Gas 2.0

New Nickel-Lithium Battery Has “Ultrahigh” Energy Storage Capacity

Posted: 06 Oct 2009 12:38 PM PDT

Researchers have found a way to create a battery out of Nickel and Lithium that can store more than 3.5 times the energy of lithium-ion batteries and are much safer to boot.

Lithium-ion batteries are great and all—having heralded in a new age of portable electronics and allowed for the possibility of mass-market electric cars—but they have a few major drawbacks. For instance, they have a propensity to catch fire and explode and, although they have a much better energy storage capacity than say lead-acid or nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries, they still weigh too much to pack more than a couple hundred miles of range into a passenger car.

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Honda’s New Electric Car Includes a Robotic Unicycle

Posted: 06 Oct 2009 07:29 AM PDT

At the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show, Honda will be unveiling a new electric car concept called the EV-N that comes with a segway-esque mobility unicycle device called the UX-3 — so you never have to walk again…ever!

Honda will showcase the model at its green-themed display called the HELLO! Zone which is devoted to electric cars.

The EV-N, which kinda looks like a Japanimation version of a Mini Cooper, shouldn’t be shrugged off as just some copycat car. Aside from the oddly-cool, and strangely intriguing, robotic unicycle, the EV-N also has swappable seat fabrics, a solar roof and some color-adjustable “communications system.”