Clean energy journalism for a cooler tomorrow

A 500-mile electric car?

Researchers at IBM aim to increase the energy density of batteries, with the goal of producing an electric car that can travel 500 miles on a single charge.
By Ken Paulman

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At the risk of oversimplifying, the reason the vast majority of cars on the road today run on gasoline is a simple matter of energy density. That is, gasoline packs a lot of power into a small space.

Batteries, at this point in time, don’t have the energy density of gasoline. While automakers can now produce electric cars that provide the same comfort and safety of gasoline-powered cars, they simply can’t go as far on a full tank. That’s fine for a daily commuter car, but for people who need to occasionally travel longer distances, an EV may not be a practical option.

Researchers at IBM are attempting to solve this problem by increasing the energy density of batteries, with a goal of producing an electric car capable of traveling 500 miles on a single charge. EnergyNOW has the story:

Ken Paulman is the director of impact at Canary Media. He was previously the founder and director of the Energy News Network, which merged with Canary Media in 2025.

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