SAN FRANCISCO, USA - Elon Musk says a new generation of electric vehicle batteries will be more powerful, longer lasting and half as expensive as his company’s current cells.

Speaking at a Tesla event, the colourful and controversial entrepreneur said: “We do not have an affordable car. That’s something we will have in the future. But we’ve got to get the cost of batteries down.”

The United Kingdom (UK) government’s plan to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2035 will see electric vehicles (EV) become more in-demand than ever before.

According to the New York Times, electric car sales doubled year-on-year in the United States in 2019 and in July last year EV sales in the UK rocketed by nearly 160%.