VW, Sanyo to develop lithium-ion battery: paper

Hi Rene,

Here's an example from memory to give you an idea of what's been going on:

A few years ago a company in Japan announced the availability of
a fuel cell that can run a notebook computer for 12 hours. The
fuel was butane. You would buy a can of butane, load it into the
fuel cell and start using your notebook. The only problem was
that the cell produced water as a byproduct - so you had drops of
water dripping out of your notebook while working.

Personally, I didn't think a few drops of water would be a
problem - but I couldn't find any sources for the product in
North America. They must be available, though, because some air
transport associations have recently signed agreements allowing
people to use fuel cells in airplanes. Sombody must be using
these things but they're certainly not available at the local
Radio Shack.

Another example:

There's a company in the U.S. that is selling conversion kits
for the Smart Cars. These kits sell for $900 and modify the
engine so that you can switch between diesel and used vegetable
oil. The idea is that, when you see that you need some gaz, you
can just stop at a greasy spoon and offer to help them get rid of
their used French Fry oil. Great idea, right?

Well, the people who've bought the kit say it is really
great. There's just one small problem: If it gets cold outside
and you forget to flush the fuel lines with diesel before turning
off the engine, the vegetable oil will become too viscous to flow
properly. The next time you want to start the engine, you need to
get a hot air gun (a paint stripper or a hair dryer) and warm up
the fuel lines so that you can start the engine.

Again, I'd personally be happy to buy this kit if I had a Smart
Car - but then again I know that the very first time I forget to
flush the vegetable oil out of the fuel lines after a short
trip (in my case it would happen for sure,) would be the last
time any of my friends will agree to go for a ride with me.

Right now the market is full of products produced by technical
people. They work and have been improved over the past twenty
years or so to the point where they work well - but they lack the
polish that comes from mass market sales. How bad is the current
situation? Do a google search for alternative energy, fuel cell,
anything like that. It's like rummaging through a flea market -
you'll find tons of stuff but it's not packaged in a way that
builds confidence in the consumer. Even an engineer will find it
difficult to get started using the many products currently
available.

The good news is that it's easy to make money in a market
that's so immature. If you invest the time and effort into
learning the ropes you can make big bucks as a consultant. The
bad news is that the market is so immature that things will go
wrong more often. It may not be so easy to collect those big
bucks until you learn how to keep things running smoothly and
that might turn into an expensive exercise.

So we are in exciting times!

I hope this helps,
--Sam.