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Paradigm smasher This guy is going to ruin everything for the global warming/carbon tax crowd. Non-polluting cars that are high performance and fun? Tell me it ain't so Big Al (Gore). How are we supposed to wallow in "inconvenient truths" if trouble-makers like this mess things up by smoking the car companies with superior home brew engineering? Remember, the personal computer was the creation of a bunch of unfunded individuals, not the military-industrial complex.

The Swiss company ReVolt, from Staefa, plans to release the new batteries next year, initially as small batteries for use in hearing aids, and later for cell phones. Eventually much larger batteries are planned for electric vehicles. The new battery was developed in Trondheim in Norway by the SINTEF Group, the largest independent research institution in Scandinavia, and ReVolt was formed to market the device. Zinc-air batteries need oxygen from the air to generate the current. They are safer than lithium-ion batteries because they do not contain volatile materials, and therefore do not catch fire. Non-rechargeable zinc-air batteries have been...

Link only due to copyright............. http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/10/biodiesel-hybrid-bu/

A new kind of portable electrochemical battery that can produce thousands of hours of power - and soon replace the expensive regular or rechargeable batteries in hearing aids and sensors and eventually in cellphones, laptop computers and even electric cars - has been developed at Haifa's Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The unique battery is based on silicon as a fuel that reverts to its original sand. The battery can also be left on the shelf for years and inserted into a device to provide immediate power. It was developed over the last two-and-a-half years by Prof. Yair Ein-Eli of the...

(snip> Now comes word that nuclear batteries may actually become an honest-to-God reality, no foolin'. Researchers at the University of Missouri say they've achieved the unthinkable, and that a pint-sized power cell based on radioactive decay can last a ridiculously long time: a million times as long as a conventional battery, enough to keep putting out a charge for hundreds of years. Nuclear batteries already exist, but historically they have been quite large (and used only on things like spacecraft). The new design involves the use of a liquid semiconductor, which is less susceptible to damage from nuclear radiation than...

Algae, paper and salt-water are the key components of thin and flexible new batteries, report Swedish researchers. Cellulose obtained from the bright green Cladophora algae proved to be key to the project, as it boasts a unique nanostructure with a high surface area. Although the batteries have lower voltage and power density than conventional batteries, their low cost and flexibility hold great promise for applications where metal-based batteries are impractical. The research is the product of a collaboration between two teams at Uppsala University in Sweden: Maria Strømme's group, who identified the potential of the algal cellulose, and Leif Nyholm's group, who...

ALERT ALERTThe LG battery that was in my wife's Verizon cellphone shorted out and became EXTREMELY HOT TO THE TOUCH and causing other items in the purse to get HOT. The battery is an LG Lithium Ion 3.7v 1000mAh, part number of LGIP-520B We contacted Verizon and I put a report into the Consumer Product Safety Commision website. I couldn't find anything online about this problem with this battery.

In a modest building on the west side of Salt Lake City, a team of specialists in advanced materials and electrochemistry has produced what could be the single most important breakthrough for clean, alternative energy since Socrates first noted solar heating 2,400 years ago. The battery breakthrough comes from a Salt Lake company called Ceramatec, the R&D arm of CoorsTek, a world leader in advanced materials and electrochemical devices. Inside Ceramatec's wonder battery is a chunk of solid sodium metal mated to a sulphur compound by an extraordinary, paper-thin ceramic membrane. The membrane conducts ions -- electrically charged particles --...

Conservation: The Chevy Volt is said to be able to get 230 miles per gallon. That's if it's continually plugged into a fragile and overburdened power grid. Where will you be when the lights go out? Since most U.S. electricity generation is not carbon-free, the Congressional Research Service agrees. The "widespread adoption of plug-in hybrid vehicles through 2030 may have only a small effect on, and might actually increase, carbon emissions," it observes. "If you are using coal-fired power plants and half the country's electricity comes from coal powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?"...

