A view of the Tesla Model S all-electric sedan in March 2009. After watching a Tesla electric sports car rocket from zero to 60 mph (100 kph) in less than four seconds, Spike Narayan, a researcher for IBM has been working on Lithium-Air batteries, which the company said has the potential to pack up to 10 times the power stored in Lithium-Ion batteries commonly found in cell phones and laptops.
Spike Narayan watched a Tesla electric sports car rocket from zero to 60 mph (100 kph) in less than four seconds and knew batteries would be the next big thing.
"It's hard to understand you're not in a gas powered Porsche," Narayan said as he recalled the demonstration outside IBM's Almaden Research Center in the heart of Silicon Valley.
"Your head snaps back from the speed."
The vision underscored the importance of battery power to Narayan and other IBM researchers who led a future-of-batteries conference that ended Thursday at the center.
Scientists spent two days discussing potential new ways to store electricity and chart paths for research.
IBM is focusing on Lithium-Air batteries, which the company said has the potential to pack up to 10 times the power stored in Lithium-Ion batteries commonly found in cell phones and laptops.
The US technology giant and its partners expect to invest approximately 10 million dollars in the project during the next three years.
Narayan said that the time is right to strive for battery breakthroughs.
A Chevrolet Volt car poised for release in the United States has batteries that can power it for 40 miles (64 kilometers) without help from a gas engine built into the vehicle.
Toyota will soon launch a third-generation of the Japanese auto titan's popular hybrid gas-electric Prius, sporting even more energy efficiency.
Tesla Motors just recently received a 465 million dollar loan from the US Department of Energy to build an electric family sedan to accompany the Roadster sports car that is the young US company's sole offering.
IBM believes Lithium-Air could be the next big thing when it comes to providing batteries for those and other such innovations.
Big Blue's big green project has skeptics, some of whom debate whether consumers will be interested in energy efficient cars.
"Consumers are not willing to pay for fuel-efficient technology if they don't know the future of fuel prices, or even their own job," said Daniel Sperling, who co-authored the book 'Two Billion Cars' about the challenges of fuel efficiency.
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