Arizona State University's spin off outfit Fluidic Energy plans to build a new battery with an energy density 11 times greater than that of lithium-ion batteries for just one-third the cost.

Fluidic Energy uses ionic liquids as its electrolyte, which could help it overcome some significant problems faced by previous metal-air batteries. Currently metal-air batteries have usually used water-based electrolytes, but due to water evaporation, the batteries tended to fail prematurely.

But ionic liquids don't evaporate and are much more viscous, and conduct electricity better. Fluidic Energy has not yet discussed the specific ionic liquids his company has been investigating.

According to press release the outfit hopes to achieve energy densities of anywhere from 900 to 1,600 watt-hours per kilogram. This density could lead to electric vehicles that could travel 400 to 500 miles on a single charge and laptops that last for days.