2015 AAAS Annual Meeting (12-16 February 2015)

February 12 - 16, 2015

Next-Generation Batteries for Mobile Devices and the Grid

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are the workhorses of today’s mobile electronics, with 5 billion sold in 2013 alone to power everything from cell phones to laptops and electric cars. But many believe these powerful batteries are coming up against their limits. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Energy launched a research initiative to find ways to make electric car batteries five times cheaper and five times more energy dense -- and thus smaller and lighter -- by 2017. Meanwhile, the growth of wind, solar, and other variable energy sources creates an increasing demand to store large amounts of energy for release into the electric power grid when needed. This symposium brings together leading battery researchers and industry and public policy experts to discuss the path forward. Which research approaches are most promising, and what will it take to achieve the dramatic improvements in energy storage that are critical to a sustainable energy future? What are the lessons to be learned from the semiconductor industry? Can we build a Sematech for energy storage? The session will include the first public release of results from CalCharge’s Advanced Manufacturing Roadmap project, a year-long effort to identify and prioritize the key technical challenges impeding advanced battery manufacturing in California, home to one of the nation’s largest clusters of energy storage companies.