Looks promising

[otolith]

http://media.ntu.edu.sg/NewsReleases/Pages/newsdet...

[Jon1967x]

For those that wish we had a little more info than a vague title and a link to another web site, some boffins have invented a battery that might be a little better than the current ones.

[otolith]

I suppose double the lifespan and much faster charging is a small improvement

[Jon1967x]

If only you'd said that when you posted rather than zero content other than a link

[Richyboy]

Why buy an electric car now if battery technology is going to take such a big leap in 2 years? Swapping out the battery of an existing electric car would surely be uneconomical, so why not wait.

[otolith]

I guess it depends on the design of the car - Tesla have said that they will offer a battery upgrade option to roadster owners, and it's pretty easy to swap out the battery on a model S. Whether it is economic to do it is another matter.

[amstrange1]

Richyboy said:

Why buy an electric car now if battery technology is going to take such a big leap in 2 years?

Traditional automotive development lifecycles are much much slower than consumer electronics, and a lot of research institutions forget this. I'd say it's a minimum of 2 years away from OEMs playing with the technology in development prototypes, and a further 5 years after that before you'd see it in a production vehicle - and that's assuming that the prototype worked out okay.

If Tesla back it, then consumers might get their hands on it sooner, as their market position permits them to take a lot more gambles.

[budfox]

Richyboy said:

Why buy an electric car now if battery technology is going to take such a big leap in 2 years? Swapping out the battery of an existing electric car would surely be uneconomical, so why not wait.

Because there will ALWAYS be newer technology on the horizon. If an EV makes sense now, there is no reason not to buy one.