Yet another electric battery start-up touting a big advance in battery technology.

A start-up based in Menlo Park, CA, plans to sell a new type of anode for lithium-ion batteries that, the company says, will let electric vehicles travel farther and mobile devices last longer without a recharge. Amprius' lithium-ion anodes are made of silicon nanowires, which can store 10 times more charge than graphite, the material used for today's lithium-ion battery anodes. According to the company, electric vehicles that run 200 miles between charges could go 380 miles on its batteries, and laptops that have four hours of run time could last for seven hours between charges.

All of the start-up activity in battery technology makes me optimistic that we can shift away from liquid fuels for most ground transportation uses. But will the battery tech come soon enough for Peak Oil? The answer to that question is still not clear.