Sony eyes electric car future, wants to soon sell you Li-ion batteries -- Engadget

By Joseph Volpe

Sony must be smelling dolla dolla bills in the EV-charged streets because the company just announced its intentions to fab lithium-ion batteries for the cars mid-decade. The statement, made from its plant in Motomiya, hinges on a future market flush with consumer demand for the earth-friendly autos, and could see the construction of several dedicated factories. Given the Japanese company's recent history eating bits of competitor dust (hello Wii and iPod), we understand its forward-facing desire to become king of this Li-ion hill. But the mega-electronics maker isn't placing all of its batteries in one fuel-source just yet -- it's "also [considering] developing batteries for gasoline-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids" -- should they win the green energy popularity contest. While we applaud the company for encouraging adoption of the environmentally-friendlier tech, we'd much rather see them make batteries for this bad boy from tomorrowland.

TechCrunch Mainichi Shimbun

New 'semi-solid' battery could recharge EVs as fast as pumping gas -- Engadget

By Sharif Sakr posted Jun 8th 2011 12:59PM

Researchers at MIT reckon they've struck oil. In fact, you're looking at what they call "Cambridge crude" -- a substance that could halve the weight and cost of EV batteries and make them quicker to charge too. The black goo is packed with a high concentration of energy in the form of particles suspended in a liquid electrolyte. When separated by a filter, these particles function as mobile electrodes that can be pumped into and around a system before the energy is released. So instead of waiting up to 20 hours to juice your Nissan Leaf, you could potentially just pump this pre-charged substance into it -- rather like dirty old gas. Until now, no such "semi-solid flow cell" has been able to hold useful quantities of energy, but this stuff literally oozes with it. Not only could it power EVs, it could even be used for large-scale electricity storage for utilities. The researchers insist this energy revolution is years off -- but when it comes, there will be blood.

MIT News Advanced Energy Materials