Researchers in China have announced a radical sodium metal battery (SMB) design that can fully charge in just four minutes and will retain its capacity for years of use.

SMBs are a form of ultrafast-charging, stable batteries that scientists say could one day be a cheap alternative to today's lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, which rely on geographically concentrated metals and easily catch fire. SMBs also differ from sodium-ion (Na-ion) batteries in that they use a metallic sodium anode rather than a graphite or hard carbon anode.

However, SMBs remain largely theoretical because they are prone to a type of degradation known as dendrite formation. This is when the sodium ions passing through the electrode deposit onto the highly reactive, pure-metal sodium anode in spiky, stalagmite-like structures. Over time, this forms a bridge between the cathode and the anode, short-circuiting the battery.

Dendrite formation is especially common in sodium batteries because sodium is a highly reactive metal. When charge runs through a Li-ion, Na-ion, or sodium metal battery, the anode always reacts with the electrolyte to form an oxide layer known as the SEI. This is typically 10 to 50 nanometers thick — about as wide as a small virus — but generally harmless. But with sodium, the SEI often cracks, forming bumps that attract sodium ions, which pile into dendrites.

Now, researchers say they have solved this issue by using a tough, quasi-solid gel electrolyte — dubbed Sn-FB QSE — which strengthens the battery against punctures and provides a semisolid internal structure that prevents dendrites from forming. They outlined their findings in a study published May 21 in the journal Nano-Micro Letters.

To confirm the longevity of this approach, the scientists charged and discharged the battery for over 6,000 hours without dendrites short-circuiting the battery. They also noted that when they charged the battery from zero to 100% capacity in just four minutes, it retained electrical charge, measured in milliampere-hours per gram (mAh g^–1), of 80.1. This is the equivalent of around half that retained in Li-ion batteries.

When charged at a slightly slower rate of zero to 100% in 20 minutes, the battery retained 90% of its charge capacity over 2,000 cycles — matching the theoretical limits for Li-ion batteries, the scientists said in the study. This slower speed lowered the cost and improved the safety.

This is notable because the scientists achieved this in the new battery while still charging it quicker than Li-ion batteries can be charged. This is relevant because charging speed remains a sticking point for battery deployment in electric vehicles (EVs). The fastest charging EV today is the BYD Denza, which the Chinese automaker says can go from 10-70% in just five minutes. But this requires highly specialised, 1MW proprietary chargers.

Most EVs charge much slower — Tesla representatives say its Model 3 can recharge from 10-70% in approximately 15 minutes using Tesla’s own 250kW flash chargers, but representatives from the EV routing platform Zapmap say the same vehicle will take 90 minutes to charge to 80% on 50kW chargers.

Indeed, most batteries used for modern technologies, such as smartphones and EVs, are Li-ion. However, Li-ion batteries are expensive to produce because they contain the hard-to-obtain metals lithium and cobalt, and they are prone to catching fire.

Increasingly, battery manufacturers are looking to bring Na-ion batteries to commercial scale because they are cheaper and safer. However, they are heavier and larger than Li-on batteries.

SMBs are the focus of intense research because they theoretically combine the best of both types of batteries. Because SMBs use a sodium anode, rather Na-ion batteries that use graphite or hard carbon anode, they are lighter and cheaper to produce and therefore much more comparable to Li-ion in terms of size and weight. They are also safer because they operate using sodium ions, which are bulky and cannot flow to breaches in a battery wall fast enough to cause thermal runaway. This is the self-sustaining chain reaction that causes batteries to ignite when damaged.

If the issues of dendrite formation and stability at lower temperatures can be resolved, replicated and scaled, SMBs could reshape the economics of battery deployment over the next decade, the scientists said.

SMBs could be excellent choices for EVs in public transport or within commuter cars, the scientists belive, because although they have lower ranges than Na-ion and Li-ion vehicles do, they charge faster. However, they won't be available for some time, either in vehicles or smaller devices like consumer electronics.

That's because devices like smartphones are subject to harsh temperature changes that affect the internal chemistry of batteries that rely on gel electrolytes. The research must first be replicated before manufacturers feel comfortable using pure sodium metal in place of well-understood graphite configurations.

A California-based technology company has launched the world's first mass-produced native color light detection and ranging (lidar) sensor, which captures 3D spatial and color data simultaneously.

Until now, autonomous vehicles and robots have relied on separate sensors for each data stream. But the new devices, dubbed "Rev8," could lead to safety improvements, Ouster representatives say, as bots will be able to perceive the 3D and color information of their environment more quickly.

"For the first time, a single lidar sensor can understand road signs, interpret brake lights, or simply capture the richness of planet earth in survey-grade, colorized maps," company representatives said in a May 4 statement.

The next generation of lidar

Typical lidar sensors work by emitting laser pulses and measuring the time it takes for the reflected signals to return. This allows them to calculate the distance to objects in their environment with high precision and gather physical information, such as how reflective surfaces are.

A dedicated lidar processing chip converts the return laser signals into points on a 3D map, before sending it to the host computer to aid its decision-making. If the device also needed to "see" in color, it would require a separate camera lens and its data would need to be calibrated with that from the lidar sensor.

What makes Ouster's new Rev8 sensors different is that they detect both laser light for depth perception and ambient light for color information. The new "L4 Ouster Silicon" chip inside builds a 3D map from the laser returns and assigns the corresponding color information to each 3D point at the moment it is generated.

The sensors do this using single-photon avalanche diodes, which can interpret all incoming light at a very high resolution, as each photon triggers an "avalanche" of electrons to produce a strong electrical signal.

Indeed, the Rev8 family of sensors can detect up to 20 trillion photons per second with picosecond timing precision, Ouster representatives said. A typical commercially available LiDAR sensor processes detections at a rate of only a few million photons per second.

The Rev8 sensors boast megapixel-like resolution, putting them in the same class as a smartphone camera, but the 48-bit color depth gives them vastly better color accuracy. According to Ouster, the OS1 Max — the most advanced sensor in the Rev8 line — has a detection range of up to 1,640 feet (500 meters) and a 45-degree field of view.

The Rev8 sensors also boast 116 decibels of dynamic range, which describes the ratio between the darkest and lightest light signals they can capture and, as such, their tolerance to extreme lighting. In comparison, the Nikon D850 DSLR camera has a dynamic range of 11.5 f-stops, or about 69 dB.

Why lidar is crucial to the future of robotics

The key benefit of a single sensor capturing both 3D and color data is that the two are already perfectly aligned when they reach the chip, skipping the time-consuming and computationally demanding calibration phase. It eliminates the requirement for a separate camera system, thereby lowering manufacturing costs and saving valuable space within the device.

Removing the calibration step also reduces the margin for error in interpreting the two data streams. This could make autonomous vehicles safer, said John Molloy, an expert in autonomous sensing and AI safety at the University of York in the U.K.

"Native color lidar creates the potential for faster and more efficient perception systems that have a better understanding of their environment while also reducing the size, complexity and, potentially, the cost of autonomous sensing stacks," Molloy, who was not involved in the launch of the new devices, told Live Science in an email. "This could prove particularly valuable in enabling safer, more affordable, and more widely deployable autonomous mobility."

Rev8 allows sensors to collect higher-quality 3D color data required to build "world models" for embodied AI systems, Ouster representatives explained in the statement. Scientists say these world models ‪—‬ neural networks that use data points from the real world ‪—‬ are needed to train systems like humanoid robots or self-driving cars to navigate and manipulate the world around us.

Demand for the latest and greatest lidar sensors is growing, with Ouster's sensors already used in autonomous systems produced by the likes of Google and Volvo.

Waymo has deployed robotaxis in major cities across the U.S. and plans to begin operations in London this year. Humanoid robots are expected to take on an increasing number of roles in education, medicine and eldercare, while industrial robot installations have more than doubled since 2004.

Ouster is not the only company with its sights on a hefty chunk of the robot sensor market. In April, China-based Hesai unveiled a new lidar sensor that also processes color and 3D depth information directly within the chip. Unlike Rev8, however, it has yet to enter mass production.

Sensor technology for autonomous vehicles has reached an even more advanced level in research labs. Last summer, scientists from the University of Rochester and the University of California revealed their penny-sized laser that could emit 20 quintillion pulses of light per second and accurately interpret objects moving at up to 89 mph (143 km/h).

Flying cars have long captured the imagination of science fiction writers, and in recent years, a host of tech startups have been rushing to make the dream a reality. Following a long period of research and development, more bullish voices in the industry say the launch of air taxi services is imminent — but significant technical, regulatory and economic hurdles may yet stymie their take off.

U.S. companies Joby Aviation and Archer have both announced plans to launch air taxi services in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), later this year, which would mark a major milestone in the technology’s winding road to commercialization.

Despite the enduring appeal of this new form of urban mobility and efforts by aviation authorities to lay the regulatory groundwork, however, experts say they’re not yet ready for prime time. Concerns around safety, question marks about the financial viability of air taxi services, and the challenges involved in setting up the infrastructure and operational capacity to support a completely new transport network mean we could still be waiting at least a decade for an airborne alternative to Uber.

"We think that full-scale services is more of a middle of the next decade kind of thing, not anytime soon," Sergio Cecutta, founder and partner at SMG Consulting, which covers the advanced air mobility sector, told Live Science.

Despite lofty ambitions, plans to roll out flying taxis to date have so far fizzled out. There were, for example, plans to introduce flying taxis in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics — but they were scrapped due to delays over the certification for the vehicles' engines. Around the same time, Archer set out plans to introduce flying taxis ahead of the upcoming FIFA World Cup, for flights in LA. This now seems unlikely, with the company now targeting the 2028 LA Olympic Games for the introduction of new passenger transport services.

In recent weeks, however, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced the latest phase of its advanced air mobility program that will evaluate air taxi performance in eight separate projects over the summer across 26 states. Does that mean we can expect flying taxis to take to the skies this year?

Certification challenges

The promise of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft is to create a quieter, cleaner and more efficient alternative to helicopters. While designs vary between companies, they typically rely on distributed electric propulsion (DEP) — spreading multiple electric motors and propellers across the airframe to create something that looks more like a drone than a conventional rotorcraft.

Some eVTOLs, like those made by German company Volocopter and Chinese company EHang, feature propellers fixed in a vertical position. But other companies like Joby and Archer are experimenting with propellers that can shift from a vertical to horizontal position, which allows them to combine vertical takeoff with more efficient forward flight.

Because they are powered by batteries, they could be both greener and quieter than conventional aircraft. In theory, at least, the increased efficiency and simplicity of electric motors could also make eVTOLs cheaper to build and operate, according to NASA. Proponents say this could make it feasible to operate large numbers of these aircraft in urban areas at a price point that many more people would be able to afford.

But getting a new class of aircraft off the ground is not simple. While eVTOL companies have carried out hundreds of hours of test flights, starting commercial operations will require them to go through onerous certification processes with aviation authorities. These include bodies like the FAA, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

While the specifics vary from country to country, this is likely to involve around 1,000 hours of test flights overseen by regulators to ensure they can safely fly the kinds of missions the developers envisage, said Cecutta. Given that even the most advanced eVTOL developers have managed just a few hundred hours of test flights, normally in several different aircraft designs, he says certification is still some way off.

"There's not enough time on this planet for them to do it in a year," said Cecutta. "We think certification, even for the most advanced of the bunch, is a 2027 thing. And for some other companies, it might be a 2028 or 2029 milestone."

Early pilots launch — but technical challenges remain

Regulators in the U.A.E have committed to fast-tracking approvals for eVTOLs, but Cecutta suspects this won't be a full certification in the traditional sense. Normally, certification allows an aircraft to fly anywhere under various conditions, but he says the U.A.E's General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) is expected to issue an airworthiness certificate that allows flights only on very restricted routes that avoid flying over densely populated areas, such as from Dubai airport to the Palm Jumeirah resort island.

While this may provide companies with some early operational experience, aerospace analyst Bill Sweetman, principal at Valkyrie Strategic Solutions, says it's unlikely to accelerate the technology’s broader rollout. Leading aviation authorities typically have agreements whereby certifications are reciprocally recognized between countries. But because the U.A.E. has never certified an aircraft before, this is not likely to happen here.

Companies in the U.S. do have another avenue for getting services up and running before full certification. In September 2025, the FAA introduced the eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) that will allow uncertified aircraft to operate in controlled environments in a series of pilots designed to test out various use cases for the technology, including air taxi services.

But Cecutta emphasizes that this is unlikely to accelerate the widespread deployment of the technology. The program is designed to help companies gain operational experience so that they can launch commercial services faster following certification, but it won’t speed up the certification process itself.

There may yet also be significant speed bumps in efforts to prove the airworthiness of these vehicles. Richard Brown, an aerodynamics consultant at Sophrodyne Aerospace in Scotland, says there are technical complexities to eVTOL operations that many in the industry have been reluctant to fully address.

One major concern involves what happens when these multi-rotor aircraft interact with the ground. Research Brown conducted for the CAA has revealed that the downwash from eVTOL rotors can create highly concentrated airflows that travel considerable distances across the ground with surprising strength. This could damage surrounding infrastructure or even send people flying unexpectedly.

Brown suggests that eVTOL company modeling focuses on average airflows and fails to capture these dynamics. But the phenomenon could restrict where these aircraft can safely operate and what kind of infrastructure they'll need.

Even more concerning, he says, is the risk of a vortex ring state, a dangerous aerodynamic condition that can cause rotors to suddenly lose thrust. This is already a major safety concern for helicopters, which experience vortex ring state accidents every year, he adds, but eVTOL designs with multiple interacting rotors may be even more susceptible to these effects.

Facing up to hard economic truths

Even if startups overcome the technical hurdles, significant questions remain about economic viability. Although eVTOLs are likely to be cheaper to operate than conventional aircraft — because electric propulsion is inherently more efficient and less prone to failure — they are likely to be considerably more expensive to purchase for the foreseeable future, Cecutta said.

Costs will come down as companies scale up production, and plans to enable autonomous flight could remove the considerable cost of training and employing pilots, he adds. But this will take time and Cecutta estimates that it could be a decade before eVTOL services become a transportation option for middle-class passengers, rather than just the ultra-wealthy.

Sweetman is more sceptical about whether eVTOL operations will ever achieve the scale required to significantly reduce costs — with per-vehicle costs decling with many more vehicles manufactured. He questions whether urban airspace can safely accommodate the hundreds or thousands of aircraft required to make the economic case stack up.

And long-term operational costs may be considerably higher than many have suggested. Unlike electric cars, which draw power relatively steadily, eVTOLs subject their batteries to very high discharge rates during takeoff and landing.

"You're beating the hell out of the battery," said Sweetman. He points to regulatory filings from U.S. eVTOL developer Beta Technologies that suggested they would need to replace their aircraft's batteries every year, a cost that "alone is enough to destroy the economics."

In the near term, cargo operations and emergency medical services may prove a more viable use case for eVTOL aircraft than air taxi services, according to Cecutta. These applications don't require flying over dense populations and face fewer public acceptance hurdles than large-scale urban transportation networks. Many eVTOL companies are also branching out into defense applications, he adds, where they can tap the deeper pockets of military customers.

These applications could provide the financial breathing room for eVTOL manufacturers to continue the development of their technology, said Cecutta. Despite outlandish projections that flying taxi services could commence this year, for flying taxis to truly take off in a meaningful way, the industry still faces years of work ahead, with no guarantee that all the pieces will ultimately come together.

A Chinese company successfully flew a 5-ton (4,536-kilogram) electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) in a new feat for electric aircraft. Its makers at Fengfei Aviation claim it's the largest eVTOL to ever complete a test flight.

During the test flight, the V5000 aircraft lifted off in VTOL mode, switched to fixed-wing mode for a short flight, and then transitioned back to VTOL mode to safely land. VTOL vehicles mimic helicopters, enabling them to lift off and land on helipads or in other smaller spaces without requiring supporting infrastructure, such as the runways used by fixed-wing aircraft.

The test took place Feb. 5 at Kunshan Civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Test Flight Operation Base in Jiangsu Province, a site Fengfei Aviation uses for public demos and AP press flights.

There are several variants of the aircraft — a purely electric version can reach 155 miles (250 kilometers), and a hybrid-power alternative can fly for 932 miles (1,500 km), company representatives said in a statement posted to LinkedIn.

The V5000 also comes in two variants, depending on the cargo it's intended to transport. The passenger version, evocatively dubbed the "Sky Dragon," can haul up to 10 passengers. Fengfei's English brand, AutoFlight, has developed an alternate version called the V5000 Matrix, which can transport around a ton (907 kg) of freight.

Taking to the skies

Both versions are built around a 39-inch (20-meter) wide compound wing, supported by a three-surface aerodynamic layout and 20 lift motors. Including 20 motors in the design provides redundancy in case some fail.

Several companies have begun exploring eVTOLs for commercial taxi services, such as Joby Aviation, which has signed a six‑year exclusive deal to operate air taxis in Dubai, and EHang’s pilotless EH216‑S, approved for commercial low‑altitude tourism flights in China.

Although these vehicles are primarily in the four-to-six passenger urban shuttle range — and tend to be significantly lighter than the V5000. Most of them are designed for short-range urban hops, while the V5000 demonstrates the possibility for longer regional transport. Some, like Joby and Archer, are backed by major airlines (Delta in Joby's case, United in Archer's), giving them a leg up towards FAA certification.

No specific certification timeline for the V5000 Sky Dragon/Matrix after its test has been publicly announced, though the company's smaller V2000CG (2-ton cargo eVTOL) already holds key certifications in China for airworthiness alongside health and safety.

Fengfei — specifically AutoFlight — also has the advantage of a major investment from leading battery developer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL), reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

A Chinese car manufacturer has unveiled the world’s first sodium-ion (Na-ion) electric vehicle (EV), opening the door to safer battery technologies and improved cold-weather performance.

The Changan Nevo A06 has been produced jointly by Changan Automobile and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL), the world’s largest battery manufacturer.

Also known as the Qiyuan A06 in domestic markets, the car is the first mass-produced passenger vehicle with Na-ion batteries.

The Nevo A06 is powered by a 45 kilowatt-hour CATL Naxtra battery — the battery giant’s Na-ion product first announced in April 2025.

CATL representatives say the batteries inside the car can complete 248 miles (400 kilometers) on a single charge, with the cells packing an energy density of 175 watt-hours per kilogram.

Because Na-ion batteries can charge faster than lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, the Nevo A06 can also offer consumers an experience closer to that of filling up their vehicle with gasoline, with Changan representatives saying the Nevo A06 can charge to 80% in just 15 minutes.

To put that into perspective, it’s twice as fast as a Tesla Model Y can get to 80% on a 100 kilowatt, per data from the EV charging site Electra.

The Changan Nevo A06 is expected to launch in mid-2026 and is just the first of many Na-ion EVs expected on the market in the immediate future.

For example, BYD, which recently overtook Tesla to become the largest EV manufacturer in the world, began construction on a 30 gigawatt-hour Na-ion battery facility in Xuzhou, China in early 2024.

Na-ion cars are finally hitting the market

Na-ion batteries are an emerging technology that could dramatically lower the cost of battery manufacturing and improve battery safety, scientists say, versus conventional lithium-ion (Li-ion) alternatives.

Na-ion batteries are made from more widely-available sodium and they are more stable in operation. This makes them less prone to catching fire when damaged — a key safety feature for EVs.

Because Na-ion batteries are also more resistant to extreme temperatures — retaining much of their charge in temperatures well below freezing and far above the habitable range for humans — they offer better year-round EV performance and efficiency.

