White Room

A startup hopes to commercialize a novel battery design that features fluid electrodes and will hopefully make electric vehicles go farther and cost less.

Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center has developed a new printing technology that promises to pack more energy into batteries for electric vehicles: the technology could increase battery storage capacity by 10 to 30 percent.

The DOE has funded a factory to produce activated carbon materials that could improve ultracapacitors for batteries and energy-storage devices, but it's not clear that battery manufacturers and automakers will have much use for the material in the next few years.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Vice President Joe Biden announce that--thanks in part to funding from the Recovery Act--the country is on track to achieve three major energy goals set out by the Department of Energy, including cheaper, more efficient car batteries and cheaper solar power.