CARazed

It feels great to see news like this. It looks like Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology have co-developed a nickel-hydrogen battery that recharges in less than 10 seconds (reports thetruthaboutcars.com and Nikkei).

The primary impediment to electric cars becoming real competition for petroleum powered cars is the lack of really good battery technology. While automakers and governments wasted their time with hydrogen fuel cells, battery technology took a back seat. Now that most have realized that hydrogen isn’t a viable near-term solution advancements in battery technology is beginning to get the R&D money it needs to move forward.

We’re still years away from seeing low cost batteries to power really amazing electric cars so in the near-term it’s best to simply buy the most efficient lowest-cost car you can. Be frugal and don’t sink a lot of money into expensive green cars yet. Save your money for the real deal and major milestones like cars that can get the equivelant of 100 mpg. These cars will begin to appear on the market in 2010 and 2011 but will not be widely available for a few years after that. Keep a close watch, be patient, and enjoy that little hatchback a little longer.

BTW… I found that you can buy that t-shirt pictured above at Zazzle.com. I have no idea who is selling it. This is no endorsement, so caveat emptor.