We've been closely following EEStor's potentially game-changing ultracapacitor--a technology that could allow for electric cars that charge almost instantaneously and drive hundreds of miles on a single charge. And if a purportedly "leaked" phone conversation from EEStor CEO Richard Weir currently making the rounds is legit, the long-in-development ultracapacitor has hit a breakthrough, and could be unveiled within months. ... EEStor's ultracapacitor works more or less exactly like the capacitors found in electronics today, briefly holding and releasing small charges, only on a much larger scale; it would be able rapidly take on enough juice to power a car for...

Kindest and warmest regards to wasmaba, for his financial support! First / raw / initial draft. Certain to be some errors, mistakes, ommissions, typos and various other flaws. http://video.yahoo.com/watch/5577862/14646725 Audio .mp3 provided courtesy of smackYYZ and "Audacity" software. W: is Dick Weir I: is Interviewer, unknown, at time of transcribing W: Well, ahh, the basic building block that we use here and that both Carl and I have extensive knowledge of is Composition Modified Barium Titanate powder. 0:10 Well known the best powders of the highest permittivity of any materials in the world. Although they have some very significant problems....

Alternative Energy: A government report says reliance on electric cars will do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and may merely shift our dependence on foreign sources from one set of dictators to another..."If you are using coal-fired power plants, and half the country's electricity comes from coal-powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?" asks Mark Gaffigan, co-author of the GAO report. The report itself notes: "Reductions in CO2 emissions depend on generating electricity used to charge the vehicles from lower-emission sources of energy."

Science 22 May 2009: Vol. 324. no. 5930, pp. 1051 - 1055 DOI: 10.1126/science.1171541 Fabricating Genetically Engineered High-Power Lithium-Ion Batteries Using Multiple Virus Genes Yun Jung Lee,1,* Hyunjung Yi,1,* Woo-Jae Kim,2 Kisuk Kang,3,4 Dong Soo Yun,1 Michael S. Strano,2 Gerbrand Ceder,1 Angela M. Belcher1,5,$ ABSTRACT Development of materials that deliver more energy at high rates is important for high-power applications, including portable electronic devices and hybrid electric vehicles [obligatory green reference]. For lithium-ion (Li+) batteries, reducing material dimensions can boost Li+ ion and electron transfer in nanostructured electrodes. By manipulating two genes, we equipped viruses with peptide groups having affinity...

I just made a stupid mistake. I connected the positve to the negative and vise versa in my boat... The alternator smoked...after reversing the cables, totally dead. Question; Did I only damage the alternator or did I fry the electrical system? I feel like an idiot doing this to my boat on Memorial weekend

WASHINGTON, May 13, 2009 – The Army’s Advanced Automotive Battery Initiative is searching for the “holy grail” of power technology: an inexpensive, lightweight and reliable battery. “Collaboration is very important, in my opinion,” Sonja Gargies, energy storage team leader for the Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, told listeners during an “Armed with Science: Research and Applications for the Modern Military” webcast May 6 on Pentagon Web Radio. “I don’t see how one agency alone can accomplish the goal of a more energy efficient world.” Academia and industry, along with the Defense and Energy departments, need to...

has unveiled plans to build a $100 million battery manufacturing plant in eastern New York state for a newly formed battery business. The announcement was made at GE’s (NSYE: GE) Global Research Center near Albany. GE is partnering with the state of New York in building the $100 million in the plant that will be located in a yet-undetermined site in the Albany region. It will create 350 jobs—being labeled "green-collar" jobs—and thousands more in the supply chain, GE said.

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — Police are checking surveillance video as they try to identify people who beat a man at the Federal Way Transit Center. The 32-year-old Kent man was waiting for a bus Tuesday night when he asked another man to quiet down. The Kent man was knocked down and beaten. He was treated for a broken jaw and other facial bones at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

A group of young men severely beat a Kent man late Tuesday at the Federal Way Transit Center after he told one of them to lower his voice, police said Wednesday. The Kent man, 32, was waiting for a bus about 11 p.m. when he asked a loud youth to quiet down, police said. In response, several males in their teens or early 20s walked up to the man and one hit him in the face. The two began to fight and others in the group joined in. After the Kent man was knocked to the ground, the attackers ran...

