply put, when you can only drive 50-100 miles before you have to recharge your EV’s batteries for 2-8 hours, it limits your travel options.
The aim of IBM’s Battery 500 Project is to take the best and the brightest in the field of anode and cathode technology to increase the storage density of batteries by a factor of 10. In layman’s terms that means getting 500 miles of range out of a battery (hence the project’s name).
A team of roughly 40 scientists and engineers will focus on lithium-air tech, which relies on the air around us to collect positive ions using nanoscale semiconductors.
While this research may not reap benefits for a number of years, it’s excellent news that IBM is tackling this problem. We’re still waiting to see if consumers will take the bait on EVs like the 100-mile range Nissan Leaf.
