Great news for electric car manufacturing: Electronics manufacturer Toshiba announced new technology that effectively doubles the capacity of a battery while significantly reducing its charge time.

While some battery makers are working to ditch traditional lithium-based batteries completely in favor newer materials, others believe that the key to success is to improve the current technology.

Toshiba's development has improved lithium-based cells in its SCiB line of battery products by increasing energy density. Toshiba claims that it has effectively doubled the energy density capabilities in a single battery cell of the same volume. Thanks to the increased density, the battery can undergo "ultra-rapid" recharging, enough to charge the 32 kWh battery of a "compact EV" for about 200 miles, all in only six minutes.

Currently, in the time it takes to to top-off a Tesla, about 86 gasoline-powered vehicles could fill up their fuel tanks. This slow charging time is something that manufacturers like Toyota have been trying to solve by seeking out the use of solid-state battery technology rather than improve the existing chemical-based cells that are used in electric cars today.