Tech Tent: Will better batteries persuade us to go electric?

This week, the UK government announced that sales of new petrol and diesel cars will be banned from 2030 - just one signal among many around the world that a major shift to low-carbon motoring is under way.In practice, that means millions of people are going to have to be persuaded to choose an electric car - and on this week's Tech Tent we explore how improvements in battery technology can make that happen.The last decade has seen major advances in battery-powered motoring, with Elon Musk's Tesla leading the way in showing that electric cars don't have to be ugly - and they don't have to stop every 20 miles to recharge.But anxiety over the cars' range, charging availability and initial cost are still issues for potential buyers.Colin Herron, an automotive engineer who worked for Nissan for many years and is now a consultant on low-carbon vehicle technology, tells Tech Tent there are reasons to be cheerful about future advances in batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are the first target."We will be tampering with this battery over the next four or five years, and putting more additives in will get about another 20% boost in performance," he explains.But he says the big leap forward will come with solid state batteries, which will appear first in mobile phones and laptops before they progress to cars. They promise to be a safer and lighter option, and researchers believe they can offer much faster charging."They're all targeting 10 to 12 minutes. That's what they think is the 'stop time', the convenient time to check your email for people who are moving on."