Electric car battery may allow single-charge Edinburgh-London drive

A motorist tops up an electric car in Glasgow. Picture: Robert Perry

A new battery developed by British scientists could pave the way to electric cars with the same energy storage capacity and endurance as petrol and diesel vehicles.

In theory, one of the batteries would enable a car to travel from London to Edinburgh on a single charge.

Compared with current batteries, it would also be a fifth cheaper and lighter.

The “lithium-oxygen” battery, built by Cambridge University researchers, is more than 90 per cent efficient and has a very high “energy density” – meaning it can store a lot of extractable energy.

Although much work needs to be done, the technology could herald a transport revolution in the next decade.

Lead scientist Professor Clare Grey, from the university’s Department of Chemistry, said: “The current results are extremely exciting.”