Viral Batteries: A Case for Evolution? by Brian Thomas, M.S.* Researchers at MIT have invented a “greener” battery with the help of viruses. Three years ago, they engineered a virus that coats itself with material that serves as an anode, a structure within a battery that attracts positive ions. They have now engineered a virus (bacteriophage) that serves as a cathode, which indirectly links to the anode to help make the battery functional. The result is a battery with little impact on the environment. National Public Radio (NPR) ran a report on its Morning Edition that compared the development of...

Device uses blood to generate electricityResearchers at the University of B.C. have developed a "vampire battery" -- a fuel cell that can generate power from a drop of human blood. The discovery means pacemakers and other implanted medical devices may one day be able to run on electricity generated by a patient's blood, rather than on batteries that require regular surgical replacement. "It's a huge discovery," said Jayachandran Kizhakkedathu, who was involved in the final phase of the research and works at the university's Centre for Blood Research and in the department of pathology and laboratory medicine. "It could change...

Powered up: An amorphous layer (light-colored band at the right) on a crystalline battery material improves its performance. Credit: Byoungwoo Kang, MIT A lithium-ion battery electrode described this week in the journal Nature can deliver electricity several times faster than other such batteries. It could be particularly useful where rapid power bursts are needed, such as for laser weapons or hybrid race cars. Test batteries based on the new electrode--developed by Gerbrand Ceder, a professor of materials science at MIT--can be discharged in 10 seconds. In comparison, the best high-power lithium-ion batteries today discharge in a minute and a...

Two researchers have developed battery cells that can charge up in less time than it takes to read the first two sentences of this article. The work could eventually produce ultra-fast power packs for everything from laptop computers to electric vehicles. Byoungwoo Kang and Gerbrand Ceder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge have found a way to get a common lithium compound to release and take up lithium ions in a matter of seconds. The compound, which is already used in the electrodes of some commercial lithium-ion batteries, might lead to laptop batteries capable of charging themselves in...

Without a good way to store electricity on a large scale, solar power is useless at night. One promising storage option is a new kind of battery made with all-liquid active materials. Prototypes suggest that these liquid batteries will cost less than a third as much as today's best batteries and could last significantly longer. The battery is unlike any other. The electrodes are molten metals, and the electrolyte that conducts current between them is a molten salt. This results in an unusually resilient device that can quickly absorb large amounts of electricity. The electrodes can operate at electrical currents...

UYUNI, Bolivia: In the rush to build the next generation of hybrid or electric cars, a sobering fact confronts both automakers and governments seeking to lower their reliance on foreign oil: almost half of the world's lithium, the mineral needed to power the vehicles, is found here in Bolivia - a country that may not be willing to surrender it so easily. Japanese and European companies are busily trying to strike deals to tap the resource, but a nationalist sentiment is building quickly in the government of President Evo Morales, an ardent critic of the United States who has already...

We got our first look at the new smart ed for America yesterday (well, actually, it's just a European smart ed that's been brought over the pond). Daimler has now released details of just how Americans will be getting our hands on the vehicle that is already being tested in the UK and Italy. In Europe, the smart ed will be going into production with lithium-ion batteries at the end of this year. Since Daimler is actually moving forward with making these cars now, it's high time we found out who would provide the batteries. Oh, and what's this? At...

FDK Corp. will begin mass production of its line of lithium-ion capacitors (LIC) as early as spring. The company will install new production lines at its factory in Kosai, Shizuoka Prefecture, with a gradual expansion in monthly output capacity to 500,000 units, according to a report in the Nikkei. FDK plans to invest ¥2-5 billion (US$21.7-54.2 million) by the end of 2012. FDK announced its EneCapTen lithium-ion capacitor in 2007. The EneCapTen performs well under high temperatures (up to 80 °C); offers a maximum cell voltage of 4.0V; maximum capacitance of 2,000F; and an energy density of up to 25...

