This story is part of Recode by Vox’s Tech Support series, which explores solutions for our warming world.
When consumer lithium-ion batteries debuted in the 1990s, they were revolutionary: They recharged in a few hours or less and made our modern computers and phones truly portable. But three decades later, this battery technology is due for a major upgrade, since the harsh reality of climate change means that lithium-ion batteries don’t just need to power our devices, but our cars, too. That’s a lot harder.
Lithium-ion batteries became the go-to form of energy storage because they have an extremely high energy density, which means they can store a lot of energy within a relatively small volume. Lithium itself is the lightest metal on the periodic table, which makes lithium-ion batteries extra portable. As the technology has been incorporated into electric vehicles (EVs),…
How Ford, GM, and Tesla are building better EV batteries
