Aurel: the breakthroughs I'm talking about are the 'lab' breakthroughs in polymer-based, silicon-graphite and other technologies that sound so promising. We'll evaluate the products as they ship and decide which will work best for us.

Our issue is related to weight, in that our primary application is a conventional bicycle with on-demand electric propulsion. We use a 700 watt high RPM motor with reduction gearing.

Our design objective is a vehicle in the 40-45lb. range with a battery that gives double the current NiMH range of 20-25 miles without substantial increases in weight or mass.

As you may know, the first company to incorporate Li-ion in a bicycle had to recall them all because the batteries caught on fire -- somewhat offsetting the weight/mass advantages...

Yup, Li-ion is perfect for small batteries, but the safety is still an issue on larger ones. What kind of numbers are you looking for in terms of Wh/kg and W/kg ? You can get 150-180 Wh/kg-1000-600 W/kg from Li-ion, 40 Wh/kg-2000 W/kg from a modified version of it, or 4 Wh/kg-5000 W/kg from supercapacitors. I wrote a paper that compared the various technologies in Journal of Power Sources. E-mail me if you would like a copy of it.

Aurel

Supplying fuel to produce the energy that the world uses is a BUSINESS. As such it has to show a PROFIT in order to stay in business. Without that supply of energy what does the world revert to?

The Chairman and CEO of XOM said, "We are in the energy business." Not the oil business, therefore XOM would use any form of fuel supply that makes energy that would be profitable. XOM was at one time in Nucklear power..but divested itself because of the political baggage inherent in the business, which made it unprofitable.

Oh and profits are so bad.....Wayne how long would you be sponsoring this site if your business wasn't profitable....this is just one of the benfits of profitability we enjoy.