Indianapolis-based EnerDel is seeking $480 million in federal loans under a program designed to develop the next generation of fuel efficient vehicles. If the money is granted, EnerDel will be able to double its manufacturing capacity to 600,000 lithium-ion battery electric vehicle packs per year at its existing plant. It will also be able build a second manufacturing facility that could produce 1.2 million packs by 2015. The company believes the production increases could lead to more than 1,300 new jobs. Advanced lithium-ion battery manufacturer Ener1, Inc. (Nasdaq: HEV) has applied for $480 million in low-interest loans under a new...

HETHEL, England — British sports car maker Lotus will build a battery-powered performance car, according to a Thursday report in the Financial Times. The technology used in the Lotus car will be similar to that in the Chevrolet Volt, with a fuel-powered range extender that works after the battery charge has depleted. The car is reportedly expected to achieve 300 to 400 miles on a single tank of gas. The Financial Times quoted chief executive Michael Kimberley as saying: "Don't be surprised to see an electric Lotus shortly. We are working on the technologies that will go behind it." Lotus...

Winter winds howl off the Dakota prairie through Minnesota, turning the 1,100 megawatts worth of wind turbines in Xcel Energy's system in that state. By 2020, the utility expects to more than triple that amount in a bid to avoid more polluting energy sources. But the wind doesn't always blow and, even worse, it often blows strongest when people aren't using much electricity, like late at night. So Xcel Energy, Inc., has become one of the first utilities in the U.S. to install a giant battery system in an attempt to store some of that wind power for later. "Energy...

A 27-year-old Deltona woman told authorities she bit her husband's schvanschtooker because she didn't want to have sex with him. Charris Bowers was arrested Saturday by a Volusia County sheriff's deputy, accused of misdemeanor battery. A judge set her free Sunday without requiring her to post bail. Her husband, Delou Bowers, today would not comment. According to a sheriff's office report, the Bowerses had been to a bar Friday night. Delou Bowers told authorities that when they got home, his wife began to perform oral sex on him but then began to bite his schvanschtooker.

Winter winds howl off the Dakota prairie through Minnesota, turning the 1,100 megawatts worth of wind turbines in Xcel Energy's system in that state. By 2020, the utility expects to more than triple that amount in a bid to avoid more polluting energy sources. But the wind doesn't always blow and, even worse, it often blows strongest when people aren't using much electricity, like late at night. So Xcel Energy, Inc., has become one of the first utilities in the U.S. to install a giant battery system in an attempt to store some of that wind power for later. "Energy...

I receive much criticism from local Republicans regarding some of the positions I have taken on issues over the years. For example, I support cleaning up contamination in Puget Sound and Bellingham Bay. (I grew up on the beach). I am also an advocate for the protection of forests and watersheds. (Clean drinking water is a necessity, not a luxury). And, I can live with that. My father, a staunch Republican, taught me at a very young age to treat everyone with respect, regardless of whether or not you agree with them. My Great Grandfather, another staunch Republican, taught me...

After yesterday's good news regarding delivery of the 100th Tesla Roadster, it's back to number-crunching reality. Tesla CEO Elon Musk told the Detroit Free Press that if the electric car maker doesn't get a $350 million loan from the government, then the Model S will be delayed and San Jose plant won't open. Just two weeks ago, Tesla opposed the Big Three getting any bailout money from the government. So, Musk's statement may seem contradictory, but it's not. We just need to look at the details. Tesla's Vice President of Business Development, Diarmuid O'Connell, blogged about how it was a...