In its initial announcement for the Naxtra, CATL said the battery could operate at temperatures between -40 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 degrees Celsius) to 158 degrees F (70 degrees C)), retaining 90% of its charge as usable electricity even at the lowest temperature.

In its announcement, as reported by CarNewsChina, Changan Automobile stated that the Nevo A06 retains three times more discharge capacity at -22 degrees F (-30 degrees C) than lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries — a dominant battery technology in EVs and energy storage — at comparable capacities.

To date, Na-ion batteries have suffered from poorer capacity than Li-ion batteries, making them most useful for static use, such as in grid-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS).

However, with the introduction of vehicles such as the Changan Nevo A06, these assumptions are being challenged. Once Na-ion batteries are produced at a wider scale, drivers could enjoy EVs with better battery efficiency and that can operate in harsher climates.

This provides more benefits than simply taking cars further in colder climates. Think about the times you've run your car after it has been sitting on the cold driveway for a day or more.

For BESS, this also guarantees that grid storage won't suffer from massive decreases in efficiency during the winter months.

Most of the rechargeable batteries used in today’s technology, from electric cars to the phones in our pockets, are lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. Since its inception in the early 1990s, Li-ion battery technology has been widely adopted for its high energy density, lightweight construction and ability to provide high voltage on demand for gadgets and vehicles alike.

But scientists are working on a new contender that threatens to relegate Li-ion to the past — at least in specific applications. Sodium-ion (Na-ion) batteries (sometimes called NIBs as an abbreviation of Na-ion battery) are an emerging battery technology that stores charged sodium ions in batteries’ electrodes, rather than lithium ions as in Li-ion batteries.

This is a hot area of research because it could unlock battery abundance, with sodium far easier to source or produce than the critical mineral lithium, which is only found in small deposits around the world.

Na-ion batteries also come with inherent safety benefits that could make them more palatable for large-scale, static battery setups, scientists that are working on the technology say.

Na-ion batteries vs Li-ion batteries: What are the benefits?

The main benefit of Na-ion batteries is that they are cheaper, easier and more sustainable to manufacture because of the sheer availability of sodium.

“Particularly, sodium is cheaper, more abundant and less geographically concentrated than lithium,” explained Dustin Bauer, an associate at intellectual property firm Reddie & Grose with doctoral experience studying the synthesis, composition, and use of Na-ion batteries and Li-ion batteries.

With the past decade having made the potential pitfalls of the global supply chain plain to see, as well as climate targets requiring a mass switch to electrified grids and transport wherever possible, there’s a clear benefit to adopting batteries that don’t rely on hard-to-source critical minerals to function.

“For reference, Sodium is the sixth most common element on Earth, and has a natural abundance of 2,360 mg/L, whereas Lithium, at number 32 in the list, has a natural abundance of 20 mg/L,” said Carmen M. López, principal scientist in the electrochemistry group at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL).

Once the supply chains for Na-ion batteries are operational at scale, they could help drive the costs far below Li-ion batteries, flooding the world market with more affordable energy storage options. For example CATL, the world’s largest battery manufacturer, recently commenced commercial production of Na-ion batteries for heavy vehicles.

Beyond the silicon used for the cathode in the battery, the chemistry of Na-ion batteries also circumvents the need for other costly components.

"Because of the operating voltage of the batteries, Li-ion requires the use of copper for the negative current collector, but copper is more expensive and weighs more than aluminum," López said.

She added that Na-ion batteries carry the potential for replacing organic electrolytes — used as the conducting medium for ions in Li-ion batteries — with aqueous electrolytes. This would make battery production more sustainable and cheaper still.

Battery chemistry also lies at the heart of safety claims surrounding Na-ion batteries. Thermal runaway — an exothermic chain reaction that can occur inside battery cells and cause them to catch fire — is less likely to occur in a Na-ion battery than a Li-ion battery.

This is because sodium ions are larger than lithium ions and therefore have greater “friction” — the result is that, in the event of damage that could lead to thermal runaway, they flow to the impact point at a rate which is unlikely to cause a rapid spike in temperature. Lithium ions, on the other hand, can flow quickly, causing overheating, the release of oxygen and ignition.

Finally, Na-ion batteries offer improved temperature resistance over Li-ion batteries, due to their low volatility and the reduced viscosity of the electrolyte. In short, this refers to the degradation of performance at low temperatures linked to the lower charge density of sodium ions compared to lithium ions, meaning that the ions continue to move freely even in low temperatures.

In a recent study published Dec. 12 in the journal Chinese Chemical Letters, scientists at Hunan First Normal University and Central South University found that Li-ion batteries could retain just 20% of their room temperature energy capacity when tested at -4 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 degrees Celsius). Na-ion batteries, the researchers noted, could offer better performance, subject to further testing.

Could Na-ion batteries be good for EVs?

The lower cost and increased safety of Na-ion batteries make them a suitable candidate for EV batteries. First and foremost, as the world increases its EV adoption — with 39 countries having passed 10% EV sales share as of 2025, according to the energy think-tank Ember — more sustainable and scalable supply chains for vehicle batteries will become necessary.

Once Na-ion production is achieved at scale, it could be highly regionalized, with factories in the majority of world regions capable of capturing or synthesizing the hard carbon that forms the backbone of the devices.

Additionally, the reduced chance of thermal runaway occurring within Na-ion batteries could increase the safety of EV batteries, which currently combust at a rate similar to that of gasoline and diesel fuels, according to National Car Charging data.

No technology is perfect, however, and we’re unlikely to see Na-ion batteries replace all Li-ion batteries any time soon. This is because the drawbacks of Na-ion make it a more situational alternative to the lithium-based batteries we know so well.

First and foremost, Na-ion batteries have lower energy density than Li-ion batteries. This is for the same reason that they have lower viscosity – sodium ions are simply larger than lithium ions, reducing the overall movement that can occur within the Na-ion battery’s electrolyte and translate to power.

The mass of sodium is also three times that of lithium, per the American Physical Society, which means you get less charge held per gram of Na-ion battery.

In practice, this adds up to Na-ion batteries being unable to compete with Li-ion for sheer quantity of energy held. The same data from the American Physical Society quoted the average energy density of Li-ion batteries as being in the range of 100-300 watt hours per kilogram. CATL’s first-generation Na-ion batteries, in contrast, achieved a figure of just 160 Wh/kg.

The inherently lower energy density of Na-ion batteries compared to Li-ion is a major stumbling block to using them for EVs, despite the potential safety benefits of doing so. Bauer described the issue of energy density as the "main and possibly decisive" drawback for Na-ion batteries, and it’s clear that researchers are working hard to overcome this challenge.

“There is a lot of debate in the battery community about this,” López told Live Science. "Due to the limitations in power and energy density, to power your typical electric vehicle, the size and weight of Na-ion batteries that will be needed will make them unsuitable for onboard deployment. The best chance in transportation would [be] in slow-charging infrastructure, and/or ultra-compact, short distance drive vehicles."

López added that the disadvantages of Na-ion’s lower energy density can’t quite be offset by its lower cost and weight due to its simpler, copper-light design. So for the moment, the economics of some Na-ion batteries just don’t add up.

All of this means Na-ion batteries are at present more suitable for static systems — and are therefore not the first choice for EV batteries. But this is far from a niche market.

Grid storage beckons

Indeed, one of the most promising use cases for Na-ion batteries, backed up by the experts to whom LiveScience spoke, is grid-scale energy storage such as battery energy storage systems (BESS).

These vast arrays of batteries are becoming increasingly important for the stability of national and regional grids, in particular for storing the intermittent energy production of renewables such as solar and wind farms for later use.

For example, the U.K. Parliament has examined the risk of thermal runaway for grid-scale BESS, citing the examples of fires at BESS sites linked to the process in both Liverpool and Essex.

But even with the lower upfront cost of Na-ion taken into account, energy density remains a downside for the technology when it comes to energy storage. For example, EV and battery giant BYD’s MC Cube-SIB ESS, its Na-ion BESS product, delivers an energy storage capacity of just 2.3 MWh in its 20-foot size configuration, as reported by Energy Storage News. This compares to around 6.4 MWh for BYD’s Li-ion offering in the same lineup.

Bauer pointed to the Baochi Storage Station in Yunnan as an example of both Li-ion and Na-ion being used to store renewable energy at scale. Some of the main reported benefits of the approach include faster discharge of batteries — six times faster than current battery models, according to the Global Times — and better resilience in weather conditions ranging from (-4 to 113 degrees F (-20 to 45 degrees C).

When will Na-ion batteries be commercially available?

While research into Na-ion is ongoing and new breakthroughs help improve the energy density of Na-ion batteries, this is a mature field of research with huge commercial potential. In fact, we’re already seeing manufacturers turning out products powered by Na-ion batteries.

"Commercial production is already happening, with early mass production capacity coming online," said Bauer.

“CATL, who are the world’s largest Li-ion battery manufacturer, in 2025 unveiled a Naxtra passenger EV NIB with an energy density of 175 Wh/kg, and Freevoy, a mixed ion (mixed NIB and LFP Li-ion) battery. More recently, CATL revealed Tianxing II, a "mass-produced" NIB for light commercial vehicles."

Despite this, López cautions that more real-world safety tests for Na-ion batteries must still be completed: "For example, will it be more desirable and practicable to deploy these batteries in urban vs remote environments? How do we adapt them to existing electricity infrastructure? Among other things to be considered," she said.

Researchers in China have tested a next-generation solid-state battery capable of pushing electric vehicles far beyond current range limits: potentially more than 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) per charge, and even farther in future versions.

Scientists at Nankai University, Tianjin, developed a high-energy, solid-state battery system that they claim has already been installed in a real vehicle and tested for long-distance driving, institution representatives said in a statement.

The technology packs an energy density exceeding 500 watt-hours per kilogram — an increase of 30% over current leading lithium-ion batteries at 300 Wh/kg — according to the statement. Higher-density batteries mean more energy (and range) for less weight, and in a smaller form factor.

While details about the specific car the battery was tested in are scant, subsequent reporting indicates it was a prototype developed by China FAW Group's battery manufacturing subsidiary, China Automotive New Energy Battery (CANEB).

Solid-state batteries improve on their traditional counterparts in several ways, including safety, the scientists said. The liquid electrolytes in lithium-ion batteries are flammable, while solid electrolytes are non-flammable and less prone to catastrophic failure. Solid electrolytes may also provide a longer lifespan due to a reduction in dendrite growth — metal spikes that cause short circuits — as well as degradation from liquid chemistry.

While still in the development phase, some solid-state battery materials may also permit faster charging, due to the higher ion conductivity of the solid electrolyte.

The new battery relies on a lithium-rich manganese cathode and a hybrid solid-liquid electrolyte system. The hybrid design combines the advantages of the solid-state architecture with a “super-wetting” composite electrolyte, which is intended to improve ionic conductivity and safety.

Super wetting refers to the electrolyte spread across and fully penetrating the surfaces and pores of battery materials, maximizing contact between itself and active materials so ions can move more efficiently. The battery also features lithium anode technology that's designed to reduce production costs by simplifying the manufacturing process.

The current battery pack has a total capacity of 142 kilowatt-hours (the pack’s total stored energy) and an energy density of 288 Wh/kg at the system level rather than 500 Wh/kg density taken in isolation — taking into account cooling systems, wiring, structural supports and safety hardware. This drop in density is normal and consistent with how EV batteries are reported industry-wide.

Developers say coming iterations could exceed 340 Wh/kg at the pack level and 200 kWh total capacity, pushing driving ranges past 1,000 miles (1,600 km). Demonstrations are expected to begin sometime this year, according to the statement.

A 1,000-mile range would be a significant increase over the range of even the most advanced EVs currently available. According to a report from EV.com, the median range of EVs manufactured in 2024 was 283 miles (455 km), with top models peaking at 512 miles (825 km). That top range is owned by the Lucid Air and has yet to be exceeded in 2026.

The solid-state battery results come from a university-industry collaboration and have not yet been independently verified in peer-reviewed research. That said, the work highlights how solid-state batteries are rapidly moving from lab experiments toward real-world testing, and could reshape the range, safety and performance of EVs.

A new in-wheel motor for electric vehicles (EVs) delivers a massive amount of torque in a lightweight package, its developers say.

The motor — which was made by YASA, a subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz that also provides motors to Ferrari — weighs only 28 pounds (12.7 kilograms) but can deliver up to 1,000 horsepower at once or a sustained 469 to 536 hp for longer durations. This new mark breaks YASA's own previous unofficial record, a 29-pound motor that yielded 738 horsepower, company representatives said in a statement.

For comparison, the 2025 Nissan Leaf has a single motor that generates 214 hp, and even a high-performance EV like the Tesla Model S utilizes three motors to generate around 1,020 hp.

The ability to pack so much power into such a compact, lightweight motor is due in part to YASA's axial flux technology. Traditional radial flux motors are longer, tube-like structures, with a stator — the stationary part of a motor that creates a magnetic field used to produce motion — surrounding a cylindrical rotor. A magnetic field is passed perpendicularly to the shaft through the cylinder to spin the rotor.

By contrast, an axial flux motor is more like a pancake, with a disc-like rotor and stator. Magnetic flux passes along the axis parallel to the shaft (hence the name). The axial flux tech allows for much smaller designs than traditional radial designs, according to YASA.

Much lighter EVs in the future

The company emphasized that the design is scalable and doesn't rely on any rare or exotic materials to function.

The design also opens up a pathway for massive weight reduction in EV design. YASA said that deploying the in-wheel motors in lieu of a traditional power and drivetrain could save around 440 pounds (200 kg). And for vehicles designed from the ground up to incorporate the new motor, the savings could be closer to 1,100 pounds (500 kg).

This is in part because the system also incorporates advanced regenerative braking, the process by which electric vehicles capture energy that would normally be lost as heat during braking and utilize it to recharge the battery.

Instead of power being shunted from the battery to spin the wheels, energy from the wheels is captured to spin the motor, which generates electricity rather than consuming it. The motor resists the rotation while generating energy, thereby slowing the car and powering up the battery. YASA says efficient regenerative braking could reduce the need for traditional friction brakes, saving both weight and space.

While the current iteration is clearly geared toward high-performance EVs and supercars, axial flux motor technology opens the door for longer-range electric vehicles capable of generating more power with fewer, lighter components. The reduction in space required for traditional powertrain components also provides manufacturers an opportunity to streamline aerodynamics or provide more interior space for cargo or passengers.

A breakthrough battery technology could vastly improve the safety of batteries used for electric vehicles (EVs) and could enhance the stability of energy grids, scientists say.

Researchers made the breakthrough while developing solid-state sodium-ion (Na-ion) batteries, which could one day supplement and replace the lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries used in many everyday devices today.

The new batteries promise greater safety and lower cost, provided researchers can crack the problem of producing them at scale and in such a way that they have long lifecycles. The researchers published their findings in two studies; the first was released May 19 in the journal Advanced Materials and the second Aug. 15 in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

Li-ion batteries, the dominant battery technology found in products ranging from the phones in your hand to electric cars, can suffer from a process known as "thermal runaway." This occurs when a battery experiences a short circuit or physical damage, which sparks a self-sustaining chain reaction that greatly increases heat inside the cells.

Commercial Li-ion batteries also typically contain organic liquid electrolytes, which are an essential component for energy density, as well as efficient charging and discharging. These liquid electrolytes are highly flammable and can lead to batteries catching fire or even exploding when damaged.

Na-ion batteries could be a safer alternative because they contain more stable cathode materials and sodium ions have less electrochemical potential than lithium ions, making them less prone to thermal runaway.

The downside is that Na-ion batteries have a relatively low energy density compared to Li-ion batteries, meaning that they last less time between charges. In addition, Na-ion batteries may presently degrade faster, resulting in a lower overall lifespan. Both of these factors have historically held Na-ion batteries back from becoming mainstream.

But as outlined in the new research, scientists produced a solid material containing sulfur and chlorine that assists conductivity in a similar manner to liquid electrolytes while providing far superior stability. The new battery exhibited a Coulombic efficiency of 99.26% after 600 charging cycles at 0.1C (a 10-hour discharge), nearing the 99% or more that lithium batteries achieve.

Challenging lithium dominance

"We replaced the liquid electrolyte in the battery into a solid-state electrolyte — it’s non-flammable," Yang Zhao, professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Western University, said in a video uploaded to YouTube.

The team also used the Canadian Light Source, Canada's national synchrotron facility, to examine the movement of ions inside their solid electrolyte, which confirmed their results.

"These X-ray tools allow us to see the local chemical environment, ion pathways, and bonding structures in ways that regular lab instruments can’t," Zhao said in a further statement. "They’re absolutely essential for developing solid-state battery materials."

The new battery technology could help lead to the widespread use of Na-ion batteries, particularly for critical workloads currently filled by more volatile Li-ion batteries, the researchers said. Next, they will have to demonstrate their approach provides the right balance between safety and energy density, as well as a manufacturing method that can be scaled to meet the immense demand for batteries seen around the world.

Despite accounting for around 70% of the world’s rechargeable batteries, Li-ion batteries are primarily used in just a handful of critical applications.

For example, recent International Energy Agency (IEA) data found that the energy sector accounts for over 90% of Li-ion demand.

Currently, battery energy storage systems (BESS) at a national level are under increased scrutiny, particularly after repeated fires at California BESS sites, and require the construction of fire suppression systems. Na-ion could help ease these concerns and speed up the deployment of BESS, which stores the intermittent supply of renewable energy to be delivered later on demand.

Because sodium is plentiful compared with lithium, the mass production of Na-ion batteries could greatly reduce the overall cost of the battery supply chain.

Na-ion batteries also come with the added benefit of being easier to recycle than Li-ion batteries, as covered in a 2023 study, because they contain fewer hazardous materials and no heavy metals.

A number of well-known car brands are already working on Na-ion batteries. In April, the world’s largest battery manufacturer, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL), announced that it is mass-producing Na-ion batteries using its new "Naxtra" battery platform. The product is expected to be used in cars from 2026. Chinese auto giant BYD is also developing Na-ion batteries for grid-scale storage purposes.

Flying car races are no longer science fiction following the first-ever Jetson Air Games event — which Jetson, the organizers, have described as "Formula One of the skies."

The event featured pilots flying four Jetson One vehicles, dubbed a "racing car for the sky" by the company that made them, each vying to cross the finish line. The personal aircraft, which faintly resembles a flying car from a science fiction movie, is designed to hold a single person and doesn't currently require a pilot's license to fly in the United States.

Footage from the event, which took place in mid-October at the 2025 UP.Summit event, a private gathering of investors in the transportation industry, shows four Jetson Ones hovering about 20 feet (6 meters) off the ground as they weave between cones and speed over a grassy field and tarmac.

The Jetson One is an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, which means it uses electrical power to hover, take off and land vertically like a helicopter. Yet once in the air, it flies more like a plane — with a maximum flight time of 20 minutes.

The vehicle weighs around 120 pounds (54 kilograms), can ascend up to 1,500 feet (457 meters) off the ground, and can fly up to 63 miles per hour (102 kilometers per hour), according to Jetson's specifications.

Flying a personal aircraft nonetheless carries some significant risks. Jetson claims to have addressed these with a radar-sensing automatic landing system, the ability to fly safely with the loss of one of its eight motors, and a ballistic parachute designed to open extremely fast.

eVTOLs have been in development since the NASA Puffin technology concept was released in 2009. A collaboration between NASA, MIT, Georgia Institute of Technology, the NASA Puffin was a proof-of-concept designed to show that small personal aircraft were possible. It was built and tested at a small scale in 2010 to assess if the aircraft performed as expected, but it was never manufactured to scale.

