Battery technology has been something of a tortoise over the years; not moving ahead very quickly and exhibiting periods of no activity at all. But pressure from the consumer electronics world and, more recently, the automotive sector, has begun to change this.
Consumer devices are getting smaller, but users want longer battery life. That means batteries need to store more energy per unit volume. Meanwhile, the same trend is seen in automotive. Drivers want to be able to go further between charges, but not at the expense of larger batteries.
All of this points to something like a new age of battery technology emerging in the next couple of years. But, as we all know, developing something in the lab is one thing; getting it to the stage where it makes commercial sense is another.
