"Depew said Imara beats A123 on energy density: 140 versus 88 watts." That's great, except that watts are a measure of power (rate of energy release), not energy.

And statements like this one need to be challenged: "Imara worked to make the technology material agnostic."

A battery basically consists of three things: an anode material, a cathode material, and an electrolyte. That's it.

You can optimize their performance in how you put them together, but the open-circuit voltage you get is determined by materials, and nothing else. You can develop tools and models to help you get higher rates out of the battery and to ensure safety (and, hey, that's what I do, in case you were wondering), but the first pass at voltage is all determined by the materials.