You don't have to look hard to see that the world is in crisis. The terrible floods in Pakistan have made 33 million people the latest victims of the climate crisis. Meanwhile, in Europe, the skyrocketing cost of gas is causing some in the UK to panic — buy wood to heat their homes.
These crises, though very different, have a common cause: our reliance on burning fossil fuels. Clearly, we need to make the transition to renewable sources of energy — and fast. We all know the challenges. If we are to get most of our power from renewables, we must find a way to manage the uncertainty of wind and solar. To popularize green transport, we need more people to buy electric vehicles. In both cases, better batteries are crucial.
Today's best batteries are made with lithium ions. But supplies of lithium are limited and the mining process can damage the environment. That is why battery researchers are looking beyond lithium towards all manner of alternatives.
Quantum batteries are one of the most unusual of these. Like quantum computers, these would be made up of qubits that would offer an advantage. The key point is that the more qubits you have, the faster your battery will charge. In theory, a quantum battery made up of 100 qubits could charge 100 times faster than a classical battery of the same capacity.
It sounds too good to be true. But earlier this year, researchers showed for the first time that quantum batteries have this advantage in practice. That is a huge step, even if there is no guarantee that the technology can be promoted. Some still argue that practical quantum batteries are a pipe dream. But batteries that charge in an instant would be transformative, not least in terms of boosting the transition to electric vehicles, which is limited by charging times that can be painfully slow. Given the promise of instant power, quantum batteries should be taken seriously.
