With all the hype around the lithium ion batteries, how quickly we have forgotten about the nickel metal hydride battery (NiMH). These were the batteries used in the Saturn EV-1 (of Who Killed the Electric Car fame) and the Toyota RAV4-EV, both 100% electric cars that got 100+ miles per charge. Saturn leased all their EV1s and eventually piled them up and crushed them but the RAV4-EVs are still going strong on the origianl NiMh batteries. In the book Two Cents Per Mile by Nevres Cefo, he interviews some of the drivers who are still running their RAV4EVs to this day and haven't bought gas in a decade! We are supposed to be inpressed by a hybrid in 2010 that gets 40 miles on electric power and costs 40K? I think not given we outdid that technology 2.5x over more than a decade ago. Cefo also argues that it is possible to get the technolgy back from Chevron (AN OIL COMANY) that has the patented rights to the NiMH technology just collecting dust on a shelf at Chevron. Anyone who is interested in getting mass production going on EVs should check out his work.

I agreed about Nickel Metal Hydride Batteries, which have reliability in distance and shelf life plus durability.