Lithium, Sodium & The Race to Power Our Future!
This week’s podcast was recorded live on stage at Latitude Festival 2026, in the Cosmic Shambles Forest of Science and Culture! Helen Czerski is joined by our very own Robert Llewellyn and battery chemist Professor Saiful Islam for a wide-ranging conversation about batteries — covering everything from world-record lemon batteries to five-minute EV charging, sodium-ion tech, battery planes, and vehicle-to-grid power.
Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
2:53 Meet the guests: Robert Llewellyn & Prof. Saiful Islam
3:34 The world-record lemon battery (and Saiful’s quest to reclaim it)
8:54 What does a battery chemist actually do?
2:42 Debunking range anxiety: the real stats on UK car journeys
13:34 From gadgets to vehicles: how battery use has transformed
14:36 How do you actually measure a “good” battery?
15:21 Where battery R&D is focused: sustainability, cobalt, and beyond
17:19 What is a battery? The “electrochemical sandwich” explained
19:38 BYD’s flash charging: 10–70% in 5 minutes
23:31 Why fast charging is hard — and the safety engineering behind it
28:04 Battery recycling: Redwood Materials and “second life” batteries
31:54 Battery passports and tracking materials
34:59 Sodium-ion batteries: cheaper, longer-lasting home storage
37:34 Solid-state batteries explained (and why they’re the “holy grail”)
39:47 Who’s leading the battery race? China’s extraordinary scale
42:44 The tipping point: global crude oil sales are falling
46:34 Could batteries ever power planes? eVTOL, hybrids & battery gliders
52:57 Grid storage and vehicle-to-grid: turning EVs into power plants
55:36 Australia’s home battery boom and its impact on coal
57:36 Audience Q&A
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