Other companies across the globe have made recent strides in eVTOLs. Ehang, a vehicle manufacturer in China, received permission to mass-produce autonomous eVTOL taxis in April 2024. Supernal, a subsidiary company of Hyundai, started flight testing its four-passenger air taxi in April 2025. Honda and Airbus have also been developing eVTOLs over the last few years.

The Jetson One is currently available to order for almost $150,000 (not including taxes and fees), with new orders shipping in 2028.

One of the world's biggest car manufacturers has announced plans to mass-produce a type of battery for electric vehicles (EVs) that can last far longer and charge much quicker than current technologies.

On October 8, Toyota and the Japan-based Sumitomo Metal Mining Company announced a joint venture to mass-produce cathode materials for solid-state batteries, to be used in the automaker’s battery-powered EVs.

Toyota plans to launch a line of cars featuring the new solid-state battery in 2027 or 2028, company representatives said in a statement.

Together, the companies "aim to achieve the world’s first practical use of all-solid-state batteries " in battery-powered EVs, the statement added.

A typical lithium-ion battery has a liquid electrolyte solution sandwiched between two solid electrodes. The new solid-state battery would replace that liquid electrolyte with a third solid.

Because the liquid electrolyte in lithium-ion batteries is flammable, switching to a solid-state battery comes with a lower fire risk. Solid-state batteries also have the potential for higher energy densities than lithium-ion batteries, meaning they could power a car for longer with the same size battery.

Toyota and Sumitomo Metal Mining have been researching materials for solid-state batteries together since 2021. As part of the push toward a solid-state battery for electric vehicles, the two companies have developed what they describe as a "highly durable cathode material," which will act as one of the electrodes in the planned solid-state batteries. Neither company has released details about the new cathode material.

Sumitomo Metal Mining plans to supply this cathode material to manufacturers beginning in 2028, a company spokesperson told Reuters.

"We will prioritize supplying Toyota, then respond flexibly to market demand," the spokesperson said.

In addition to Toyota, carmakers such as Honda, Nissan, BMW and Volkswagen are developing their own solid-state batteries, alone or in partnerships with other companies. Many aim to release electric vehicles containing solid-state batteries in the next few years, according to Inside EVs.

Honda has previously said it would begin producing solid-state batteries for EVs that could deliver 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) on a single charge by 2030. This would more than double the range of the best EVs on the market today.

ProLogium, a ceramic battery maker, also unveiled a solid-state battery concept last year that could be charged from 5% to 60% capacity in just five minutes.

Future electric cars could ditch lithium-ion batteries, thanks to a new breakthrough in hydrogen energy storage at much lower temperatures than was previously possible.

Researchers from Tokyo’s Institute of Science created a hydrogen battery that uses magnesium hydride as the anode and hydrogen gas as the cathode, and a solid-state electrolyte with a crystal structure.

In a study published Sept. 18 in the journal Science, the scientists noted that this battery can operate at 194 degrees F (90 degrees C), rather than the 572-752 F (300-400 degrees C) operating temperatures needed for current solid-state hydrogen storage methods.

"These properties of our hydrogen storage battery were previously unattainable through conventional thermal methods or liquid electrolytes, offering a foundation for efficient hydrogen storage systems suitable for use as energy carriers," said lead author of the study Takashi Hirose, associate professor in Kyoto University's Institute of Chemical Research (ICR), in a statement.

Hydrogen batteries with solid-state components already exist, as do hydrogen fuel cells. The former, however, require high operating temperatures while the latter struggle to be as efficient as lithium-ion batteries, as well as struggling to store hydrogen gas under high pressure. But with this new hydrogen battery, the scientists achieved full theoretical storage capacity of the MgH² anode and high ionic conductivity at room temperature.

Solid foundation

The core of this hydrogen battery lies in its solid electrolyte. Formed of barium, calcium and sodium hydride, the electrolyte has a crystal-like structure that offers both high electrochemical stability and high ionic conductivity, specifically when it comes to hydrogen ions, at relatively low temperatures.

In operation, the battery functions much like a lithium-ion one, except that rather than positively charged ions moving through the electrolyte, this new battery uses hydride ions that carry a negative charge and can pass through its crystal structure.

When delivering power (discharging), the hydrogen gas in the cathode goes through a chemical reaction that reduces it to hydride ions that move through the electrolyte to the magnesium anode, where they oxidise to form MgH². In this state, oxidation-reduction reactions (redox) take place, causing the negatively charged anode to lose electrons. These flow across an external circuit to the cathode, which now has a net positive charge — and in doing so, delivers power to connected devices or systems.

The reverse happens when charging, with an external power source invoking redox. Here, the MgH² anode releases hydride ions that pass through the electrode to then be oxidised at the hydrogen electrode to form hydrogen gas. As such, electrons flow from the H² electrode to the Mg one until the reduction reaction can no longer occur, meaning the battery is in a fully charged state.

With this battery design, hydrogen gas can be stored and released in a solid-state cell on demand, with a capacity of 2,030mAh per gram (for reference, lithium-ion batteries tend to have a cpacitiy of 154 to 203mAh per gram, while some of the best phones have lithium-ion battery capacities of 5,000mAh for the whole cell).

While the operating temperature sits just below the boiling point of water, meaning such a battery isn’t ready for use in everyday electronic items like smartphones or laptops, there’s scope for it to pave the way for more efficient and easier hydrogen storage. This, in turn, could see electric vehicles adopt hydrogen batteries rather than lithium-ion batteries, which are heavy and suffer from degradation as well as declining efficiency over their lifetime.

Better hydrogen storage without the need for high-pressure systems, extreme cooling or high operating temperatures could further open up hydrogen’s use as a green power source. That's because it could offer less of a carbon footprint than fossil fuels and current hydrogen-based power systems.

Hydrogen has often been touted as one of the ways to transition towards green energy, although its production, storage and use in power delivery systems has remained a niche activity. If scaled up and put into production, this battery breakthrough could continue to propel hydrogen as a fuel of the future.

MIT researchers have improved a new type of "concrete battery" by tenfold, paving the way for its use in turning buildings, bridges and sidewalks into giant energy stores capable of powering entire cities.

The material is called electron-conducting carbon concrete — or ec³ — and is made by combining cement, water, a common liquid electrolyte and an extremely fine carbon powder called nanoscale carbon black.

When mixed together, the ingredients create a dense, conductive network capable of carrying an electrical charge. Once set into concrete, the material and anything built from it (whether they’re buildings and bridges or pavements) is able to store and release energy as needed.

It’s a concept known as supercapacitive energy storage, and researchers hope it can offer a viable solution to one of renewable energy's biggest challenges: namely, how to store power locally when the sun isn't shining or the wind isn't blowing.

Related: Your household gadgets could soon be battery-free — scientists create tiny solar cells that can be powered by indoor light

In a new study published Sept. 29 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers said they achieved a tenfold increase in the energy storage capacity of ec³ since 2023. Fivecubic meters (176.5 cubic feet) of the material can now store more than 10 kilowatt-hours of electricity — roughly enough to power a typical household for a day.

Just two years ago, achieving that level of storage would have required nine times the volume, the team said.

"With these higher energy densities and demonstrated value across a broader application space, we now have a powerful and flexible tool that can help us address a wide range of persistent energy challenges," lead author of the study Damian Stefaniuk, research scientist at MIT, said in a statement.

"One of our biggest motivations was to help enable the renewable energy transition. Solar power, for example, has come a long way in terms of efficiency. However, it can only generate power when there's enough sunlight. So, the question becomes: How do you meet your energy needs at night, or on cloudy days?"

Building batteries

While ec³ doesn't match the energy density of traditional battery technologies like lithium-ion (which pack hundreds of times more energy into the same weight or volume), the fact that it can be cast directly into building components and may last as long as the structure itself, without relying on scarce or toxic materials, makes it especially attractive to scientists.

The new performance boost came from a better understanding of the interaction between the carbon network inside the concrete and the electrolyte and from changes to how the material is made.

Rather than soaking slabs of the material in the electrolyte after it hardened, the researchers added the electrolyte directly to the water used in the initial mix. That enabled the production of thicker, more energy-dense slabs without compromising conductivity.

The team also tested different types of electrolytes, including seawater, and found several viable options. The best results came from a mix of quaternary ammonium salts — used in household disinfectants — and acetonitrile, a conductive solvent common in industrial processes.

Powering the block

Most exciting to the scientists was the realization that it only took small changes to how concrete is made to produce ec³. This potentially opens up huge opportunities in sustainable construction, where the material could be used to develop what the researchers dubbed "multifunctional concrete" that can store energy, absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and even repair itself.

The material has already been tested in Japan to heat sidewalks in snowy conditions, offering a potential alternative to road salt. The team is now working toward real-world applications, from homes that operate off-grid to parking spaces and roads that could one day charge electric vehicles.

"What excites us most is that we've taken a material as ancient as concrete and shown that it can do something entirely new," study co-author James Weaver, associate professor of materials science and engineering at Cornell University, said in the statement.

"By combining modern nanoscience with an ancient building block of civilization, we're opening a door to infrastructure that doesn't just support our lives, it powers them."

An electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft dubbed "Midnight" has completed its highest-ever flight, reaching an altitude of 7,000 feet (2,100 meters).

Archer Aviation, which manufactures the Midnight eVTOL, hopes the aircraft will become "electric air taxis" someday. The vehicle is powered by battery packs that contain numerous lithium-ion cells, and it can carry one pilot alongside passengers with luggage.

Unlike commercial airliners, which typically cruise at altitudes between 30,000 and 42,000 feet (about 9,000 to 13,000 m) above sea level, eVTOLs like Midnight are intended to operate in urban environments in a range between 1,500 and 4,000 feet (450 to 1,200 m).

The new ceiling is an important milestone for several reasons, company representatives say. For one, the ability to fly at an altitude of 7,000 feet would allow Midnight to operate in cities with a high density of skyscrapers, without having to make costly detours, they said in a statement.

The milestone also opens up cities at higher altitudes, as well as mountainous and other high-elevation destinations that would otherwise be inaccessible by eVTOL.

A higher ceiling also means the potential to avoid air congestion. As eVTOLs, drones and other low-altitude aircraft become more common, the ability to traverse higher flight corridors will be a significant advantage and help avoid the kind of terrestrial gridlock that eVTOLs were originally designed to circumvent.

During the test flight, Midnight reached speeds of over 120 miles per hour (193 kilometers per hour) and flew for a total of 45 miles (72 km).

Last month, the aircraft completed its longest flight to date, covering 55 miles (86 km) in 31 minutes at speeds exceeding 126 mph (203 km/h). Midnight reached more than 150 mph (241 km/h) in previous tests, allowing the eVTOL to complete trips in minutes that would take hours in a ground vehicle, according to Archer Aviation.

"Crossing the 50-mile [80 km] mark at speed is another clear step toward commercialization," Adam Goldstein, Archer Aviation's founder and CEO, said in the statement.

The successful test flight marks another step toward the company's goal of obtaining Federal Aviation Administration certification, which would signify that Midnight was legally authorized to operate within the U.S. air system. Archer has also recently begun the process of commercializing operations in a step towards deploying Midnight in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

These "flying cars" offer several advantages over traditional aircraft, and even traditional VTOLs that do not rely on electricity, the manufacturers say. The capability to take and land vertically means a much smaller urban footprint for "vertiports" versus traditional airports, for example. Electric power also means that eVTOLs are much quieter and cause less noise pollution in urban environments than traditional aircraft do, while being more environmentally friendly.

Scientists have used a neat chemistry trick to tackle a major challenge facing future batteries. Their breakthrough paves the way for next-generation electric vehicle (EV) batteries capable of powering 500-mile (800 kilometers) journeys on a single, 12-minute charge.

Lithium-metal batteries differ from standard lithium-ion batteries in that the graphite anode is replaced with lithium metal. These designs offer much higher energy density, the researchers said in a statement.

For EV drivers, this means batteries that charge faster and go farther. But scientists have been unable to build effective lithium-metal batteries due to "dendrites" — a branching, crystalline substance that grows on the anode during charging, eroding battery performance over time. This worsens during rapid charging and increases the risk of the battery short-circuiting.

But in a new study, published Sept. 3 in the journal Nature Energy, scientists have found a way to suspend dendrite growth.

The secret lies in a new type of liquid electrolyte. The "cohesion-inhibiting" liquid electrolyte suppresses dendrite growth, boosting the batteries' rapid-charging capabilities and extending their lifespan to more than 185,000 miles (300,000 km), the researchers said.

Related: Meet the Chinese supercar that just smashed the EV speed record

Both lithium-ion and lithium metal batteries contain a liquid electrolyte, which transports lithium ions between the cathode and anode while the battery is charging and discharging. The difference, as mentioned, between the two types of battery is that the graphite in a lithium-ion battery is replaced with lithium metal.

In battery physics, energy density refers to the amount of energy a battery can store relative to its weight or volume — a key factor in how far an electric vehicle can travel on a single charge.

The research team found that the underlying cause of dendrite formation was the "non-uniform interfacial cohesion on the surface of the lithium metal," the researchers said in the statement. In other words, they realized that lithium ions don't deposit evenly across the anode during charging, creating weak points where dendrites can start to form.

To solve this problem, they developed a liquid electrolyte that is chemically structured to help ensure ions are deposited more evenly across the anode surface — helping to stop them from clustering into dendrites.

In lab tests, the battery charged from 5% to 70% in 12 minutes and maintained that speed over 350 cycles. A higher-capacity version reached 80% charge in 17 minutes over 180 charging cycles, the scientists said.

"This research has become a key foundation for overcoming the technical challenges of lithium-metal batteries by understanding the interfacial structure," study co-author Hee Tak Kim, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), said in the statement.

"It has overcome the biggest barrier to the introduction of lithium-metal batteries for electric vehicles."

The Chinese electric vehicle brand BYD has built the world's fastest fully electric supercar — smashing previous records by hitting top speeds of 293.54 mph (472.41 km/h).

This record was set on the ATP Automotive Testing Papenburg test track in northern Germany on Aug. 8 by BYD's YANGWANG U9 Track Edition.

With 2,960 horsepower and a power-to-weight ratio of 1,341.5 horsepower per ton (1,217 horsepower per tonne), the YANGWANG U9 Track Edition raced past the previous EV speed record of 268.2 mph (431.62 km/h), set by the Rimac Nevera R in July.

This car is the younger sibling to BYD's first fully electric supercar, the YANGWANG U9, which has 1,300 horsepower and was launched last summer. The Track Edition still bears a family resemblance to the standard U9 model, sharing the same aerodynamic design.

It is also built upon the same power system, which has four independent electric motors and four-wheel torque control, as well as a body control system, which keeps the car as flat as possible when speeding up, slowing down or going round corners.

The lithium iron phosphate "Blade Battery" remains the same, with its flat rectangular shape allowing for efficient cooling and increased energy density, BYD representatives said on the company's website. This battery can be charged from 30% to 80% in just half an hour.

Related: 'Springy' solid-state battery is twice the width of a white blood cell and could drastically increase EV range

To overtake the speed record of 233 mph (275 km/h) the U9 set in August 2024, BYD engineers built in a temperature control system for the battery and motor that is tailored to extreme conditions. They also added "the world's first mass-produced 1200V ultra-high-voltage vehicle platform", BYD representatives said in a statement.

This means that, on average, the battery, motor, power supply, air conditioning and other components are brought up to 1200 volts.

"Last year, I thought I'd peaked. I never expected to break my own record so soon" Marc Basseng, the German professional racing driver who set the record, said in the statement. "But here we are, at the same track, with new technologies that have made it possible."

This new record places EV supercars within touching distance of their gasoline counterparts. Currently, the fastest road legal cars are the Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut, which is estimated to reach a top speed of 310 mph (500 km/h) — though this hasn't been proven in the real world yet — and the SSC Tuatara, which has reached a speed of 295mph (475 km/h).

Skimming across the water on thin hydrofoils, they look more like low-flying UFOs than boats.

But the E1 Series' "RaceBirds" — single-seater electric powerboats with 6,000-volt engines that can reach speeds of up to 50 knots (58 miles per hour, or 93 kilometers per hour) — are far from extraterrestrial. Instead, they're part of a fast-growing sport that hopes to bring electric vehicles to the water.

That's the pitch behind the UIM E1 World Championship. Dubbed the "Formula One of the Sea," it already has the backing of celebrity team owners such as Will Smith, LeBron James, Tom Brady, Rafael Nadal, Sergio Pérez and Virat Kohli.

The 2025 championship, the second run of the series, is taking place across seven locations: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Doha, Qatar; Dubrovnik, Croatia; Lago Maggiore, Italy; Monaco; Lagos, Nigeria; and Miami. It’s a stage for its nine teams to race to become champions of the water. However, for the competition's founders, it's not just about the contest. They want to prove that electric motors can make the leap to the ocean.

"Water mobility is contributing to pollution in a bad way," Rodi Basso, a former NASA scientist and F1 engineer who is the co-founder and CEO of E1, told Live Science. "Sustainability is now becoming almost a tricky word. It started from communication and awareness, which was needed; we have an issue. But now, we cannot keep feeding this anxiety; we need a solution. The boat is a solution."

A new sport is born

Basso's inspiration for E1 came during the early COVID-19 pandemic, when he and Alejandro Agag — now E1's chairman and co-founder and the pioneer of the electric motorsport Formula E and Extreme E championships — were taking a walk by London's River Thames.

Related: World's 1st electric flying passenger ship could 'revolutionize how we travel on water'

After Basso offered the spark of an idea for an electric powerboat championship, Agag provided the investment and motorsport expertise needed to get development off the ground — or off the surface of the water. Taking inspiration from how birds glide across aquatic surfaces, the 24-foot-long (7.3 meters) boat was designed by Seabird founder Sophi Horne to lift its hull more than 3 feet (1 m) above the surface at speeds of 19.5 mph (31 km/h).

"It's a bit like pulling back on the sticks of an airplane, where, as you roll in, it'll dive, so you kind of pull back," Sam Coleman, a pilot on Team Brady who won the first E1 World Championship in 2024, told Live Science. "It's a lot more akin to flying than driving a boat."

The feat means that the boats produce far less waves when balanced atop their three wing-like foils, thus reducing coastal erosion. It also lowers friction with the water to ramp up the boats' speeds. These design elements combine with 20 seconds of boost to supercharge the battery output from 95 to 140 kilowatts, enabling the boats to reach 50 knots.

But the enhanced speed comes with some major downsides. Bringing the RaceBirds up onto their foils may make them faster, but it also renders them incapable of making sharp turns. It also introduces the risk of cavitation — the formation of air bubbles — in the water below.

"Around 50 knots, they get unstable," Basso said. "The water around the foil starts bubbling, so you have less pressure and less force pushing the boat up, and then the boat can collapse. And it does so with very little warning."

"So now, the pilots are building incredible sensitivity and understanding, finding where that moment is, and riding on the edge of that moment," he added.

This means pilots must carefully manage when to use their boosts and when to lift their boats onto their foils during races, in which they compete in a series of time trials to qualify for a final five-boat battle to the finish line.

To beat the competition, they must find the right racing line around corners. That might mean riding a wide arc perched atop their foils or smashing into the water close to buoys, before zipping away on their boost, all while navigating the choppy waters generated by other boats.

It requires enormous concentration and split-second decision-making, both of which are strained further by cockpit temperatures that can climb to 167 degrees Fahrenheit (75 degrees Celsius).

