Two centuries into the age of electricity, the last decade has seen a sudden and momentous boost in the capacity to store large amounts of energy. At once, batteries are on the verge of powering affordable vehicles and keeping cities lit with renewable electricity. In its inaugural live chat, The Electric is delighted to present a conversation between editor Steve LeVine and MIT Professor Yet-Ming Chiang, co-founder of some of the most fundamentally important battery startups of the last dozen years.

Meanwhile, if you haven't already, be sure to sign up for the final weeks of the free pilot stage of The Electric.

About the speakers:

• Yet-Ming Chiang is a Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Co-founder lithium-ion battery makers A123 and 24M as well as energy storage startup Form Energy.
• Steve LeVine is Editor of The Electric. Previously, he worked at Axios, Quartz and Medium, and before that The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. He is the author of The Powerhouse: America, China and the Great Battery War.