Inventing batteries from air

They can chuck out so much energy, they rival petrol.  Lithium-air, will this be the battery heralds a new era or a dead end?

Scientific American: 3 February 2011

Image: Claus Ableiter via WikiMedia Commons. BETTER BATTERIES: The success or failure of electric cars may depend on better batteries, spurring pursuit of new technologies like lithium-air.