"It's draining; it's like sitting in a sauna and trying to drive a racing simulator that's bouncing up and down," Coleman said. "The window is so small, you can be absolutely nailing it and then all of a sudden, you're one point of a degree out on your trim setting and that's enough to induce a porpoise, or an oscillation, that takes ages to recover from."

To help pilots perform their best, teams of engineers back on shore analyze data taken from every part of the boat before advising them over radio. Team owners also follow along closely with the results of races.

"Tom Brady is the team owner for our team, and for me to say that is very surreal. But the biggest thing is that he is into it," Coleman said. "He follows it. It's like when Rafa and Will Smith were in Lake Como: They had a great time, they enjoyed it, they understand it, and you can see that they're super competitive, and they have such a great opportunity to bring eyeballs to a new sport and then help elevate it. I think it's a really exciting journey that we're on."

Moving in silence

Keeping races fresh and competitive means that changes are consistently being made to the RaceBirds' engines and propellers. The design tweaks aren't just to improve performance and handling but also to minimize the zero-emission, virtually silent craft's impact on its surrounding environment.

The result is an electric vessel that's around 50 times quieter than traditional combustion engine boats, according to Carlos Duarte, E1's chief scientist. Duarte, a marine biologist who won the 2025 Japan Prize for his contributions to research on marine and coastal ecology, is working through E1 on voluntary schemes with industry to make ships run quieter.

"As we saw during the COVID lockdown, with only a 20% reduction in [ships'] noise, there were reports from all over the world of large marine animals being reported in areas that they had not been seen for decades," Duarte told Live Science. "So it is a low-hanging fruit, very easy to solve. And in fact, addressing noise creates benefits for the boat operators, because electric boats are not only silent, but they're more cost-effective than combustion engine boats."

Duarte is also overseeing efforts to improve the waterways and ecosystems in the E1 race cities. These measures include aquatic restoration and conservation efforts, as well as steps to offset the environmental impact of the races themselves.

He views building stakeholder partnerships through E1 as a vital avenue for environmental restoration — specifically, away from drawn-out political conferences where, he said, "despite my scientific credentials in the marine space," he, and scientists in general, lack influence.

"The reality is that I don't have a voice, but I want to help those with a voice to communicate the messages that I think need to be communicated to society," Duarte said. "So that's also a platform that the team leader approach of E1, celebrities with voices, can help me."

E1’s 2025 season is running from Jan 25. to Nov 8., with upcoming races in Lagos on Oct. 5 and Miami on Nov 8.

Scientists have created a penny-sized laser that they say could improve the way that autonomous vehicles can navigate the streets.

The laser is intended to enhance a scientific technique called optical metrology — in which light is used to measure and identify objects.

They envision several applications for their invention, including lidar (light detection and ranging), which is used to provide autonomous vehicles with the live data they need to navigate the roads.

Vehicles equipped with lidar sensors bounce light off their surroundings using lasers that are invisible to the human eye, to collect information about the size, distance and velocity of surrounding pedestrians, vehicles and obstacles.

The team from the University of Rochester and the University of California, Santa Barbara contends that current lidar systems are too complex and prone to mistakes. They added that their laser solution can collect large, sophisticated data on surroundings at a far higher speed and accuracy than any predecessors.

"A more advanced form [of lidar] known as frequency-modulated continuous-wave LiDAR requires a large tuning range and fast tuning of the laser's frequency, and that's what our laser can do," Shixin Xue, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in electrical and computer engineering and optics at the University of Rochester, said in a statement.

Related: Groundbreaking amplifier could lead to 'super lasers' that make the internet 10 times faster

For example, the researchers used the laser to pick out the letters "U" and "R" built out of Lego bricks on a spinning disk. This shows its ability to track details on fast-moving objects, crucial for autonomous driving as well as in a range of other scenarios.

The team described its approach in a study published May 30 in the journal Light: Science & Applications.

Powering future autonomous vehicles

Xue also described the way that they have shrunk down the equipment required for a process called Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) laser frequency locking — used to reduce and stabilize a laser’s noise. The equipment typically needed for this — including an intrinsic laser, an isolator, an acoustic optic modulator, and a phase modulator — would typically be the size of a desktop computer.

“It’s a very important process that can be used for optical clocks that can measure time with extreme precision, but you need a lot of equipment to do that,” said Xue in the statement. "Our laser can integrate all of these things into a very small chip that can be tuned electrically.”

In the future, the device could be used to improve the performance of lidar in a much smaller package. Current autonomous systems, such as those found in Waymo cars, need an enormous sensor on top of the car to operate with safety and accuracy, which affects aerodynamics.

The new laser could help in the production of autonomous vehicles that need very low air drag, such as autonomous aircraft, as well as being used for systems that require incredibly accurate lasers, such as quantum information processing or the detection of gravitational waves, according to the researchers.

The team demonstrated that the laser can emit 20 quintillion pulses of light per second – a billion billion – and allowed objects moving at up to 131 feet per second (40 meters per second) to be measured from a distance of 1.3 feet (0.4 m). The laser also proved highly reliable, running for up to 60 minutes.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) partly supported the research as part of its Lasers for Universal Microscale Optical Systems (LUMOS) program, which aims to improve photonics by supporting the construction of more complex, powerful machines.

A British firm has received approval to mass-produce an ultra-high-power-density electric vehicle (EV) battery that can be fully recharged in just 18 seconds.

The RML Group was granted Conformity of Production certification for its VarEVolt battery on June 2. This government approval signifies that the firm can mass-produce the powerful batteries for EV manufacturers.

The certification "underlines our readiness to move from prototyping and niche volumes to supporting larger production contracts," James Arkell, the head of powertrain at RML Group, said in a statement.

RML's battery can deliver lots of power in a short span. The VarEVolt battery can supply 6 kilowatts per kilogram, and it's capable of "dumping all its power really, really quickly," RML board member Michael Mallock told Autocar. The battery has a C rating of 200, meaning it's capable of fully charging or discharging in about 18 seconds.

In comparison, the fully electric Porsche Taycan's battery has a C rating of around 4 to 5, so it takes 12 to 15 minutes to charge or discharge.

The VarEVolt's modular design lets manufacturers tune it for different applications. "We can focus on range, we can focus on power, or we can balance the two," depending on the type of vehicle it will be deployed in, RML Group CEO Paul Dickinson told Autocar.

Superfast charging for superfast EVs

Some small-scale manufacturers are already using the VarEVolt battery; it helps power the futuristic Czinger 21C hybrid hypercar, which relies on a combination of an electric motor that uses energy stored in the battery and an internal combustion engine that burns gasoline.

Right now, the RML group is producing just a few of the VarEVolt batteries at a time, but future large-scale output wouldn't necessarily be confined to exclusive products like the 21C. (Czinger produced just 80 of the luxury sports cars in the first run.)

The firm is developing a kit to convert the battery packs in older hypercars, such as the LaFerrari or the McLaren P1, to updated versions, according to Mallock.

"For those types of cars, we can do a replacement pack that will significantly increase the range, and if the rest of the hardware within the car would allow it, you could have a version that was eight times the power output," Mallock told Autocar.

Researchers have discovered a way for self-driving cars to freely share information while on the road without the need to establish direct connections.

"Cached Decentralized Federated Learning" (Cached-DFL) is an artificial intelligence (AI) model sharing framework for self-driving cars that allow them to pass each other and share accurate and recent information. This information includes the latest ways to handle navigation challenges, traffic patterns, road conditions, and traffic signs and signals.

Usually, cars have to be virtually next to each other and grant permissions to share driving insights they’ve collected during their travels. With Cached-DFL, however, scientists have created a quasi-social network where cars can view each other's profile page of driving discoveries — all without sharing the driver’s personal information or driving patterns.

Self-driving vehicles currently use data stored in one central location, which also increases the chances of large data breaches. The Cached-DFL system enables vehicles to carry data in trained AI models in which they store information about driving conditions and scenarios.

"Think of it like creating a network of shared experiences for self-driving cars," wrote Dr. Yong Liu, the project’s research supervisor and engineering professor at NYU's Tandon School of Engineering. "A car that has only driven in Manhattan could now learn about road conditions in Brooklyn from other vehicles, even if it never drives there itself."

The cars can share how they handle scenarios similar to those in Brooklyn that would show up on roads in other areas. For instance, if Brooklyn has oval-shaped potholes, the cars can share how to handle oval potholes no matter where they are in the world.

The scientists uploaded their study to the preprint arXiv database on 26 Aug 2024 and presented their findings at the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Conference on Feb. 27.

The key to better self-driving cars

Through a series of tests, the scientists found that quick, frequent communications between self-driving cars improved the efficiency and accuracy of driving data.

The scientists placed 100 virtual self-driving cars into a simulated version of Manhattan and set them to "drive" in a semi-random pattern. Each car had 10 AI models that updated every 120 seconds, which is where the cached portion of the experiment emerged. The cars hold on to data and wait to share it until they have a proper vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) connection to do so. This differs from traditional self-driving car data-sharing models, which are immediate and allow no storage or caching.

The scientists charted how quickly the cars learned and whether Cached-DFL outperformed the centralized data systems common in today’s self-driving cars. They discovered that as long as cars were within 100 meters (328 feet) of each other, they could view and share each other's information. The vehicles did not need to know each other to share information.

"Scalability is one of the key advantages of decentralized FL," Dr. Jie Xu, associate professor in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Florida told Live Science. "Instead of every car communicating with a central server or all other cars, each vehicle only exchanges model updates with those it encounters. This localized sharing approach prevents the communication overhead from growing exponentially as more cars participate in the network."

The researchers envision Cached-DFL making self-driving technology more affordable by lowering the need for computing power, since the processing load is distributed across many vehicles instead of concentrated in one server.

Next steps for the researchers include real-world testing of Cached-DFL, removing computer system framework barriers between different brands of self-driving vehicles and enabling communication between vehicles and other connected devices like traffic lights, satellites, and road signals. This is known as vehicle-to-everything (V2X) standards.

The team also aims to drive a broader move away from centralized servers and instead towards smart devices that gather and process data closest to where the data is collected, which makes data sharing as fast as possible. This creates a form of rapid swarm intelligence not solely for vehicles but for satellites, drones, robots and other emerging forms of connected devices.

"Decentralized federated learning offers a vital approach to collaborative learning without compromising user privacy," Javed Khan, president of software and advanced safety and user experience at Aptiv told Live Science. "By caching models locally, we reduce reliance on central servers and enhance real-time decision-making, crucial for safety-critical applications like autonomous driving."

Electric vehicles (EVs) are cars with engines powered by electricity rather than the combustion engines found in gasoline-powered cars.

Across the world, traditional manufacturers are adding EVs to their product lineups, as well as improving battery technology and vehicle range. In many markets, EVs are now cheaper to operate than traditional gasoline-powered vehicles, though upfront costs are higher. And EVs are only expected to get cheaper. But how do these vehicles work, are they really better for the environment than traditional cars, and how practical are they?

5 fast facts about EVs

—The first EV: The first electric vehicle was devised by Scottish inventor Robert Anderson between 1832 and 1839 — although this electric carriage was not rechargeable.

—No-engine vehicles: EVs don't have internal combustion engines. Instead, power generated by the battery is transmitted directly to the wheels.

—Shortest range: Early EVs had a very limited range, with an electric locomotive built by Robert Davidson in 1842 limited to 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) on a single charge.

—Largest range: The Lucid Air Grand Touring can go 512 miles (823 km) — around the distance from San Francisco to San Diego — on a single charge.

–Artificial noise: Electric cars are so silent that many countries require manufacturers to install noisemaking devices within them. These activate when the cars are traveling at speeds below 12 to 18 mph (20 to 30 km/h) to alert pedestrians of their presence.

Everything you need to know about EVs

Glossary of terms

• Regenerative braking: In electric cars, kinetic energy taken from the process of slowing the vehicle with its brake pedal is converted into electricity that recharges the battery.
• Internal combustion engine: Internal combustion engines burn fuel to produce controlled explosions. These bursts push pistons up and down hundreds of times per minute to drive a crankshaft and turn the wheels of a vehicle.
• Vehicle emissions: Vehicle emissions are substances released during a vehicle's operation. As gas-powered cars burn fuel, they produce pollutants such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and carbon monoxide, which are emitted from the tailpipe. EVs do not have an internal combustion engine, so they produce zero tailpipe emissions.
• Torque: Torque is the rotational force produced by a vehicle's engine and what enables a car to get up hills and accelerate quickly. EVs typically have higher torque than gas-powered cars do.

EV pictures

Discover more about EVs

—China's superfast charging technology is twice as fast as Tesla's — fully recharging EVs in just 6 minutes

—Near-unlimited EV range now a possibility thanks to surprising new technology — solar paint

—New solar-powered EV can drive 40 miles daily using the power of the sun — and it's 50% more efficient than a Tesla

Electric vehicles could charge 500% faster in cold weather thanks to a new manufacturing process, research suggests.

In a new study published March 17 in the journal Joule, scientists explained how they could markedly improve Lithium-ion battery charging rates in temperatures as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 degrees Celsius) by tweaking the structural design of the battery and altering the chemical reactions that occur during charging.

The researchers were able to "simultaneously achieve extreme fast charging at low temperatures, without sacrificing the energy density of the lithium-ion battery," Neil Dasgupta, study author and associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at the University of -Michigan, said in a statement.

Cold temperatures limit charging rates and reduce overall energy efficiency due to the chemical processes at play during charging.

Batteries work by moving lithium ions between two electrode plates within a liquid electrolyte solution. This process is efficient in warmer temperatures, but in colder conditions, the electrolyte fluid thickens, reducing electrical currents and thereby extending charging times.

Related: Future electric cars could go more than 600 miles on a single charge thanks to battery-boosting gel

It’s an issue manufacturers have addressed in several ways, including increasing the thickness of the electrodes used in battery cells or by modifying the structure of the battery itself. But these steps have further exacerbated the problem. A 2023 study on lithium-ion battery efficiency showed alterations to the composition of electrolytes impeded fast-charging capabilities, for example.

Researchers create new ‘pathways’ for ions

In a previous study published in 2020, the researchers created what they described as new "pathways" in the anode — the electrode that receives lithium ions during charging and sends electrons to the cathode at the opposite end.

To create these pathways, the researchers used lasers to poke holes in the anode's graphite layers, which enabled lithium ions to move faster, in turn meaning they could embed themselves more quickly within the electrode.

This earlier project sped up charging times, but in cold weather conditions, it created a buildup of lithium on the anode. This "plating," prevented the electrode from reacting with the electrolyte fluid.

"That plating prevents the entire electrode from being charged, once again reducing the battery's energy capacity," study co-author Manoj Jangid, a senior research fellow at the University of Michigan, told Live Science.

To prevent this layer from forming, in the new study they coated the battery with a 20 nanometer-thick material made from lithium borate-carbonate. Previous research in solid-state batteries showed that this material improved the efficiency of ion delivery.

In this instance, the coating, combined with the pathways technique delivered a 500% increase in charging efficiency in sub-zero temperatures, the researchers said. Batteries modified using these techniques also retained 97% of their capacity, even when fast-charged up to 100 times in subfreezing temperatures.

While the study was limited in scope, Dasgupta said the changes are easy to implement at the manufacturing level and could have wide-ranging implications.

"We envision this approach as something that EV battery manufacturers could adopt without major changes to existing factories," Dasgupta said.

A Chinese automaker has developed a battery that will enable electric vehicles (EVs) to charge almost as quickly as it takes to fill a regular car's gas tank.

The new battery, named the e-platform, was developed by BYD, a Chinese firm that is overtaking Tesla as the world's top seller of electric vehicles.

Assigned a 10C rating — meaning the battery can move charge at ten times the rate of its nominal capacity — the e-platform can reach full charge in just six minutes. At its peak charging power of 1,000 kilowatts , the battery's charging rate is twice as fast as Tesla's 500 kW superchargers. This means that the two new models using the battery — BYD's Han L saloon and its Tang L SUV — can travel up to 250 miles (400 kilometers) on just a five-minute charge.

"We have been pursuing a goal to make the charging time of electric vehicles as short as the refueling time of petrol vehicles," BYD founder Wang Chuanfu said at a launch event in Shenzhen, China. "This is the first time in the industry that the unit of megawatt has been achieved on charging power."

To charge at such rapid speeds, the e-platform works by simultaneously creating a high voltage and delivering a large current to the charging car. But high currents also tend to generate heat that damages EV batteries.

To get around this, BYD says it massively reduced the internal resistance inside the battery. The company's new silicon carbide power chips are also designed to withstand higher voltages.

To facilitate the cars' launch, BYD said it will install a network of 4,000 flash charging stations across China. This technology is currently only available in China, and the company has yet to confirm whether it will make it available internationally.

A new kind of road-legal flying car is now a step closer to hitting the roads, and skies, after its maker Alef Aeronautics signed an agreement with aerospace companies PUCARA Aero and MYC to build it.

The Alef Model A is designed to work as both a road vehicle and aircraft, with its aim being to beat commuter congestion, representatives say.

Styled as a "retro" flying car, the Model A will operate as an all-electric car capable of vertical takeoff and landing. When in flight, the chassis can rotate 90 degrees to become a large, fixed wing for aerodynamic flight, with the body of the car made from mesh, allowing air to flow through when in flight mode.

When the body rotates, the "cockpit" section of the vehicle stays in place to keep the pilot stabilized. “To have a good distance, you need good aeronautics, which means you need wings,” said Jim Dukhovny, founder and CEO at Alef Aeronautics, in an interview with CNN.

Related: Cybertruck-looking 'mobile aircraft carrier' developed in China can hide away and launch a 2-person flying car

"When you tilt, when you do the transition, you look like a biplane, you actually have two wings — a top wing and a bottom wing — which makes it incredibly efficient, incredibly battery efficient and gives it the long distance."

Taking to the skies in retro style

Unlike other flying car prototypes, the Alef Model A is only a single-seater and therefore not envisaged as a taxi or passenger vehicle. In 2023, Alef Aeronautics told CNN that the vehicle would have a road range of 200 miles (321 kilometers) between charges, versus a flying range of 110 miles (177 km). On the road, it will have a maximum speed of 25 miles per hour (40 kilometers per hour) — below the minimum speed limit for highways in states such as Florida.

Engineers have been building this vehicle since 2015, the year that Alef Aeronautics was founded. While they initially thought they could build one in just six months, it wasn’t until 2019 that a pilot first flew a full-scale prototype.

The Model A is expected to cost $299,999 when it launches, and the company has received a reported 3,200 pre-orders to date

There is still a great deal of uncertainty over how easily individual customers can take to the skies, however. In October 2024, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced new rules for "powered-lift aircraft," defined as "an aircraft capable of vertical takeoff, vertical landing, and low speed flight" such as flying taxis.

However, the rules state that only those already certified as pilots with a Private Pilot License (PPL), Commercial Pilot License (CPL), or Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL) will be able to fly powered-lift aircraft. This means presently that Model A operators will need to have spent several months and logged a minimum 40 hours of flying time to attain a license before being allowed to fly it.

LAS VEGAS — Engineers have showcased a prototype electric vehicle (EV) that can drive for up to 40 miles (64 kilometers) per day using just solar power.

The new solar-powered car, called the Aptera Launch Edition, also offers up to 400 miles (640 km) of range from a single charge via an electrical output, company representatives said in a statement. The production-ready EV was shown for the first time this month at CES 2025 in Las Vegas.

The aerodynamic car is built from a carbon fiber sheet molding compound (CF-SMC) — a composite material made from chopped carbon fibers and a thermosetting resin. The car's design also incorporates four solar panels placed on the hood, dash, roof and hatch.

