Nanowire batteries expected to be commercialized in 2012, are likely to have 8-10 times the energy density of lithium-ion batteries and much faster charge times.
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Kolibri Alphapolymer" batteries recharge in six minutes and have been government-tested to give a 443.7 mile range to an Audi A2. This battery is also about 30 times cheaper than existing lithium-ion batteries and charges 2500 times without degradation, which would allow a car to travel 1.1 million miles before it needed a new battery. A battery weighing 350kg can store 98kWh of energy, which is a density of 280 watt hours per kilogram, 78% greater than the battery in the Tesla Model S.
Lithium-air batteries — Whereas existing lithium-ion batteries use a lithium electrode and a carbon one, lithium-air batteries, now in development, use lithium as one cathode, and allow atmospheric air to serve as the second electrode. This removes a great deal of the weight of the battery, allowing more energy to be packed into less space. Scientists expect lithium-air batteries to store over 1000 Watt-hours per kilogram - more than six times the energy density of the Tesla Model S.
Virus-assembled batteries — Angela Belcher and her team at MIT have been working on lithium-ion batteries assembled at the nanoscale by genetically-modified M13 viruses. These should have better energy density and will certainly be cheaper to manufacture than existing lithium-ion batteries. Similar research being done with the Tobacco Mosaic Virus
