By Bob Difley
However, a couple of scientists at MIT have been working a new type of battery that has a liquid core, instead of solid state materials as are now used, and their findings have been positive according to The Independent. They say that with this type of battery, it could be half the size of current EV batteries, be cheaper to make, and provide a ten-times improvement in energy density.
In addition to these advantages, the new batteries could be swapped out at charging stations, similar to battery swapping stations for current battery configurations now being installed in Israel and Denmark by the company Better Place , but still have the ability to be recharged at home or at charging stations when time permits. The time taken to swap batteries would be similar to the time taken now to refuel with gasoline or diesel.
Another possibility would be to design the batteries so that the discharged core liquid could be pumped out and replaced with a fully charged fluid. The researchers said that this could be the breakthrough that the battery industry was waiting for to make EVs a more viable replacement for current gasoline and diesel powered vehicles.
These steps could pave the way for electric motorhomes and trucks with capabilities of current models while decreasing our use of foreign oil and with no pollutant or CO2 emissions making less of an imprint on the earth–not to mention using a lot less of $4/gal gasoline.
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