Back in 2009, tech giant IBM missed out when the Department of Energy distributed a record $2.9 billion in research grants to develop low cost, high range batteries for electric vehicles. Now the company seems determined to leapfrog over DOE with its own pet project, called the Battery 500 Project.

Battery 500 is just what the name says: a vehicle battery that can take you 500 miles between charges, equal to or better than a typical tank of gas.