Aptera representatives say the material reduces the complexity of building each vehicle, meaning the design needs one-tenth of the parts required for traditional designs, with just six key body components making up the chassis. This makes the vehicle lighter and more energy-efficient than conventional EVs, while offering a 50% reduction in aerodynamic resistance.

Related: Honda promises solid-state batteries that could double EV range to 620 miles by 2030

The vehicle also has an energy efficiency rating of 100 Watt-hours per mile (Wh/mile) — a measure used to determine the amount of energy used to drive 1 mile (1.6 km). By contrast, a Tesla Model S (released in 2022) consumes 194 Wh/mile in the city in mild weather and 288 Wh/mile on the highway in mild weather, according to the EV Database.

At a maximum range of 440 miles — including 40 miles using solar power and 400 miles using electricity — the Aptera EV may also overtake the current longest-range vehicles in production. The Mercedes-Benz EQS 450+ has a maximum range of 425 miles (684 km), according to the EV Database, followed by the Lucid Air Grand Touring at 410 miles (660 km).

Harnessing solar power in EVs is not unheard of, with Mercedes-Benz debuting a new type of solar paint in November 2024 that could power an EV for up to 7,500 miles (12,000 kilometers) per year in optimal lighting conditions.

It is unclear when Aptera plans to launch its new EV, but the company struck an agreement with the electronics company LG at CES 2025. LG will provide the company with cylindrical battery cells between this year and 2031 to support the ramp-up in manufacturing.

LAS VEGAS — Engineers in China have unveiled a unique kind of flying car that can be bundled into a land vehicle that looks like Tesla's controversial Cybertruck for transport — effectively turning it into a mobile aircraft carrier.

The flying component is an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle, which means it relies on motors and propellers spread across the breadth of the airframe to fly, a system known as distributed electric propulsion.

These motors and propellers reside in the Cybertruck-looking "mothership" — which representatives from Xpeng Aeroht (the company that created this device) have described as the first vehicle of its kind, due to the 800V engine and in-built platform that can boost range to more than 620 miles (1,000 kilometers).

The eVTOL flying car itself has six rotors and is built from carbon fiber. It can fit two people in a single ride and has a 270-degree panoramic field of view for those inside. The machine was still in construction as recently as November 2024, but the company brought a fully finished prototype of the machine to Las Vegas for CES 2025.

Related: Futuristic vertical-takeoff air taxi could hit the market by 2028

The aerial component can be flown manually or pilot itself autonomously, company representatives told Live Science, with the pilot given ultimate override control if required. Whether the vehicle is being used by a person or is piloting itself, a flight control and navigation system ensures that the air taxi is stable at all times and the flight remains safe.

The eVTOL's transition from residing inside the car to being positioned outside relies on eight control modules and 14 actuators — machines that produce force or torque when a current passes through them. When the eVTOL flying car is released from the land component, its rotors extend from the center of the unit. From there, the rotors begin spinning and the eVTOL vehicle begins to fly.

In November, scientists completed the first public flight of the flying car component — with the company showcasing a full separation between the land and air modules, followed by a reconnection.

The factory tasked with constructing the "land-based aircraft carrier" is expected to reach an annual capacity of 10,000 units — with the aerial module due to hit production in the third quarter of 2025, ahead of deliveries beginning in 2026. Company representatives expect the vehicle to be used by leisure travelers who want to explore new terrains.

LAS VEGAS — With CES 2025 in full swing, hundreds of innovators, engineers and manufacturers have descended on Las Vegas to showcase cutting-edge and exciting technologies. These range from devices that are set for commercial release to those that are more experimental in nature.

There are plenty of new technologies on show, with a significant number leaning on artificial intelligence (AI) — although there are plenty other technologies worth highlighting. Live Science is on the ground and we've selected a handful of innovations that have caught our eye so far.

1. World's 1st holographic windshield display

Drivers of future electric vehicles (EVs) could be using a holographic display that spans the breadth of their windshield. Developed alongside the optics company Zeiss, Hyundai Mobis' new windshield display is a first-of-its-kind innovation that projects key information, such as navigation and safety alerts, in a panoramic and immersive way. Mass production of this technology will begin in 2027, representatives said.

2. A haptic pendant that beats along to music

Titan is a company that builds advanced haptic motors (or small devices that generate vibrations in things that you hold) for smartphones and gaming devices— but its latest innovation is a relaxation device designed to be worn around the neck. "TITAN Ono" is a pendant that taps into "high definition" haptics to send vibrations through your chest based on a handful of pre-configured modes that may help entertain or calm you. You might, for example, want to feel the sensation of a cat purring, or a heart beating. The device can also be connected to Bluetooth headphones and deliver haptic sensations that accurately mimic the way your chest cavity resonates when you listen to booming live music.

3. An AI-powered reader for children's books

Winner of a CES 2025 Innovation Award, Woongjin ThinkBig's Booxtory is an AI-powered reading device that uses technology to outsource the effort of parents reading to their kidss. You can place a book down in front of the device and the onboard camera uses optical character recognition (OCR) technology to take in the words — with an in-house generative AI system reading out the words through a connected speaker. Its plethora of features includes switching between different preset voices, or even training the AI with a sample of your own voice.

4. The motor-free haptics technology that uses oil

Scientists from Japan have developed a new type of haptics technology called "SoftMRF" that can replicate specific textured feelings, like pushing your hands into the sand. Rather than using motors, the engineers add a small amount of oil into an actuator — a device that converts energy into mechanical motion — before running a current through it. The viscosity of the recreated oil changes with the magnetic field, which allows them to precisely control the level of resistance and the specific sensation you feel when you, for example, push a trigger on a joystick.

5. AI-powered TV that can isolate different sound sources

Toshiba has showcased a handful of ways that AI can transform the viewing experience at home. The highlight is an in-built software for your TV that detects different types of audio coming through — such as commentary and crowd noise during a sports game — and allows you to isolate one particular track at the push of a button. In another example, demonstrators isolated the voice of a reporter during a news segment — and then pushed a button to dampen the reporter's voice and broadcast just the sounds of traffic. The technology is still in development with no fixed release date.

6. The paperlike digital art display with a year-long battery life

InkPoster is the world's first low-power and high-resolution display that lets you upload and display full-color pieces of artwork on your walls using e-paper technology. The battery life lasts for up to a year on a single charge. The largest model has a 31.5-inch (80 centimeter) 2,560 x 1,440-pixel rectangular display — all featured in an aluminum frame with a matte finish. Each one is also Wi-Fi compatible and only needs a power supply when new images are being uploaded.

7. The satellite internet smartphone add-on

HMD OffGrid is ideal for anybody who's regularly on the move. This device can be linked with your smartphone to enable you to tap into satellite internet networks so you can carry on receiving and sending messages to friends and family while also beaming up regular location updates — especially in areas that have no internet or cellular signal whatsoever.

8. The headset that puts you in a "sound bubble"

The Skyted 320 is a headset unlike any other — not only does the microphone isolate your voice, but the device itself creates an invisible sound bubble around you that makes sure nobody 2 feet (0.6 meters) away from you can hear your voice. The technology relies on lowering the sound threshold at which your voice can be picked up by the microphones, representatives said. The minimum voice level activation is 40 decibels, whereas most devices need you to speak at a volume of at least 90 dB — the microphones will also isolate your voice and dampen any background noise for the person you're speaking with.

9. A fridge that can cook

Figo is a refrigerator that fits on your countertops that can cook and store food until it is ready to be prepared with sous-vide cooking — a method of cooking that involves sealing food in a bag and submerging it in water heated to the precise temperatures required. This device lets people effortlessly schedule meals that they prepped a couple of days previously. The idea is to promote better food consumption habits, according to EatFigo representatives.

10. The first 'rollable' laptop

Lenovo has debuted a 2-in-1 laptop with a new rollable display, making it the first machine of its kind ever launched.

Related: Best laptops for photo editing 2025: Notebooks for designers and photographers

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable offers a second display above the standard 14-inch (35.5 cm) screen, extending the screen's real estate to 16.7 inches (42.4 cm). You can activate the additional screen space either by tapping a dedicated key or by making hand gestures to the camera. This form factor sets it apart from 360-degree 2-in-1 laptop-tablet hybrids or even foldable devices.

11. The first transparent and wireless TV

First debuting at CES 2024, LG's wireless and transparent 4K OLED TV, dubbed "Signature OLED T" is now commercially available — if you have at least $60,000 to spend. The "true wireless" technology that LG has given this device is amisnomer, given there are two standard power cables with the set-up that powers the display itself and a companion box. You can plug in any cabling, like HDMI, into the companion box, and set this anywhere in your home up to 30 feet (9 meters) away — ideally with a clear line of sight. The box then transmits the data to the panel itself via Wi-Fi.

12. Drunk driving detector

There have been several previous attempts to design an in-vehicle drunk driver detection system without the need for a breathalyzer, including an algorithm with 75% accuracy. But scientists at research company VinAI claim to have beaten that figure with "DrunkSense" — a passive detection system that scores 85%.

13. An app that can boost your memory, thanks to AI

A memory-boosting app that's new to the U.S. is taking advantage of AI's ability to learn and improve with new training data. By asking you various questions, the app builds a profile of your memory before testing it and attempting to improve it over time by tailoring specific exercises to you to stretch it.

14. A wearable 'memory capsule' that records your voice

Note-taking and transcription are time-consuming, but plenty of software-based AI services can cut down the workload. Plaud AI takes this one step further with hardware-based note-taking devices that use large language models (LLMs). At CES 2025, company representatives showed off the NotePin, a device that can be worn on your wrist like a watch or around your neck like a pendant. With it, wearers can begin recording and transcribing at the push of a button.

15. Extended reality aviators that let you see your computer screen

Lenovo engineers have created a pair of aviator sunglasses fitted with optical technology that beams the screen from any PC, phone, laptop or tablet compatible with DisplayPort technology directly onto the lenses. It works by plugging it into a laptop, sitting back and using the sunglasses as a screen. Note, you'll still need to control your device with your keyboard and mouse (or touchpad).

16. A tiny, punchy ultrasonic loudspeaker for your phone, watch or glasses

Phones, smart glasses and open wireless stereo (OWS) earbuds could soon deliver much punchier sound with a new 0.04-inch-thin (1 millimeter) chip that creates sound by generating waves above the human hearing range. The tiny "Sycamore" processor is three times thinner than dynamic drivers, xMEMS representatives told Live Science, and can be placed in various devices to deliver a much more consistent sound across all frequencies — including plenty more bass. This is thanks to components that tap into the piezoelectric effect to generate sound, like the same company's ultrasonic chip designed for earbuds and headphones.

17. A desk chair with inbuilt cooling and heating

RAZER debuted a desk chair concept that incorporates a fan system that blows either warm or cool air at the push of a button. The integrated fan system sucks in air from the unit at the bottom and pipes it through the chair's skeleton, blowing the air out through grills where your neck would normally rest. The temperature of the air delivered can reach as high as 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) while it reduces the perceived temperature by 35 to 41 F (19 to 22 C) versus room temperature.

18. A battery-free wireless keyboard

HP has created a wireless keyboard and mouse that don't rely on batteries — instead, the devices contain a supercapacitor, which has a much higher power density and faster charging time than batteries. Just three minutes of charging with a USB-C port can give the keyboard two months of life before running out of charge and one month for the mouse, Kevin Wentzel, HP's product experience strategist, told Live Science.

Honda plans to produce solid-state batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) that could deliver up to 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) on a single charge — more than double the range of currently available mass-market electric cars, the company announced last month.

If that goal is achieved, it would be a big step in overcoming "range anxiety" — a major barrier to widespread EV adoption.

In November, Honda unveiled a demonstration production line for its future solid-state batteries, which the Japanese automaker plans to integrate into its EVs in the second half of the decade, at a mass market scale.

"The all-solid-state battery is an innovative technology that will be a game changer in this EV era," Keiji Otsu, president and representative director of Honda R&D, said in a statement. "Replacing engines that have been supporting the advancements of automobiles to date, batteries will be the key factor of electrification."

Related: Meet 'Blackbird': A flying taxi that spins and moves in any direction thanks to new propulsion system

These solid-state batteries are expected to be 50% smaller, 35% lighter and 25% cheaper to construct than the liquid lithium-ion batteries found in current EVs. However, the major roadblock to the technology is that the solid-state cells Honda has developed to date are too small to be used in any current vehicle models. The goal of the new facility is to solve that problem starting in 2025.

A solid road ahead

Solid-state batteries rely on a solid electrolyte — a substance that enables the flow of ions, but not electrons, through it. Electrolytes enable positively charged ions to travel between two ends of a battery cell, marked by positive and negative electrodes – cathodes and anodes respectively. As they do so, negatively-charged electrons are pulled from the anode to the cathode via an external circuit to generate a charge. Solid state batteries replace the liquid electrolyte — commonly a lithium compound in a polymer gel or liquid — found in lithium-ion batteries with a solid material, such as ceramics like lithium orthosilicate or glass.

Related: How do electric vehicle batteries work, and what affects their properties?

Solid-state batteries are more energy-dense than equivalent-sized batteries that use a liquid electrolyte. That's because liquid lithium-ion batteries need graphite anodes to store and control the flow of ions within the battery’s electrolyte. Solid state batteries can instead use a pure lithium metal anode, which is more energy dense and so can store more ions in the same amount or even smaller space than a graphite anode.

Furthermore, solid-state components don't need to have careful temperature control, like standard lithium-ion battery systems do. Solid-state batteries are also safer, because they can ditch solvents, like ethylene carbonate, typically used for liquid electrolytes, that can catch fire if the battery cell is damaged.

Although solid-state batteries are not new, they've yet to be produced at the size and scale needed for electric vehicles. Not only are they more expensive to manufacture than lithium-ion batteries, but technical challenges still prevent them from being reliable enough for EVs.

The biggest problem is the brittleness of the ceramic separator, which is used to keep the anode and cathode from touching, which can start to crack over time due to the expanding and contracting caused by chemical reactions. If this happens to the separator, which is also the solid electrolyte, it can trigger a short circuit between the electrodes and cause the battery to malfunction.

Another issue is that the electrolytes in solid state batteries are made of polymers, which don't allow for the flow of ions between electrodes as easily as they do in a liquid electrolyte, thus limiting the battery's performance. And over time, the electrodes of lithium-based solid state batteries can become coated with spiky lithium deposits known as dendrites, which can pierce the solid electrolyte causing the batteries to short-circuit; though this issue isn’t as prevalent as it is with liquid lithium-on batteries.

Honda hasn't yet overcome all these challenges, but it plans to do so at its new facility. One key element of the plan is to use a roll-pressing technique that can increase the density of the electrolyte layers and improve the contacts between the electrolyte and the anodes and cathodes.

Honda aims to have its long-range solid-state batteries in its cars come 2030. By 2040, Honda has set a goal for its electric cars to have solid-state batteries with ranges as high as 776 miles (1,249 km).

If Honda can achieve such lofty goals, it would alleviate worries about EV range and longevity, which could accelerate the end of gas-powered cars.

Batteries with "single-crystal electrodes" could power electric vehicles (EVs) for millions of miles — meaning their batteries would outlast other parts of the cars, new research shows.

A lithium-ion battery with this new type of electrode has been charging and discharging constantly for six years, retaining nearly 80% of its original capacity. That battery cycled eight times longer than a regular lithium-ion battery — equivalent to an electric car driving 5 million miles (8 million kilometers), researchers reported Nov. 15 in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society.

All batteries slowly wear out and lose some of their energy-storage capacity over time. For instance, your phone battery holds less of a charge after a few years than it did the day you bought it. The same is true of electric car batteries: When their storage capacity drops, so does the distance the car can travel on a single charge.

Related: How do electric car batteries work, and what affects their range?

"The main focus of our research was to understand how damage and fatigue inside a battery progresses over time, and how we can prevent it," study co-author Toby Bond, a chemist at Canadian Light Source, said in a statement.

In the study, which was funded by the electric vehicle maker Tesla and included researchers from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, researchers compared the long-lasting single-crystal electrode with a more commonly used polycrystalline electrode. The two electrodes are made from similar materials, but in the polycrystalline electrode, those materials take the form of many tiny particles formed from even smaller crystals packed together. In the single-crystal electrode, as the name suggests, each particle is made from just one crystal, which makes them more resistant to mechanical strain.

Bond and his colleagues used high-energy X-rays to look inside the battery without taking it apart. The team found that after 2.5 years of constant cycling, the polycrystalline electrode was full of tiny cracks. Those cracks form when the lithium ions in the battery force the atoms in the electrodes apart and limit how much energy the battery can store.

By contrast, the single-crystal electrode contained few cracks, even after charging and discharging continuously for six years.

Longer-lasting EV batteries

The battery with the single-crystal electrode had gone through more than 20,000 charging and discharging cycles and had retained about 80% of its original capacity in that time. A typical electric vehicle can travel about 250 miles (400 km) on a charge, so the battery with the single-crystal electrode has a lifespan equivalent to driving about 5 million miles. For comparison, typical EV batteries today need to be replaced after about 200,000 miles (322,000 km).

"We really need these vehicles to last as long as possible, because the longer you drive them, the better its improvement on the carbon footprint is," Bond said in the statement.

Batteries with single-crystal electrodes have yet to be incorporated into electric vehicles, although they are available commercially. Tesla has patented similar single-crystal-electrode formulations, with members of the Dalhousie team named as co-inventors.

With these advances keeping batteries running longer, the battery could one day outlast other parts of an electric vehicle. When that happens, the batteries could find a second life in grid-scale energy-storage systems, the researchers wrote. There, the batteries could store renewable, but intermittently accessible energy, such as solar or wind power.

"I think work like this just helps underscore how reliable [the new batteries] are, and it should help companies that are manufacturing and using these batteries to plan for the long term," Bond said.

A new type of solar paint could extend the range of electric vehicles (EVs) to thousands of miles.

Revealing the technology on Nov. 24, automaker Mercedes-Benz representatives said its new photovoltaic paint could power an EV for up to 7,456 miles (12,000 kilometers) per year in optimal lighting conditions.

The "nanoparticle" paint can be applied directly to the body of an EV, reducing dependence on external charging. It is also based on non-toxic and readily available raw materials, making it both environmentally friendly and cost-effective to produce, Mercedes-Benz representatives said in a statement.

The technology could be a game-changer for EVs, particularly in parts of the world that receive lots of sunlight. It would also overcome a key barrier facing current EVs: their comparatively limited range and reliance on charging infrastructure, which varies hugely worldwide.

Related: Future electric cars could go more than 600 miles on a single charge thanks to battery-boosting gel

Most current EVs use high-performance lithium-ion batteries which, while improving every day, are still hindered by long charging times and limited energy density.

Photovoltaic paint converts light energy into an electrical charge via a process known as the photovoltaic effect.

When photons (light particles) hit the paint, semiconductor nanoparticles known as quantum dots absorb the light energy and transfer it to electrons within the material. The movement of electrons creates an electric current, which is collected through tiny conductive layers embedded in the paint. This current can then be directed to the EV’s electrical system to either power its components immediately or charge its battery for later use.

Drivers in LA may never need to charge their EVs again

Mercedes-Benz's solar paint comprises a nanoparticle-based layer beneath the vehicle's topcoat that allows 94% of the sun’s energy to pass through to the photovoltaic coating underneath. The solar coating is sandwiched between the body panel and the visible layer of paint, meaning it doesn't affect the vehicle's appearance.

