IBM research boosts Battery 500 Project with new partners

IBM announced that industry leaders Asahi Kasei and Central Glass will join its Battery 500 project. They will collaborate on extensive research in hopes of the potential to switch from gasoline to electricity as the primary power source for vehicles. The Battery 500 technology works as an open system using common air as a reagent which upon recharge releases oxygen back into the environment. While driving, oxygen reacts with lithium ions, forming lithium peroxide on a carbon matrix. Upon recharge, the oxygen is given back to the atmosphere and the lithium goes back onto the anode. This technology is capable of powering a family-sized electric car for approximately 500 miles on a single charge. As partners, Asahi Kasei and Central Glass bring to the project decades of materials innovation for the automotive industry.