A few weeks ago on NOVA Science Now I saw a segment about this and how the fix may be in, but many years off. The solution is diamond. Apparently they’ve figured out how to manufacture diamond so that it is indistinguishable from natural diamonds on both the atomic and visual level. The conductivity and insulation properties of diamond are the best in nature (a centimeter-thick diamond plate can withstand 10,000 volts) so many years down there line scientists foresee electricity being transmitted via diamond wires, circuits, batteries, etc.
The example they used was that modern day electric trains require something like 3-tons of battery equipment to operate. If these batteries were converted to diamond-based batteries, they would weight roughly three pounds… for the entire train’s battery system.
Now maybe this is just sci-fi stuff at this point, but maybe in 20, 50, 100 (?) years something like diamond will revolutionize the way we transport, store, and use electricity.