According to Mercedes-Benz representatives, one paint coating is a mere 5 microns (0.0005 centimeters) thick and weighs just 1.8 ounces (50 grams) per 10.8 square feet (1 square meter, meaning it can be applied to almost any part of the car’s surface akin to "a wafer-thin layer of paste."

Despite being extremely lightweight, the paint packs an energy efficiency of 20%, meaning one-fifth of sunlight energy that hits its surface is converted into usable power. This is comparable to the efficiency of common solar panels.

The automaker claimed that covering a 118-square-feet (11-square-meter) area — comparable to a mid-size SUV — with the paint generated enough electricity to cover most daily driving needs. For example, drivers in Stuttgart could cover 62% of their daily commute using solar energy alone, while those in sunny Los Angeles might generate enough energy to meet 100% of their driving needs, representatives said.

The photovoltaic system generates energy even when the vehicle is off, assuming there is sunlight. The automaker suggested that excess energy could be fed back into drivers’ homes via bidirectional charging.

Unfortunately, representatives from Mercedes-Benz didn't specify exactly when (or if) its paint tech would hit the road. Instead, they said their current focus was ensuring it could be applied "on all exterior vehicle surfaces — regardless of their shape and angle."

MIT engineers have created more than 8,000 electric vehicle (EV) designs that can be combined with artificial intelligence (AI) to quickly build cars in the future.

Dubbed "DrivAerNet++," this open-source database includes designs that are based on the most common types of cars out right now, the engineers said, shown as 3D models that incorporate information such as how aerodynamic the design is.

Electric cars have been around for more than 100 years, but have skyrocketed in popularity recently. Designing these cars takes companies several years, resources, iterations and revisions until they reach a finalized design from which they can build a physical prototype.

Due to its proprietary nature, the specifications and results from these tests (as well as the aerodynamics of the prototypes) are private. This means significant advancements in EV range or fuel efficiency can be slow, the scientists said.

The new database, however, aims to speed up the search for better car designs exponentially.

This digital library of car designs include detailed data on specifications and aerodynamics. This digital library could be used to generate new electric car designs if combined with AI models in the future, the researchers said.

The engineers said that by streamlining a lengthy process, manufacturers can develop EV designs faster than ever before.

Related: New in-vehicle AI algorithm can spot drunk drivers by constantly scanning their faces for signs of intoxication

The team presented a paper, which was uploaded June 13 to the preprint arXiv database, outlining the dataset and how it can be combined with AI technologies. They described the work at the NeurIPS conference in Vancouver in December. a

Leaning on AI to create car designs in seconds

The dataset the researchers created produced 39 terabytes of data while consuming 3 million central processing unit hours with the MIT SuperCloud — a superpowerful cluster of computers used for scientific research that can be accessed remotely.

The team applied an algorithm that systematically tweaked 26 parameters, including vehicle length, underbody features, tread and wheel shapes, and windshield slope for each baseline car model. They also ran an algorithm that determined whether or not a newly generated design was a copy of something that already existed or genuinely new.

Each 3D design was then converted into different readable formats — including a mesh, a point cloud, or simply a list of dimensions and specs. Finally, they ran complex fluid dynamics simulations to calculate how air would flow around each generated design.

"The forward process is so expensive that manufacturers can only tweak a car a little bit from one version to the next," added Faez Ahmed, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, in a statement. "But if you have larger datasets where you know the performance of each design, now you can train machine-learning models to iterate fast so you are more likely to get a better design."

Mohamed Elrefaie, a mechanical engineering student at MIT, said in the statement that the dataset could help to cut research and development costs and hasten advances. He added that speeding up the design process would also help the climate if it means more efficient vehicles reaching consumers sooner. , Key to this design speed-up is integration with AI tools. The dataset lets you train a generative AI model to "do things in seconds rather than hours," Ahmed added.

Past AI models could generate seemingly optimized designs, but they relied on limited training data.

The new dataset provides the more robust training data that AI models can now use to either create new designs or test the aerodynamics of existing ones. This can then be used to calculate the EV's efficiency and range without the need for a physical prototype.

A new type of flying car could soon be ferrying passengers through the skies using a novel propulsion technology, engineers say.

On Nov. 5, CycloTech, an Austrian company that builds flying car components, unveiled blueprints for its new "BlackBird" demonstrator aircraft — a flying car that uses a custom-made alternative to propellers.

Dubbed the "CycloRotor," this all-electric propulsion system is based on the principle of the Voith Schneider propeller (VSP) — which is frequently used on tug boats and ferries, CycloTech chief technology officer Tahsin Kart said in a promotional video. It's a circular rotor with small propeller blades inside, which spin around and can be used for both propulsion and steering.

By moving the center around which the propeller blades spin, the aircraft can change its airspeed and direction, CycloTech representatives said in a statement. Each propeller blade can also be angled to produce directional thrust, like the wing of an aircraft, and can be precisely aligned to send the aircraft in specific directions or rotate mid-air.

The CycloRotors will greatly enhance the BlackBird demonstrator's maneuverability, enabling it to move or spin in any direction while airborne and also perform sharp corrections to its trajectory with added precision, CycloTech representatives said in the statement. This can also improve the comfort and safety of passengers on any flight in windy or other inclement weather conditions, they added.

This technology sets BlackBird apart from electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, such as those being tested by DARPA, as well as prototype air taxis — all of which use more traditional propeller designs.

The Blackbird demonstrator is still in development, but CycloTech released several promotional videos showing the CycloRotor technology being used to levitate and propel scale models.

At present, the model can support a maximum of 750 pounds (340 kilograms) and can fly at around 73 mph (118 km/h). This is almost half that of a Skyhawk Cessna, one of the most popular private light aircraft options on the market, which can max out at 142 mph (229 km/h).

The team behind the BlackBird demonstrator aims to fly a full-size version of the aircraft in early 2025.

A ceramic battery manufacturer has unveiled a solid-state battery concept that can be charged from 5% to 60% capacity in just five minutes — giving future electric vehicles (EVs) a 186-mile (300 km) range in the time it takes to order a coffee.

Revealing the design at the 2024 Paris Motor Show on Oct. 14, ProLogium representatives said in a statement that its silicon composite anode battery offered much higher energy density — by both weight and volume — than commonly-used lithium-ion (Li-ion) or lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries.

Capacity has been certified by TUV Rhineland in Germany at 749 Watts per liter (Wh/L) volumetric (power by volume) and 321 Watts per kilogram (Wh/kg) gravimetric (power by weight). Existing technologies offer under 200Wh/kg in the case of LFP or 200 to 300 Wh/kg from Li-ion — meaning the new battery is far more dense than existing technologies.

ProLogium representatives also expect that ongoing development will see its silicon anode batteries offer up to 77% higher energy densities by the end of 2024. The five-minute charging time to 186 miles (300 km) is also much less than the industry's 30-minute average to reach the same distance capacity, representatives added.

Related: Experimental wireless EV charger is just as fast as a superfast wired plug, scientists say

Higher energy density by both volume and weight means that manufacturers can get more out of smaller packages. Vehicles can be designed with the same power but from smaller batteries, which means that space lost to batteries in hybrid EVs, for example, could be reclaimed. Alternatively, manufacturers could get a great deal more power from battery packs the same size as their current offerings, which could give sub-compact automobiles much longer ranges than are currently available.

The ProLogium battery is also modular in design, which means that service, maintenance and repair are all much easier, representatives said. In particular, damage to a single battery cell, or small group of cells, will not require the replacement of the entire battery pack at significant cost.

Founded in 2006, ProLogium has been providing components and samples for EVs but is now graduating to the commercialization of of solid-state batteries. Having previously delivered around 8,000 solid-state battery sample cells to global car manufacturers for testing and module development, the company is also partnering with Germany’s FEV Group, an engineering provider in the automotive industry, to mass-produce its solid-state battery concept.

"Over the past two years, our collaboration has resulted in customized battery packs and concept designs that not only meet, but exceed regulatory standards and market demands," said Thomas Hülshorst, global vice president of electric powertrain at FEV, in a statement. "By combining ProLogium’s visionary technology with FEV’s engineering strengths, we are paving the way for the future of sustainable mobility."

Production of the next-generation battery design is expected to begin in 2027.

Scientists working at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed a new kind of solid-state battery technology that could double the energy density in electric cars.

The distance electric vehicles (EVs) can travel between charges — known as their range — has been on a steady upward curve for the past decade, tripling from 80 miles (129 kilometers) in 2010 to 220 miles (354 km) in 2021.

But limits apply on how efficient they can become due to both the chemistry of liquid electrolyte lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries that currently power EVs and their weight. As explained in Heatmap in 2023: “The lithium-ion packs in EVs are the state of the art in modern battery technology … But their energy density still pales in comparison to gasoline. So, giving a car hundreds of miles of driving range means slinging a huge, heavy battery along the bottom of the vehicle.”

A new advancement in solid-state batteries, outlined in a study published May 10 in the journal ASC Energy Letters, could change all that, though.

It relies on storing power in flexible and durable sheets of solid-state electrodes that are 30 micrometers thick — roughly the width of a human hair. The technology, if developed, could double energy storage from the current maximum energy density in EV batteries to 500 watt-hours per kilogram, the scientists said in a statement.

The problem with solid-state

Solid-state batteries are not a new idea, and researchers at ORNL previously laid the foundations for their creation and use in the 1990s. They have been used in small formats to power pacemakers, RFID tags — such as loss prevention tags used in stores —, and wearables for many years.

But when it comes to powering EVs, they haven't been durable or scalable enough. Furthermore, the plastic polymers used in most solid-state batteries currently have a lower conductivity than liquid electrolytes, which makes them less performant.

Related: World's biggest battery coming to Maine — and it could store 130 million times more energy than your laptop

The scientists overcame these problems by using a polymer to create a "strong yet springy thin film" that could give solid-state batteries a much higher energy density. This exceeds not only what's currently available in the best solid-state batteries but liquid Li-ion technology too, the scientists said in the statement.

The sheets allow for the separation of negative and positive electrodes, preventing short circuits while still providing high-conduction paths for ion movement. It also uses sulfide solid-state electrolytes, which have a similar level of conductivity to the liquid electrolytes used in Li-ion batteries and thus offer a similar level of performance.

"We want to minimize the polymer binder because it does not conduct ions," lead author of the study Guang Yang, R&D associate at ORNL, said in the statement. "The binder's only function is to lock the electrolyte particles into the film. Using more binder improves the film's quality but reduces ion conduction. Conversely, using less binder enhances ion conduction but compromises film quality."

A high-performing, safer EV battery

The next step for the scientists will be to build a device that allows them to test their findings under practical battery conditions in a lab. They will also partner with researchers in academia and industry to develop wider testing.

Should the research lead to the production of a new generation of EV batteries, it could not only give electric cars a much greater range but also make them safer, the scientists added in the statement.

Li-ion batteries are volatile and, while fires are rare, they're highly toxic and difficult to extinguish. According to the U.K's Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE), over 100 organic chemicals are generated during an EV fire, including fatal carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide.

Nevertheless, rather than attempting to put out the fire, car manufacturers recommend that firefighters let the fire burn out. This is in part because of how much water would be used — approximately 1,125 liters per minute — which would create dangerous runoff that could enter public drainage systems, according to the IFE.

Additionally, even when Li-ion battery fires have been seemingly extinguished they can reignite "hours, days or even weeks" later not just once but many times over. The new ORNL-developed technology, on the other hand, is non-volatile meaning there would be no such risk in EVs using it in a solid-state battery.

A hydrogen-electric air taxi has completed a record-breaking, 523-mile (842 kilometers) flight over California, producing only water as a direct by-product.

The flight, which was three times further than the distance records set by electric vehicles of the same developer, "demonstrates the potential for hydrogen to unlock emissions-free, regional journeys," according to a statement from Joby Aviation, the company behind the air taxi prototype. The air taxi had 10% of its hydrogen fuel load remaining after the flight, meaning it could fly even longer in the future.

The flight took place June 24 and is the first ever forward flight of a hydrogen-fueled aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL), according to Joby Aviation. Previous hydrogen-fueled flights used either airplane-like aircraft requiring a runway or smaller vehicles, such as Metavista's unmanned multi-rotor design. Those hydrogen-fueled airplane flights lasted between 10 minutes and 3 hours, in the case of a H2FLY design (H2FLY is a Joby Aviation subsidiary). Metavista's vehicle flew for a record 12 hours. It's unclear what distance these aircraft covered, but H2FLY said its airplane could one day fly up to 930 miles (1,500 km).

Joby Aviation's air taxi is a modified electric aircraft with six rotors that can be used in urban settings. The original battery-operated vehicle completed 25,000 miles (40,000 km) of testing across many flights at the company's base in Marina, California and over New York City. Engineers then converted this battery-electric aircraft into a hydrogen-electric one by adding a fuel tank capable of storing 88 pounds (40 kilograms) of liquid hydrogen, as well as a hydrogen fuel cell system, according to the statement.

Related: Largest ever fully electric concept plane could take to the skies by 2033

The fuel cells convert hydrogen into electricity, water and heat in the presence of oxygen. The electricity then powers the aircraft's rotors, according to the statement, while the water is released as a waste product. The aircraft also carries a reduced number of batteries at all times, providing extra power during takeoff and landing.

"Imagine being able to fly from San Francisco to San Diego, Boston to Baltimore, or Nashville to New Orleans without the need to go to an airport and with no emissions except water," JoeBen Bevirt, the founder and CEO of Joby Aviation, said in the statement.

The advantage of the hydrogen-powered design is that it can go much further than the battery-electric one, which needs recharging every 100 to 150 miles (160 to 240 km).

Joby Aviation plans to start selling its original battery-electric design in 2025. The hydrogen-electric air taxi will take longer to bring to market, but "the vast majority of the design, testing and certification work we've completed on our battery-electric aircraft carries over to commercializing hydrogen-electric flight," Bevirt said.

Joby Aviation recently became the first developer of electric VTOL aircraft to complete the third of five stages of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) type certification process. During this third stage, the FAA reviewed and approved Joby's certification plans for its aircraft's structural, mechanical and electrical systems. The next stage will involve the FAA looking at the entire aircraft and all its systems.

Joby Aviation plans to roll out the same infrastructure, landing pads, operations team and software for both types of vehicles, according to the statement, making it possible to use them simultaneously or transition seamlessly from one to the other.

The future of automobiles is electric, but many people worry about the safety of today's electric vehicles.

Public opinion about EV crash safety often hinges on a few high-profile fire incidents. Those safety concerns are arguably misplaced, and the actual safety of EVs is more nuanced.

I've researched vehicle safety for more than two decades, focusing on the biomechanics of impact injuries in motor vehicle crashes. Here's my take on how well the current crop of EVs protects people:

The burning question

EVs and internal combustion vehicles undergo the same crash-testing procedures to evaluate their crashworthiness and occupant protection. These tests are conducted by the National Highway Safety Administration's New Car Assessment Program and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

These analyses use crash test dummies representing midsize male and small female occupants to evaluate the risk of injuries. The tests can evaluate fire hazard either caused by thermal runaway – when lithium-ion batteries experience rapid uncontrollable heating – in ruptured EV batteries or gas tank leaks of internal combustion vehicles.

None of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash tests of EVs have sparked any fires. New Car Assessment Program crash test reports yield comparable findings. While real-world data analysis on vehicle fires involving EVs is limited, it appears that media and social media scrutiny of EV fire hazard is blown out of proportion.

Weighty matters

What stands out about EV safety is that crash test results, field injury data and injury claims from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety all reveal that EVs are superior to their internal combustion counterparts in protecting their occupants.

This EV advantage boils down to a blend of physics and cutting-edge technologies.

Thanks to their hefty battery packs positioned at the base of the car, EVs tend to carry considerably more weight and enjoy lower centers of gravity than conventional vehicles. This setup drastically reduces the likelihood of rollover accidents, which have a high rate of fatalities. Moreover, crash dynamics dictate that in a collision between two vehicles, the heavier one holds a distinct advantage because it doesn't slow down as abruptly, a factor strongly linked to occupant injury risks.

On the technology side, most EVs represent newer models equipped with state-of-the-art safety systems, from advanced energy-absorbing materials to cutting-edge crash avoidance systems and upgraded seat-belt and air-bag setups. These features collectively bolster occupant protection.

Where risks do rise

Unfortunately, EVs also present numerous safety challenges.

While the inherent weightiness of EVs offers a natural advantage in protecting occupants, it also means that other vehicles bear the burden of absorbing more crash energy in collisions with heavier EVs. This dilemma is central to the concept of "crash compatibility," a well-established field of safety research.

Consider a scenario in which a small sedan collides with a heavy truck. The occupants in the sedan always face higher injury risks. Crash compatibility studies measure vehicle "aggressivity" by the level of harm inflicted on other vehicles, and heavier models are almost always deemed more aggressive.

In addition, the increased energy associated with impacts from heavier EVs, particularly electric pickups, poses significant challenges for highway guardrails. Moreover, EVs – especially those operating silently at low speeds – pose increased risks to pedestrians, bicyclists and others who may not hear the EVs approach.

Better technologies, better safety

While EVs offer safety advancements for their own occupants, it's crucial to acknowledge and tackle the safety concerns they pose for others on the road.

I believe that technological advancements will serve as the primary catalyst for overcoming the safety hurdles faced by EVs. Lightweight materials, more powerful sensing technologies and safety algorithms, improved seat belts and better air bags will play pivotal roles in addressing these challenges.

Moreover, the tight connection between EVs and rapidly evolving computing capabilities is likely to foster the development of new safety technologies.

This edited article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The first "level 3" self-driving car has gone on sale in the U.S. — almost a year after Mercedes-Benz received the green light to sell vehicles fitted with its autopilot software, dubbed "Drive Pilot."

At least one level 3 autonomous vehicle has now been sold in North America, based on information from California's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Fortune reported. This was among 65 vehicles for sale in the state.

All vehicles are classified according to a six-level scale developed by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) — where level 0 is fully manual and level 5 is fully autonomous with zero human input required.

Most of the self-driving cars on the road today are level 1 or level 2. This means they offer "driver support" features, including automatic emergency braking, blind spot warning, lane centering and adaptive cruise control. 

Related: 'White hat hackers' carjacked a Tesla using cheap, legal hardware — exposing major security flaws in the vehicle

But while these support features are active, the driver remains in control of the vehicle and must constantly supervise them.

In level 3 self-driving vehicles — like cars fitted with Mercedes-Benz's Drive Pilot system — the person in the driver's seat would not actively need to drive the car while the automated driving features are engaged.

These could be deployed in certain situations, such as when navigating traffic on the freeway. Drive Pilot takes control of the vehicle, meaning the driver can take their eyes off the road and their hands off the steering wheel, according to a promotional video

The first two level-3 cars to be greenlit for sale in the U.S. are Drive Pilot-enabled Mercedes-Benz's S-Class and EQS Sedan models, which are available in California and Nevada only — because these are the only states to have awarded the company the certification.

The company was initially awarded SAE level 3 in January 2023, becoming the first automaker to receive such certification. Other manufacturers are working on similar technology, including BMW in its 7 Series vehicles.

Autonomous flying taxis could soon be a reality after vehicle manufacturer EHang obtained the world’s first production certificate to manufacture them in China.

EHang's EH216-S "passenger-carrying pilotless" electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle received clearance to be mass-produced from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), company representatives announced in a statement on April 7.

Many companies manufacture eVTOLs, but they have so far only been developed as prototypes for test flights. This decision represents a notable step towards introducing eVTOLs commercially.

"Our vision is to introduce safe and reliable pilotless eVTOL aircraft to the global market, thereby offering safe, autonomous and eco-friendly air mobility services to everyone," Huazhi Hu, CEO of EHang, said in the statement.

