By Ian Sherr
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — Spike Narayan watched a Tesla electric sports car rocket from zero to 60 mph (100 kph) in less than four seconds and knew batteries would be the next big thing.
“It’s hard to understand you’re not in a gas powered Porsche,” Narayan said as he recalled the demonstration outside IBM’s Almaden Research Center in the heart of Silicon Valley.
“Your head snaps back from the speed.”
The vision underscored the importance of battery power to Narayan and other IBM researchers who led a future-of-batteries conference that ended Thursday at the center.