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It has become an article of faith around CleanTechnica’s magnificent titanium and carbon fiber headquarters that the batteries powering the cars and trucks (and airplanes and ships) of the future are in laboratories today. The internal combustion engine has been smoothed and polished into the docile, reliable power source we take for granted today, but it was not always so.
Early automobiles were snorting, cantankerous beasts that tended to shake themselves to pieces after a few thousand miles. That’s the reason so many manufacturers only offered a 12 month, 12,000 mile warranty — they knew the limitations of their products. Today, a quarter of a million miles of faithful service is not uncommon.
The Battery Of The Future
Now that CATL, the largest battery manufacturer in the world, has begun mass production of sodium-ion batteries, it is turning its attention to the batteries it will manufacture in the future. According to Car News China, Wu Kai, the chief scientist at CATL, told the 2026 Powering The Nation forum in China that the company’s long-term focus is on lithium-air battery technology.
