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A new approach to alkali batteries, in which the cathode is dissolved in water that flows through the system, could overcome the limitations of currently available batteries, scientists in the US say. Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries have revolutionised the mobility of small electronics, but their limited capacity means they don't stretch easily to bigger jobs such as running automobiles or storing power for national grid networks.Ordinarily, lithium ion batteries contain a solid anode, which gives up electrons, and a solid cathode, which receives them. The two are divided by an organic fluid electrolyte. This strategy depends on a cathode that can expand to...

Alternative Energy: A government report says reliance on electric cars will do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and may merely shift our dependence on foreign sources from one set of dictators to another..."If you are using coal-fired power plants, and half the country's electricity comes from coal-powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?" asks Mark Gaffigan, co-author of the GAO report. The report itself notes: "Reductions in CO2 emissions depend on generating electricity used to charge the vehicles from lower-emission sources of energy."

Two researchers have developed battery cells that can charge up in less time than it takes to read the first two sentences of this article. The work could eventually produce ultra-fast power packs for everything from laptop computers to electric vehicles. Byoungwoo Kang and Gerbrand Ceder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge have found a way to get a common lithium compound to release and take up lithium ions in a matter of seconds. The compound, which is already used in the electrodes of some commercial lithium-ion batteries, might lead to laptop batteries capable of charging themselves in...

UYUNI, Bolivia: In the rush to build the next generation of hybrid or electric cars, a sobering fact confronts both automakers and governments seeking to lower their reliance on foreign oil: almost half of the world's lithium, the mineral needed to power the vehicles, is found here in Bolivia - a country that may not be willing to surrender it so easily. Japanese and European companies are busily trying to strike deals to tap the resource, but a nationalist sentiment is building quickly in the government of President Evo Morales, an ardent critic of the United States who has already...

Breakthroughs in battery technology could make 2007 the year that electric cars finally come into their own. The company claims that their battery shows a cycle life in excess of 20,000 charges and discharges while still retaining 85 per cent of its capacity to store energy. Altairnano's data show that their battery has a power density of 4,000 w/kg and the ability to safely operate from -50° C to 75° C. Each credit is worth US$5,000 (about AU$6,500), so a type 3 vehicle is worth US$200,000 (about AU$260,000) in California. Carmakers either have to build their own type 3 vehicles...