US Department of Energy's research arm is upbeat about the prospects of new battery technology ushering in clean and cheap energy.
The research arm of the US Department of Energy (DoE) claims to have discovered game-changing energy-storage technologies that could accelerate the uptake of clean energy and make everything from smartphones to electric vehicles run for longer.
Ellen Williams, director of DoE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), says it has achieved several breakthroughs in energy-storage technology that could transform the electrical grid.
"We have reached some holy grails in batteries -- just in the sense of demonstrating that we can create a totally new approach to battery technology, make it work, make it commercially viable, and get it out there to let it do its thing," Williams told The Guardian.
ARPA-E, which is modelled on the more widely-known Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), gained its first funding in 2009 under Barack Obama and formed part of the government's stimulus plan.
The group is tasked with supporting "transformational energy projects" and, according to Obama, 45 ARPA-E backed projects have now secured more than $1.25bn in private-sector funding. ARPA-E has invested about $1.3bn across 475 projects over the past seven years...
Read more: US government: We've found 'holy grail' of grid-scale battery tech | ZDNet