Related: Flying car designed to hop across the Philippines' 7,000 islands coming this year

The production certificate gives EHang the go-ahead to manufacture flying cars, encompassing the sourcing of raw materials, supply chain management, quality control and testing, in addition to after-sales repair and maintenance — all verified by comprehensive reviews and inspections.

Taking to the skies

First announced in 2018, the EHang EH216-S is a small, fully-electric VTOL craft with a carbon fiber fuselage and 16 propellers powered by 16 motors. It has a cruise speed of 62 mph (100 km/h) and a maximum altitude of around 10,000 feet (3,000 meters).

Designed for passenger transport, it can hold two occupants and has an autonomic driving system that removes the need for a pilot. EHang claims the VTOL has been tested numerous times with both crewed and uncrewed flights. It isn't the company's first model — it follows the EHang 184 "passenger drone" that debuted in 2016.

The company hopes the EHang EH216-S will function in areas such as air taxi services, aerial tourism, airport shuttles and cross-island transportation.

Large-scale production of the EH216-S represents an important milestone in making unmanned eVTOLs and similar aircraft a reality. It's the first eVTOL to have been granted such certification, which in turn could make China the first nation to make flying taxis a service that people can use.

While the EH216-S now has approval for mass production, the CAAC issued the Green Aviation Manufacturing Development Outline (2023-2035) in October 2023, which offers guidance on putting a pilot-operated eVTOL in the skies by 2025 and fully autonomous services on a large scale by 2035, including the need to establish practical regulations and insurance plans for flying cars.

In contrast, the U.S.'s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Implementation Plan has targeted 2028 as the year that eVTOLs will fly commercially for the first time, with appropriate regulation and certification governing their safe manufacturing and use.

With this in mind, China could steal the march on the U.S. in terms of making — or at least testing — eVTOLs at a commercial level.

Digital keys have become a common and convenient way of unlocking electric vehicles (EVs) — but security researchers have demonstrated how criminals can take advantage of this.

Cybersecurity researchers Tommy Mysk and Talal Haj Bakry, who work for tech firm Mysk, have discovered an exploit that lets cybercriminals access Tesla accounts to generate a "digital key" before unlocking a victim's car and driving away. They detailed their findings in a YouTube presentation on March 7.

They achieved the hack — unlocking the door of a Tesla Model 3 — despite the account being protected by two-factor authentication (2FA). This is an extra layer of protection that asks for a code before logging in — which they bypassed. 

They simply needed a small Flipper Zero device and a Wi-Fi development board —  both of which can be bought online. 

The Flipper Zero device, which costs just $169, is akin to a "Swiss army knife" for security researchers. It lets them read, copy and emulate radio-frequency and near-field communication (NFC) tags, radio remotes, digital access keys and other signals. It's legal in the U.S. although Canada has just brought forward measures to ban it. 

The researchers used a Flipper Zero alongside the Wi-Fi development board to generate and broadcast a fake Tesla login page, before duping a victim into sharing their login credentials. 

How does the hack work?

The researchers conducted this exploitation through a public Wi-Fi network named “Tesla Guest," just like the ones used at Tesla servicing centers. 

They broadcast a fake version of this network via the Flipper Zero, meaning if somebody were to click on the captive network to access Wi-Fi, a spoofed Tesla login screen would appear. Broadcasting this fake Wi-Fi network at locations commonly visited by Tesla drivers, such as Tesla SuperChargers, would enable cybercriminals to steal the login details for Tesla accounts. 

If exploited in the real world, a hacker would only need to wait for an unsuspecting Tesla driver to connect to the fake Wi-Fi network and type their login details into the spoofed login portal. The user’s credentials, including their email address, password and 2FA code, would then appear on the Flipper Zero's screen. Then, after obtaining this information, the hacker can launch the Tesla app and access the victim’s account. 

Related: Experimental wireless EV charger is just as fast as a superfast wired plug, scientists say

The app gives a live location of the car without the hacker needing to activate their digital key, which is on their phone, beforehand. By activating the key near the victim’s car, the hacker can control it remotely. Alarmingly, you can do this without being in the car — you just need to enable Bluetooth and activate location settings.

Because no alerts appear on the user’s app or their car’s built-in touchscreen to say a new device has been added to their account, they won’t know someone has compromised their account  and is trying to control their car.

Demonstrating this exploit, the researcher successfully unlocked the door of a Tesla Model 3 and showed how to add the digital key without a notification appearing on the touchscreen. They were able to start the car and drive away. 

The researchers were surprised to learn that you need a physical key card (which all Tesla drivers are provided with) to authenticate the removal of a digital key — and that a push notification is sent to the car's owner after a key is removed. This is despite the fact that no such notification is sent when a new key is added.

What does it mean for EV safety?

Despite the Tesla owner’s manual stating that the physical key card is needed to add and remove digital keys, the researchers proved that this is only the case for removing digital keys — not adding them. The Mysk team reported their findings to Tesla Product Security, which responded by calling this “intended behavior.” 

“We showed how social engineering and phishing can be effective,” wrote the researchers in their presentation. “It even defeated multi-factor authentication.”

The security researchers believe that key card authentication should be compulsory and that Tesla owners should receive notifications if a new key is added to their account. 

Jake Moore, global security advisor at cyber security company ESET, told Live Science that easily accessible devices like the Flipper Zero “can do a tremendous amount to assist threat actors in malicious activities.”

"Acting as yet another tool in the hacker’s toolkit, along with other social engineering techniques, these devices add a new dimension for victims to be aware of," he explained. 

"With endless smart devices on the market and wireless technology built into devices that never before justified the use of it, we therefore need to be on guard more than ever.”

A new type of wireless charging system can power electric vehicle (EV) batteries up to 10 times faster than the fastest available wireless chargers, and it's just as efficient as charging your car with a superfast cable.

Scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee used a "polyphase electromagnetic coupling coil" with rotating magnetic fields to wirelessly charge a Hyundai Kona EV, which has an estimated range of about 261 miles, at 100 kilowatts with 96% efficiency, according to a statement released March 12. 

For reference, the fastest EV charging cables provide between 50 kW and 350 kW in power, while the ones that plug into a home wall socket have a power output of 1 kW, according to the Department of Transportation.

They used their prototype charging device, which has a diameter of 14 inches (36 centimeters), to transfer power to the EV across a 5-inch (13 cm) air gap.

The goal of research like this is to integrate wireless charging devices into the road — in parking spots, for example. That way, drivers no longer need to plug their cars into dedicated charging infrastructure with bulky cables.

Related: Future electric cars could go more than 600 miles on a single charge thanks to battery-boosting gel

"We've achieved the highest power density in the world for a wireless charging system for this class of vehicle," Omer Onar, a researcher at ORNL who was involved in the work, said in the statement. "Our technology reaches power densities 8-10 times higher than conventional coil technology and can increase battery charge state by 50% in under 20 minutes."

Wireless charging has been around since the 19th century, when Nikola Tesla demonstrated magnetic resonant coupling. By creating a magnetic field, electricity can be transferred through the air between a transmitting circuit and a receiving circuit. The technology exists on a small scale in phones and smartwatches, but wireless charging in EVs is relatively new.

There are few such products available on the market. One of the best available right now, for example, is made by Plugless Power, which offers between 3.3 kW and 7.2 kW wireless charging stations that can be integrated into parking spaces.

Another wireless charger, built by WiTricity, offers just 11 kW. Conventional wireless charging relies on a large magnetic loop antenna, in the form of a copper coil, to create an oscillating magnetic field. This creates a current in a receiving antenna. Each of the coils then resonate at the same frequency and power can be transferred.

In the polyphase-coil system, electric power utilizes more than one alternating current (AC) phase using two or more conductive materials, which rotate their voltage cycles with a fixed and defined phase between the different waves.

This means the polyphase electromagnetic coils transmit charge in multiple phases. As a result, the magnetic field is more uniform, which allows for more consistent and higher power transfer for a given size, ORNL scientists said in a 2022 paper. Polyphase couplers are also more efficient, meaning less power is lost over longer distances, also allowing for a reduction in the size of coils to achieve the same charge rate as conventional coil technology does.

The achievement is especially notable because the prototype wireless charging device is small enough to be practical, given its size, Onar said in the statement.

A vehicle that's a strange blend between a futuristic electric minivan and the rear half of an airplane could soon revolutionize island-hopping. The unusual vehicle, which is currently still only a concept, will be able to travel both on land and in the air and be powered by electricity or hydrogen, its designers claim.

The Luft Pinoy electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) project is being designed as a novel way to traverse the 7,101 islands that make up the Philippines archipelago. It's being developed through a collaboration between Florida-based startup LuftCar and the eFrancisco Motor Corporation (eFMC) from the Philippines — with a prototype expected to be completed before the end of 2024.

"Our flying and road vehicle concept is tailor made for connecting the archipelagos and serving cargo, air ambulance, tourism, and regional transportation verticals," Santh Sathya, CEO of LuftCar, said in a statement. "Our hydrogen propulsion will serve long distance and heavy payload carrying needs in the region."

While a full prototype has yet to be produced, the concept design is pleasingly straightforward compared with the likes of the Supernal SA-2. Rather than creating a flying car, the main component of the Luft Pinoy is a customizable minivan powered by a hydrogen fuel cell or electric battery system for road-based transit.

When it needs to take to the skies, the minivan has a subframe used to attach it to an eVTOL airframe that has four propellers and its own hydrogen power system. This effectively transforms the van into a small aircraft that can take off and land vertically, without the need for a runway.

Related: Futuristic vertical-takeoff air taxi could hit the market by 2028

While it doesn't look as slick as eVTOL air taxis designed to ferry passengers between stops in an urban environment, the Luft Pinoy's design means it could land on a local airstrip, decouple its airframe and continue the rest of its journey by road. This would cut out the need for secondary vehicles to ferry cargo from airports or helipads to their final destination.

There's no shortage of eVTOL concepts, but few have become a reality due to range limitations and a lack of legal framework for flying cars. Even electric aircraft remain stuck at the concept stage due to their range being limited to 250 miles (400 kilometers).

But hydrogen fuel cell-powered aircraft have already taken flight. Using hydrogen to power an eVTOL can offer a longer range and better weight-lifting potential than battery technology, as the Copenhagen Center on Energy Efficiency points out: “There is a potential for hydrogen fuel cells to successfully implemented to long-haul lorries, train, and ambulances that would benefit from longer driving ranges.”

Compared with lithium-ion batteries, hydrogen fuel cells are also more energy-dense and thus can be used in a powertrain that's both lighter and more powerful. And because hydrogen fuel cells don't store power but rather create it from hydrogen fuel, they can be filled up in mere minutes after being depleted, much like a gas-powered car.

That said, hydrogen fuel cells aren't as efficient as lithium-ion batteries, and generating hydrogen predominately comes from burning fossil fuels.

Should a working prototype of the Luft Pinoy arrive this year, it would still likely be held back by a lack of general legislation and law-making around the use of flying cars. 

In the U.S., manufacturers must first cross regulatory hurdles before eVTOL vehicles can begin taking flight; currently, flying cars must obey all the road rules as any other car, while also having the same restrictions as small aircraft in that they can’t take off or land on a road unless in emergencies.

However, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has a target of 2028 to see eVTOL use in the U.S., with its Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Implementation Plan detailing the steps to take and processes for the regulation and certification of flying car operation.

Electric vehicle (EV) range anxiety could soon be a thing of the past thanks to a breakthrough in battery technology, which could give EVs a range of more than 620 miles (1,000 kilometers).

Today's EVs have a maximum range of 300 miles (480 km) on average. Even the longest-range electric car, the Lucid Air, runs out of charge after about 500 miles (800 km).

But in a new study, researchers used tiny silicon particles and a gel-based electrolyte to tap into the high-charge capacity of silicon anodes in lithium-ion batteries. The scientists published their findings on Jan. 17 in the journal Advanced Science.

Charging works inversely, with positive lithium ions returning to the anode and electrons flowing back across a circuit to the terminal as it gains a positive charge. When no more ions can flow to the node — now technically a cathode — the battery is considered fully charged.

Silicon has been widely explored as a candidate for the anode in lithium-ion batteries because it can hold up to 10 times as many lithium ions versus equivalent graphite anodes — which are used in most Lithium-ion batteries today. But silicon expands by up to three times its size when receiving a charge, which can damage the battery. Nanometer-scale silicon can mitigate this problem, but such a system requires a complex and expensive production process.

However, in the new study, the scientists opted for micrometer-scale silicon particles linked to an elastic gel electrolyte that disperses the internal stress caused by an expanding silicon anode. This prevents battery degradation without compromising conductivity.

As micrometer-scale particles are 1,000 times larger than nanometer equivalents, this new battery system paves the way for high-charge capacity silicon anodes without the costly production.

"We used a micro-silicon anode, yet we have a stable battery. This research brings us closer to a real high-energy-density lithium-ion battery system," study co-author Soojin Park, a professor of chemistry at the Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea, said in a statement.

Stretching silicon

To make this silicon-gel electrolyte system work, the scientists irradiated a gel-based polymer with an electron beam to form covalent bonds between the micrometer-scale silicon particles and the electrolyte.

By linking the anode and the electrolyte it allows the elastic nature of the gel to absorb and dissipate the stress of the silicon expansion. The gel electrolyte can also mitigate some of the cracking that occurs when silicon expands, thus improving the structural stability of the silicon electrode; theoretically, this should lead to longer-lasting lithium-ion batteries.

The overall result was a lithium battery with "an approximate 40% improvement in energy density" and an ion conductivity similar to batteries using a liquid electrolyte. In simple terms, that means a Lithium-ion battery that can hold more positively charged ions —  essentially having a greater energy capacity — while preserving efficient energy transfer.

In real-world use, it could mean a longer battery life for consumer devices, while EV batteries could have a range exceeding 620 miles on a single charge. Compared with nanometer-scale silicon particles, the researchers also said a micrometer-scale silicon particle system could be more cost-effective and fit into today's production methods almost immediately.

"The integration strategy, which simply involves the application of an electron beam, can be readily implemented into existing battery production lines," the scientists said in the paper.

A malicious technology can trick self-driving cars into "hallucinating" phantom vehicles and veering dangerously off-course to get out of their way, researchers have discovered.

The new hack, dubbed "MadRadar," can also hide real cars from on-vehicle radar sensors and fool a self-driving car into thinking a real car has jerked off course. The scientists reported their findings in a peer-reviewed paper, which will be presented Feb. 26 at the Network and Distributed System Security (NDSS) Symposium 2024 in San Diego.

"Without knowing much about the targeted car's radar system, we can make a fake vehicle appear out of nowhere or make an actual vehicle disappear in real-world experiments," lead author Miroslav Pajic, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke University in North Carolina, said in a statement. "We're not building these systems to hurt anyone, we're demonstrating the existing problems with current radar systems to show that we need to fundamentally change how we design them."

Related: Is an electric car better for the planet?

Self-driving cars will increasingly take to U.S. roads over the next few years. Mercedes Benz became the first automaker in the U.S. to receive approval for Level 3 self-driving cars in January 2023 — meaning vehicles can perform all the driving under certain conditions. Approval was granted by Nevada state regulators for use on U.S. public freeways. Many electric vehicles, including Tesla's, are fitted with automation or autopilot systems.

Different cars use different systems by design, so it's unlikely any two vehicles will use the same operating parameters even if they are the same make and model of car, the scientists said in the statement. They may, for example, use different operating frequencies or take measurements at marginally different intervals — measures that are built in to protect against radar-spoofing attacks.

MadRadar, however, can accurately detect a car's radar parameters in less than a quarter of a second from a remote position and then send out its own radar signals to fool the target's radar. The scientists did not reveal the specific mechanisms of the attack ahead of their paper's publication at NDSS.

They did, however, demonstrate three attack types on real-world radar systems in moving cars. In one attack, MadRadar sent signals to the target car to fool it into thinking another vehicle was in its way. It did this by changing the signal so it mimicked what the expected contact might look like. 

A second attack fooled a target's radar into thinking there was no passing car, when in reality there was one. MadRadar did this by adding masking signals around the passing car's location to create a "bright spot" and confuse the radar system. 

In the third attack, the researchers combined these two attacks and fooled a car into thinking a real car had suddenly changed course. "Imagine adaptive cruise control, which uses radar, believing that the car in front of me was speeding up, causing your own car to speed up, when in reality it wasn't changing speed at all," Pajic said. "If this were done at night, by the time your car's cameras figured it out you'd be in trouble."

The results, the scientists said, reveal that car manufacturers need to rethink how they implement anti-radar-spoofing protections in their vehicles. Manufacturers should take steps to better safeguard vehicles and their inhabitants, they added, though the team didn't specify how. 

NASA successfully performed a series of test flights with two autonomous helicopters to check the systems that could one day be used in pilotless air taxis, the agency has revealed. 

During the flights in October 2023, conventional-looking helicopters flew autonomously over Long Island Sound, Connecticut, NASA said in a statement on Jan. 25. The tests aimed to assess how different NASA-developed autonomous flight software modules work in practice. 

This was a key milestone in a collaboration to design autonomous flight software between NASA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin that built the helicopters.

Eventually, NASA envisions the software components being used in future pilotless air taxis. Although air taxis seem futuristic, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is devising rules and regulations to guide the development of this novel transportation method — targeting a 2028 launch date for the first commercial routes in the U.S.

Related: Futuristic vertical-takeoff air taxi could hit the market by 2028

The two helicopters — a modified S-76B and a larger OPV Black Hawk — were loaded with five software modules that controlled various aspects of autonomous flight. Each vehicle was already equipped with a conventional automated flight system.

The modified helicopters underwent 12 successful test flights covering 70 different flight test maneuvers, and each generated more than 30 flight hours. 

During the tests, the helicopters were immersed in a virtual world and followed several planned routes while trying to avoid more than 150 virtual aircraft "traveling" along virtual flight plans. 

The software modules on board dynamically adjusted altitude, speed and direction to avoid collisions with the virtual aircraft's flight plans as well as with the other test helicopter. 

Safety pilots and researchers were also on board each aircraft and monitored the helicopters' performance using specially designed tablets that let them monitor the flight path options the software selected whenever it needed to course-correct.

The pilots tracked how well the helicopters responded to software-initiated commands, while NASA researchers assessed how the different software components worked together to control and fly the aircraft safely. The tests also assessed how well people interacted with the autonomous systems, with the safety pilots and researchers also monitored to see how they responded to the information the tablets supplied.

"These efforts demonstrate that we can safely integrate operations to fly the aircraft using several technologies in one navigation tablet," Adam Yingling, NASA project lead, said in the statement. 

Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, like the newly announced Supernal SA-2 vehicle, could one day fill the role of air taxis — possibly using these recently tested automated flight systems. These electric vehicles are generally quieter than conventional helicopters, have a larger passenger capacity and are more energy efficient. 

A proof-of-concept four-passenger air taxi that can take off and land vertically is slated to hit the market by 2028.

Known as an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle, the SA-2 is made by Hyundai subsidiary Supernal and will begin test flights later this year, company representatives announced on Jan. 9 at CES 2024.

Several manufacturers have built working eVTOLs in the last few years, including Boeing's NeXt, Airbus' CityAirbus NextGen and Honda's eVTOL vol.2. These vehicles rely on distributed electric propulsion (DEP) to fly — defined as spreading multiple electric motors and propellers across the airframe, Simay Akar, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers senior member and the CEO and founder of AK Energy Consulting, told Live Science. Similarly, Supernal's air taxi lifts off using eight all-tilting rotors distributed across its body, which produces enough thrust required for flight.

