Battery breakthrough could eliminate range anxiety for electric vehicles [Video]

Scientists have discovered a new process that could supercharge the transition to next-generation rechargeable batteries capable of more than doubling the range of current electric vehicles.

The research could help facilitate a switch from conventional lithium-ion batteries – which are found in everything from smartphones to electric cars – to solid-state sodium batteries, which are both cheaper and safer.

Solid-state sodium batteries are also made of materials that are far more abundant than their lithium-ion counterparts, however until now mass production has proved difficult.

A team from Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan claim the newly discovered process could overcome this obstacle through the mass synthesis of a highly conductive electrolyte.

“This newly developed process is useful for the production of almost all sodium-containing sulfide materials, including solid electrolytes and electrode active materials,” said Professor Atsushi Sakuda from Osaka Metropolitan University.

“Also, …