The Egyptian government fell into a funk when a recent study by the government’s statistical agency CAPMAS discovered that fewer than half of the country’s wives reported being beaten or abused by their husbands. According to the study, only 47 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 49 reported being victims of domestic violence and seven percent said they had been raped. “Even if we put the best possible face on this and assume that these women are liars, what does that say about the manhood of their husbands?” asked CAPMAS spokesman, Donah Jaksqwat. “How can they be...

In what could potentially be a revolutionary breakthrough for everything from laptops to electric cars, a South Korean team of researchers have made a major discovery in Lithium-Ion battery technology. A team of researchers at South Korea’s Hanyung University, led by professor Cho Jaephil, has claimed a discovery that could extend lithium ion battery energy capacity by up to 1000% or more. The key to Jaephil’s discovery was the application of a three-dimensional porous silicon graphite cathode, which has the ability of holding up to ten times the number of lithium ions as conventional graphite cathodes. Patents have already been...

The alternative-energy industry thinks it can make wind and solar power a lot more useful -- by building a better battery. One of the big problems with wind and solar is that they're often not generated when they're needed. Winds are usually strongest at night, for instance, when demand for power is at its lowest. That makes it tough for utilities to effectively integrate alternative power sources into their energy mix. Now companies across the globe are working on a potential solution: batteries that can store wind and solar power and release it onto the grid at times of heavy...

The global effort to bring low-emission battery-powered vehicles to the masses could find oil giant Exxon Mobil playing a supporting role. On Monday, the world's largest oil company announced it is working with U.S. battery maker EnerDel to develop lithium-ion battery technologies for hybrid and electric vehicles. EnerDel is doing late-stage testing on an Exxon Mobil product known as a battery separator film, which could help address operational and safety issues that have kept lithium-ion batteries from landing in cars and trucks. EnerDel, a subsidiary of Indianapolis-based Ener1, a publicly traded alternative energy research firm, said it expects to be...

Italian contract carmaker and engineering firm Pininfarina has unveiled an own-badged electric car. For decades, the firm has built some of the most stunning cars known to man, without getting much credit for it beyond petrol-head circles. "This car is real," declares Paolo Pininfarina, grandson of the company's founder, as the covers are whipped off the sleek vehicle at the Paris motor show. Pininfarina's electric car, which has been built in partnership with battery producer Bollore, is set to hit the road by the end of next year and should go on sale in the US, Europe and Japan by...

Although it is the home of hulking C-130 cargo planes and scorching F-16 fighter jets, I headed out to the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in St. Clair, Michigan, for a drive in something more green than mean: electric Chevrolet S10 pickups. The transportation department at Selfridge has been constantly tinkering with alternative fuel vehicles (including a hybrid-electric tow tractor, CNG-fueled pickups and hydrogen fuel cell-powered SUVs), but the use of the electric S10s came by chance. When other military installations were finished with the trucks, they offered them up to Selfridge, who happily placed them on active duty around...

WHITE BEAR LAKE — The ignition key is turned and all you hear is a “click.” For most automobile owners this would illicit a sinking feeling, followed by a scramble for jumper cables and assistance — for Thomas Birkeland, the “click” is a signal that his electric powered car is turned on and ready to roll. Early morning bird songs and the sound of the neighbor’s sprinkler are clearly audible as Birkeland quietly backs his vintage 1974 Volkswagen Beetle out of the garage. He shifts out of reverse and then begins whirring forward down Lake Avenue on his daily commute...

I don’t really know many people who have not looked up GM’s Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle and what it might be able to offer. And it seems that most people have two key concerns. The potential price of the, which appears to be climbing and may be closer to $40,000 than to $30,000 and the tiny range of just 65 km – about 40 miles. 40 miles would make the Volt a car almost useless for a typical use. You may make it to work or the grocery store and back, but you may have to take another car for...

