Chismillionare applauds-Researchers Extend Lithium Ion Battery Life 10X

The affordable plug in sports car is on the near horizon!!!

Yes...I mean that if your laptop currently gets 2 hours of unplugged life, these would get 20 hours. Holy Schmoley!

The new batteries use silicon nano wires to basically reinvent the way that the batteries electrodes work. Instead of using carbon to store the lithium ions in the anode, they're using silicon. Silicon can hold far more ions; however, it actually stores so many ions that it literally swells during charging and contracts during use. That swelling and unswelling has generally led to complete destruction of the anode over very little use.

The silicon nanowires allow the anode to absorb the lithium without breaking down. The nanowire "forest" (yes, they actually call it a forest) expands to four times its original size during charging, but the wires don't ever fracture.

The batteries could be used to store electricity during off-peak hours or to power portable electronics. But the real exciting possibility is that these batteries could power electric vehicles that would store more energy than could be stored in a tank of gas!

Of course, one never knows what will happen when you move a technology from the lab into manufacturing, but this technology is revolutionary and extremely promising.