Burning cars and bankruptcies have marred the market for batteries powering electric vehicles. That isn’t deterring the world’s biggest chemical maker, BASF, from investing in the space.The German company is betting that customers will flock to electric cars and is using its chemical products to create a battery that will enable vehicles to run longer.

BASF, with an annual 1.7 billion euro ($2.3 billion) research budget, has made battery materials one of 10 areas it’s targeting for growth.