"While it will likely take some time for DEP-powered eVTOLs to become commonplace, they are sure to play a major role in the future of urban air mobility," she said. But several things, including legal frameworks and better technology, will need to be in place before that happens, she added. The SA-2 is designed to cruise at 120 mph (193 km/h) at an altitude of up to 1,500 feet (457 meters)  and is to complete trips of between 25 and 40 miles (40 to 64 kilometers).

Related: World’s 1st electric flying passenger ship could 'revolutionize how we travel on water'

The vehicle will emit 65 decibels while taking off and landing, while its midflight sound levels will max out at 45 dB — making it quieter than a helicopter, which makes between 93 dB and 108 dB of noise, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

If you're feeling any sense of déjà vu, it's because Hyundai previously showcased an earlier version of this vehicle in 2020. The company said it planned to start test flights in 2023, according to Future Flight, but those plans didn't take off, as they originally entailed working with Uber, which sold its air taxi division in 2020.

Supernal now plans on conducting test flights later this year. The company also plans to file preliminary applications to the  FAA this year, before seeking a special airworthiness certificate in 2025. Further testing will begin in 2027.

Hyundai is still targeting a 2028 launch date for the production of its air taxis, but whether this public transport method takes off depends on the legal status of eVTOLs. Akar also told Live Science the widespread adoption of eVTOLs hinges on several technologies including battery energy density, motor and power electronics efficiency, thermal management and weight management.

Legislatures across the world are currently considering the safety and air traffic concerns involved. However, in August 2023, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency released a set of proposed rules for safely operating eVTOLs in Europe — with the industry attempting to launch eVTOL services in time for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

In June 2023, the FAA finalized new rules that would help pave the way for commercial air taxi services in the coming years. These provisions included which qualifications pilots must hold, the operational requirements of the aircraft, the process for receiving type certification, and other areas. In July 2023, the FAA also published its implementation plan for introducing air taxi services across the U.S. — targeting 2028 for when commercial flights will begin, based on its Innovate28 initiative.  

A technology that could dramatically increase the range and decrease the charging time of electric vehicle (EV) batteries could soon be in many more cars. The technology swaps the graphite normally used on the negatively charged anodes of lithium-ion EV batteries for silicon.

Panasonic recently announced a partnership with Sila Nanotechnologies, which makes the silicon anodes, to integrate the technology into the company's existing battery production line in 2024.

Related: How do electric vehicle batteries work, and what affects their properties?

Over 14 million electric vehicles were sold in 2023, and their popularity is expected to increase in the coming years. Currently, these vehicles use high-performance lithium-ion batteries. While these batteries are getting better every day, some obstacles still limit their usability and convenience.  

"The capability of a battery to store energy in relation to its size and weight, known as energy density, is a key factor for electric vehicles, as it affects the distance they can cover on a single charge," Azin Fahimi, chief scientific officer at Sienza Energy U.S., who leads a team working on a different silicon anode implementation than Sila is building, told Live Science. "Another crucial aspect is power density, which refers to how quickly a battery can supply energy." 

In other words, if a car can't go very far between charges, that's a nonstarter for many consumers. So why does the new silicon anode have such a dramatic impact on the range and charge time? 

Batteries rely on the movement of charged particles, known as ions, between the electrodes, or two electrical conductors. During charging, lithium ions move from the positive electrode (the cathode), through a conducting solution called the electrolyte, and into the negative electrode (the anode), where they are stored until power is needed. 

"When the battery is providing power to a device, the lithium ions move back from the anode to the cathode," Fahimi said. "This movement of ions allows electrons to flow through the external circuit, generating an electric current that powers the device." 

Because the ions are stored on the anode until they're needed to power the car, the anode material plays a critical role in a battery's performance. 

"A good anode material should possess a high lithium storage capacity to ensure high energy density, good electrical conductivity to facilitate efficient electron flow, [and] fast ion transport for rapid charging capabilities," Fahimi said. The anode also needs a stable structure that doesn't change in volume when ions are flowing in and out of it as this can damage the surface, she added.

Conventionally, lithium-ion batteries have used graphite anodes. The layered structure of this conducting material means ions can move into and out of the anode without it changing much in volume. 

However, due to its chemistry, silicon can hold more than tenfold more energy per gram, Fahimi said.

"This higher capacity means that silicon can store more lithium ions, resulting in a higher energy density for the battery," Fahimi said. "A higher energy density translates to a longer range for EVs on a single charge."

Unfortunately, silicon swells to three or four times its original size when filled with lithium ions, leading to "mechanical stress and eventual degradation of the anode material," she said. 

Therefore, careful nanoscale design of the silicon anode is crucial to overcoming this challenge. In follow-up work, Fahimi's team at Sienza and the teams at Sila are working on solving this problem.

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 10:15 a.m. E.D.T. to correct the material used the battery in one instance; it is graphite, not graphene.

The world's first electric flying passenger ship has completed test flights in Sweden and will now enter production ahead of its introduction into Stockholm's public transport network in 2024.

The Candela P-12, designed by Swedish tech company Candela Technology AB, is 39 feet (12 meters) long,runs on a 252 kilowatt-hour battery and can carry up to 30 passengers. By contrast, the battery in a 2024 Tesla Model 3 is up to 75 kWh. 

It will fly at up to 25 knots (29 mph, or 46 km/h) — although it can reach maximum speeds of 30 knots (35 mph, or 56 km/h ) — with a range of up to 50 nautical miles (92.6 kilometers).

"It will revolutionize how we travel on water," Gustav Hasselskog, CEO of Candela, said in a statement.

Related link: How do electric batteries work, and what affects their properties?

The vessel "flies" using hydrofoils, which are lifting surfaces that operate in water to elevate a boat's hull above the water's surface — similar to airfoils that help planes lift off from the ground. Hydrofoils reduce drag from the water, which enables vessels to achieve greater speeds while using less power than conventional boats. 

The P-12 uses computer-guided hydrofoils to elevate its hull, and it consumes 80% less energy while moving at speeds of more than 18 knots (21 mph, or 33 km/h) versus traditional vessels, the company said in the statement.

Candela's flying ship runs with two custom-made engines with 340  kilowatts of total peak power. When in flight, the P-12's digital flight control system can adapt to waves, wind and water currents by adjusting the hydrofoils' angle up to 100 times per second. This system may help to reduce the chances of passengers experiencing seasickness, the company said in the statement. 

The P-12 also aims to be more sustainable than conventional vessels because it runs on electric power. Most electric ships built to date have a limited range and slow speeds due to the excessive energy consumption of their hull, keeping adoption rates low. But the P-12's reduced water friction, thanks to its hydrofoils, lets it run using less power than conventional boats and therefore travel farther using battery power.

From next year, the electric vehicle will fly on a TK mile route between the Ekerö suburb and Stockholm's city center — slashing a 55-minute commute to just 25 minutes thanks in part to the fact it's exempt from speed limits due to producing less wake while traversing water. 

"Today, in many cities, congested roads are common while waterways — humanity's oldest transport infrastructure — remain underutilized for rapid commuting," Hasselskog said in the statement. "The P-12 will let you use these waterways as green highways, enabling fast intra-city connections. Often, the quickest route is by water."

As part of the goal of tackling climate change, more and more people are using electric vehicles, which produce just a fraction of the carbon dioxide emissions as their gasoline-powered counterparts.

But how do the batteries in these electric vehicles work, and what determines how far an electric car can go and how long they last?

Energy density is determined by the voltage between the two electrodes and how many lithium ions the material can hold. Electrodes with nickel form a crystal structure that can pack in more lithium ions.

The downside?

"It's expensive, and the lifetime will be shorter than lower-nickel materials (although still longer than most other cars)," Dahn said. "On the other hand, manganese is 20 times cheaper, but "the energy density is lower so your driving range is going to be less."

The role of cobalt is a little more complicated, but it's thought that a small amount helps the electrodes to efficiently exchange the charged particles with the electrolyte.

To prevent a climate catastrophe, the world must dramatically slash its carbon emissions. But creating enough batteries to power the electric vehicles (EVs) needed for a carbon-free future will require a massive scale-up in our supply of minerals such as copper, cobalt and manganese. 

Countries are scrambling to mine these precious materials from the earth, digging everywhere from the rainforests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Indonesia. However, these efforts have been plagued by environmental problems and human rights issues. 

So some companies have turned their eyes elsewhere: the seafloor. 

Miles below the ocean's surface, billions of rocky lumps laden with manganese, nickel, cobalt, copper and other precious minerals line the seafloor. In some areas, cobalt is also concentrated in thick metallic crusts flanking underwater mountains. 

Related: What is renewable energy?

Several companies and countries are gearing up to harvest these so-called deep-sea polymetallic nodules and extract the treasures within them. Currently, seabed mining in international waters is legally murky, and companies have not yet begun commercial exploitation operations. But delegate nations of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) — a U.N.-backed intergovernmental body — are currently meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, for the next two weeks (July 10 to July 28) to develop regulations that could pave the way for such mining. 

This practice may have serious consequences for the world's oceans, experts told Live Science. So how bad are those environmental impacts? And is it possible for us to meet our climate goals without mining the deep sea?

Deep-sea devastation 

Emerging evidence suggests deep-sea mining could damage seafloor ecosystems.

One key area targeted by mining companies is a stretch of ocean from Hawaii to Mexico. Despite its frigid temperatures and low food availability, this deep-sea habitat, known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), harbors a staggering number of species, ranging from glowing sea cucumbers to toothy anglerfish. Scientists recently cataloged more than 5,500 deep-sea species in the CCZ, roughly 90% of which were unknown to science. 

Most seabed mining will require large machines to collect nodules, bring them to the surface and then discharge the unnecessary sediment back into the ocean. This method could have catastrophic consequences for the animals living there, researchers wrote in a letter to the journal Nature Geoscience in 2017. 

"They effectively have to excavate and grind up the seafloor in order to get their minerals," Douglas McCauley, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told Live Science. "So anything that's living in that habitat will be destroyed." This includes animals that attach to and live on the nodules themselves, such as sea sponges and black corals.

Because the practice has not yet begun at an industrial scale, marine scientists have mostly relied on computer models and small-scale trials to predict the impacts of deep-sea mining. However, in 1989, a team of scientists attempted to mimic the effects of seabed mining by plowing an area of the seafloor in Peru measuring roughly 3.9 square miles (10.1 square kilometers) at around 2.6 miles (4.2 kilometers) deep. Many of the species in this area had still not returned more than 25 years later, and tracks from the plow were still visible, according to a 2019 study published in the journal Scientific Reports. 

Related: 10 bizarre deep sea creatures found in 2022

Negative impacts likely won't be isolated to the original mining site; machinery can cause noise pollution that stretches for hundreds of miles across the ocean, computer models suggest. This noise could disrupt animals' ability to navigate, locate prey or find a mate. 

But perhaps one of the most destructive byproducts of seabed mining is the plumes of sediment the undersea vehicles leave in their wake, which could act "like undersea dust storms that could smother life out there," McCauley said. These sediment plumes could harm tuna habitats, which are changing as ocean temperatures warm and will increasingly overlap with areas in the mineral-rich CCZ, according to a study co-authored by McCauley and published July 11 in the journal npj Ocean Sustainability. 

A few companies are working on technology to shrink these plumes. For example, Norway-based minerals company Loke recently acquired UK Seabed Resources Ltd., a deep-sea mining firm with two exploration contracts that allow the company to start searching for minerals in the CCZ, though not yet commercially mine them. Loke aims to start deep-sea mining operations by 2030, Walter Sognnes, the company's CEO, told Live Science.  

"What we are trying to do is minimize the impact and maximize the understanding of that impact," Sognnes said.

Loke is developing mining vehicles that will generate plumes only when moving across the seafloor, and not from dumping excess sediment into the ocean after retrieving the nodules, Sognnes said. However, the technology is still theoretical. 

 Some researchers are skeptical that there is a "sustainable" way to mine the deep sea. 

"I think there's no way to do this without having locally major environmental damage causing huge damage on scales of tens of thousands of square kilometers," Craig Smith, a deep-sea ecologist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, told Live Science. "It's just not possible."

Can we meet EV mineral demand without deep-sea mining?

If we are to meet the climate goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries must increase their mineral output for EVs 30-fold by 2040, according to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA). 

This urgent need for materials raises a question: If we don't harvest the seafloor, can we get minerals used in EVs elsewhere? The answer is most likely yes, but accessing those land-based mineral reserves in a sustainable way may be tough. 

In 2022, Earth had roughly 25 million tons (23 million metric tons) of terrestrial cobalt resources, which meets demand through 2040, assuming all land-based reserves are exploited, research shows. There is also roughly 300 million tons (272 million metric tons) of nickel in the world's resources, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, enough to support the ramping up of EV production, CNBC reported. However, these resources, often hidden deep within dense forests, are not always easily reachable or economically viable to mine. Operations to create new mines drive massive amounts of deforestation, which can reduce biodiversity and release climate-warming emissions into the atmosphere. 

"You could get all the minerals you need for all the world's electric vehicles or whatever from land-based deposits, but the lowest-environmental-impact way to do it could actually be to use some deep-sea deposits in a responsible way with good regulation," Seaver Wang, co-director of climate and energy at The Breakthrough Institute, a California-based environmental research center, told Live Science. However, he added that firmer regulations and guidelines from the ISA should be in place before any deep-sea mining operations begin. 

Emerging battery technologies could help reduce pressure on the minerals market, experts say. Currently, the most widely used batteries in EVs are called NMC (which use lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt), but car manufacturers are hungry for cheaper technology that doesn't require as many of these minerals. Those may include sodium-ion batteries or LFP batteries made with lithium, as well as iron (ferrous) and phosphate — materials that are more widely available and accessible than cobalt and manganese. In May, Ford announced plans for a new factory in Michigan that is set to begin producing LFP batteries by 2026. However, these batteries currently have lower energy densities, which could limit the range of an electric vehicle, according to the IEA. 

"A substantial transition to EVs can be done without deep sea mining," Kenneth Gillingham, an energy economist at Yale University who studies EVs, told Live Science, though he added that seabed mining could potentially "take off some of the pressure" on the critical metals market. 

Related: Wind and solar power overtake coal for the first time ever in the US

Despite the abundance of critical mineral resources that deep-sea mining could provide, some car manufacturers — including BMW, Volvo and Renault — and nearly 20 countries have publicly supported a moratorium on the practice so scientists have more time to research its potential environmental impacts. Additionally, more than 750 scientists and policy experts have signed an official statement calling for a hold on deep-sea mining activities. 

Though the rules surrounding deep-sea mining are not yet finalized, as of July 9, the ISA is required to receive seabed mining applications due to an obscure provision in the current treaty. 

This doesn't necessarily mean deep-sea mining will occur anytime soon, because the ISA is under no obligation to approve those applications and the law is still murky. A growing number of experts say the key to determining whether to mine the deep sea is more time — to research, to create new technologies and to weigh the positives of seabed mining alongside its pitfalls. 

"Understanding of benefits and costs of deep-sea mining requires an extremely thoughtful assessment that involves many uncertainties that are not resolved at this point," Sergey Paltsev, an energy economist at MIT, told Live Science in an email. 

Which is better for Earth: an electric or gas-powered vehicle? The answer to this question might seem blindingly obvious: Of course electric cars must be better for the environment, because they don’t have exhausts and so don’t emit greenhouse gasses as they drive. However, electric vehicles (EVs) aren't perfect, and they come with their own set of polluting problems. Notably, their batteries contain components, such as lithium, that require a significant amount of energy to source and extract. 

But battery production is just one part of an electric car's life span. A 2014 study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences looked at the entire life cycle of an EV's emissions, from mining the metals required for the batteries to producing the electricity needed to power them, and then compared this with the average emissions of a gas-powered vehicle. The team found that when electric vehicles are charged with coal-powered electricity, they’re actually worse for the environment than conventional gasoline cars.

In much of the world, however, national grids are now clean enough for EVs to beat their gasoline-powered counterparts when it comes to pollution and greenhouse-gas emissions during their lifetimes.

"Only when connected to the dirtiest, coal-heavy electric grids do gasoline internal combustion engines become comparable to EVs on a greenhouse gas basis," said Colin Sheppard, a researcher with expertise in energy and transportation systems engineering at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

Related: Who invented the car?

There are very few places where electric grids are still supplied entirely or mainly by coal. China is one of them; in 2019 it was estimated that 58% of the country’s power supply came from coal and it’s likely that some parts of China are still entirely supplied by coal. However, China’s grid is improving with more investments in renewables – for example, it has twice the wind energy capacity as the U.S. and it builds more solar panels per year than any other countries, according to Nature magazine.

This pattern of improvement — more renewable energies and fewer fossil fuels — is a global one and it helps to boost the environmental credentials of electric vehicles, said Gordon Bauer, an electric vehicle researcher at the International Council on Clean Transportation in San Francisco. "As grids become greener during the lifetime of an electric vehicle, it's only going to get better."

In a study published this month in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, Sheppard modeled a hypothetical future scenario in which all cars were electric. "We wanted to understand what the energy, infrastructure and emissions implications might be if all passenger vehicles are electrified," Sheppard told Live Science. Bauer also collaborated with Sheppard on the project. Their findings come out strongly in favor of an electric vehicle future. 

For example, Sheppard calculated that if all privately owned vehicles in the U.S. were electric, it would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in the country by 46% annually (0.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide) compared with conventionally gas-powered cars. This reduction could be increased even further if those vehicles were subject to so-called "controlled charging," a technique also known as "smart charging," in which vehicles are recharged at strategically chosen times to minimize the financial cost of generating electricity. (For instance, charging at night is often less pricey than during the day; this strategy also favors more efficient energy-producing plants that produce cheaper electricity.) If all privately owned electric cars were charged in such a way, the emissions savings could rise to 49% annually. 

These estimates are based on what Sheppard admits is an "ambitious" imagining of the U.S.'s future energy portfolio. This future envisions a country with a lot more renewable energy, but which still hasn't reached the goal of zero carbon, or having a national grid that doesn't contribute to climate change, he said. There is a considerable amount of political will and practical change that needs to happen to make this scenario possible, but it’s still helpful to map out the full theoretical potential electric vehicles under these circumstances. 

Related: Could we ever pull enough carbon out of the atmosphere to stop climate change?

In short, it's far easier to argue in favor of buying an EV than a gas- or diesel-powered vehicle from an environmental perspective. But what about cost? Aren't electric vehicles too expensive for most people to afford? 

A 2020 report from the consumer rights group, Consumer Reports, suggests this is also changing. The paper estimated that the per-mile repair and maintenance costs over the lifetime of an EV is a little less than half that of traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines. This is largely because electric motors have just one moving part, compared to traditional engines which often have dozens. This means fewer components need to be replaced in an EV, resulting in significant savings albeit not at the point of sale. 

"It may sound radical right now, but by the time 2030 rolls around, I think the problem will be about how quickly manufacturers can make them," Bauer said.

In a recent U.S.-wide analysis carried out by Bauer, he concluded that the high rate of depreciation for new electric vehicles will lead to larger benefits for lower-income households that are more likely to buy used cars. This, along with other factors driving price reductions, such as technological innovations and increased supplier competition, will mean that an EV should cost the same as a conventional gasoline-powered car for almost all income levels by approximately 2029, Bauer found. Furthermore, Bauer calculated that by 2030, low-income households in the U.S. stand to save $1,000 per year from fuel savings if they were to switch to an EV.

Originally published on Live Science.