NEWS

Better batteries mean better products. They give us longer-lasting smartphones, anxiety-free electric transport, and potentially, more efficient energy storage for large-scale buildings like data centers. But battery tech is frustratingly slow to advance, due to both the chemical processes involved and the challenges that exist around commercializing new battery designs. It remains incredibly tough for even the most promising battery experiments to find their way out of research labs and into the devices we carry.

Last week I happened to catch an intriguing documentary on NOVA called Search for the Super Battery.
The topic is of intense interest to me, as the development of better, cheaper batteries is critical for both the future of electric vehicles (EVs) and for the future electrical grid. Battery improvements are needed to increase the range of EVs, and cheaper batteries can help drive down the costs of EVs so more consumers can afford them.

Total’s (TOTF.PA) venture capital unit has acquired a stake in Ionic Materials, a privately held battery developer based in Massachusetts for an undisclosed amount, the French oil and gas company said on Wednesday.

Solid-state lithium battery research and development is red hot, and all puns unintended, the aim is not only raising the energy density of batteries but also controlling or avoiding the thermal runaway problems found in earlier chemistries.

The U.K.’s Dyson and South Korean industrial giant Samsung — both bruised by setbacks in their efforts to master modern batteries — are members of unusually high-powered investment round in a little-known Massachusetts startup …