Energy Storage

Extreme vehicle concepts have a habit of appearing in a car near you.

Elon Musk recently announced the use of silicon by Tesla in its automotive batteries: "This is just sort of a baby step in the direction of using silicon in the anode, but we will be increasing the use". This unusual side comment has nonetheless triggered renewed interested in the topic.

Commercialization of solid-state battery indicates a new era for the US $135bn addressable battery market in a decade. IDTechEx Research forecasts that the market for solid-state batteries will exceed $4bn in 2026.

Interfacing with machines undergoes a constant evolution, allowing for wider adoption of computing devices over time, as interaction becomes more "natural". According to IDTechEx Research, smartglasses are bringing about the next big step in this ever-changing space.

Today's emerging technologies are varied, vast - and moving at the blink of an eye. Here are the top 10 key trends we'll see at the show that are changing the way the world lives, works and plays.

The graphene industry is at a critical juncture for many small to medium sized companies: it is time for them to generate revenues and pre-empt any pending cash flow issues. These companies cannot often afford to take the long view, which many research groups and government are rightly taking.

Graphene finds users in California (Our most exciting graphene conference so far).

High power energy harvesting (HPEH) is the clean part of off-grid renewable energy and its main potential lies at kilowatts to megawatts. Few things are genuinely new in this world but newly important aspects of energy harvesting really matter.

Thought leaders IDTechEx were among the first to identify three new megatrends in the world of technology: Structural Electronics (SE); 3D Printed Electronics (3DPE); Energy Independent Electric Vehicles (EIVs).

Whilst existing battery technologies such as lead acid and lithium-ion batteries will dominate the battery market in the following 10 years, advanced and post lithium-ion batteries given the right conditions can potentially take a considerable dent of about 10% of whole battery market by 2026.