Future batteries to be safer and last longer

TR: So how can batteries be improved?

YC: There really are two routes to as-high or higher energy systems that are safer and lower cost. One is better control of manufacturing quality. Based on what I've read in the press about these two recalls [Dell and Apple], it was a manufacturing problem that resulted in metal particles that created some internal short [circuit] problems. So that is quite simply a manufacturing issue.

The alternative approach is to try to make the chemistries intrinsically safe, or at least safer. People are working on this in many laboratories around the world..