EDISON'S BATTERY, RECHARGED

Stanford scientists have breathed new life into a kind of battery that Thomas Edison hoped would pave the way for electric autos, but which until now has been too slow to charge. A century later, the technology—nickel-iron batteries—may yet help electric cars best their internal-combustion rivals, the researchers say.Cars like the Prius use lithium-ion batteries, which are pricey and relatively slow to charge. But by using nanotechnology to create strong chemical bonds in their batteries' electrodes, the researchers sped up a nickel-iron battery's charge-discharge cycle 1,000 times: A small prototype charged in two minutes. A nickel-iron battery can't fully power a car (yet)—and so can't replace a lithium-ion battery— but it could boost the acceleration of a car with a lithium-ion battery and help when a long recharge isn't an option.

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