Owners’ effort to go green suffers blackout HINGHAM — Greenhouse gases and melting polar ice caps were never pressing concerns for Hingham carpenter Ben Burnham. Still, Burnham found himself buying an electric-powered ZAP Xebra last month to do his small part for the environment. The three-wheeled vehicle has become a neighborhood oddity, a futuristic looking pickup truck with no tailpipe and a row of batteries instead of a gas tank. Drivers point cell phone cameras at Burnham as he zips nonchalantly past $4.19-a-gallon gas pumps, albeit at a top speed of 40 mph. But the state has put the...

An Ocoee police sergeant was arrested today after allegations that he pulled down a Seminole County woman's pants and spanked her with a belt at a party Monday night. Sgt. Thomas Maroney, an eight-year veteran, was charged with sexual battery, false imprisonment and battery, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office. He is being held at the Orange County Jail. . . The woman told deputies she was attending a party in an apartment with Maroney and other police officers when she left the apartment to speak with Maroney, said Sam Filler, the woman's attorney. At some point, Maroney threw...

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd exhibited "Plug-in Stella Concept," a new electric vehicle, at the G8 Hokkaido-Toyako Summit. Fuji Heavy Industries brought five of the vehicles to the site of the summit and showcased them to government officials and journalists from all over the world. The company plans to commercialize an electric car in 2009. The Plug-in Stella Concept is based on "Stella," the company's practical wagon-type kei car. The main characteristic of the vehicle is that it has a secondary battery in the lower part of the vehicle, securing as much interior space as the Stella. The secondary battery...

With all the news yesterday around Tesla Motors signing a deal with Governor Schwarzenegger to manufacture its next electric sedan in California instead of New Mexico (see video), a potentially much bigger deal slipped by almost unnoticed. German magazine AutomobilWoche is reporting that Tesla will be supplying lithium ion batteries to Mercedes. The German car maker plans to make electric versions of its A- and B-class vehicles, as well as its Smart cars as soon as 2010. When I called Tesla for confirmation, the spokesperson there had “no comment,” but did not deny the report either.

It could travel 150 miles without using a drop of gasoline, accelerate from zero to sixty mph in about eight seconds, and handled crisply. Total cost? Below $40,000, in monthly lease payments sometimes as low as $299. In a world of $4 gas, it sounds like the car that could save General Motors. There's only one problem. Every single one of these cars was sent to the crusher in 2003. The EV1, GM's short-lived electric car experiment, was cancelled when gas was selling for slightly more than one dollar per gallon. Now, with gas four times as expensive, consumers demanding...

The "HUVO" electric vehicle weighing 150kg: The resin parts were manufactured by RP systems. HUVO's body frame Topia Corp, a company engaged in designing and prototyping automobiles, prototyped a single-seater electric vehicle "HUVO," which weighs only about 150kg (330 lb). The vehicle was exhibited at the booth of Marubeni Information Systems Co Ltd in the 19th Design Engineering & Manufacturing Solutions Expo (DMS), which is an IT solution exhibition for manufacturers and runs from June 25-27, 2008, at Tokyo Big Sight. The HUVO was developed by using Topia's proprietary design and production technologies, the company said. If a vehicle...

BOULDER, Colo., June 28 (UPI) -- Backers of all-electric cars say they're relieved a fire that destroyed a Toyota Prius prototype this month wasn't caused by the battery. A report from the Boulder, Colo., firm that built the Prius prototype said the blaze was instead caused by loose electrical connections that set fire to the vehicle's upholstery, and not by the sophisticated lithium ion batteries it carried, The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

ON THE WAY: Norway-based Think plans to sell its City electric car in the U.S. in 2009 and has an eye toward the Southern California market. OSLO, NORWAY -- Ingvil Ladehaug is battery challenged.

New Delhi: After 13 years of research and development, India's first electric car 'Reva' was launched in the national capital by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit Wednesday morning. Describing Reva as 'a little cute car', Sheila Dikshit said her government was committed to taking steps to improve the city's environment. “It is a green day for Delhi. I have been using the car myself for short distances and I like it a lot," she said. "I appeal to all those who have several cars to at least buy one Reva," Dikshit added. To popularise the battery-operated car, the government...