Li-ion batteries: news, progress, history and background

It was September 20, 1995 when Apple recalled their new PowerBook 5300 for the first time. The PowerBook 5300 was a big product for Apple. The company had entered into a cross-promotional deal with the producers of Mission Impossible wherein the computer appeared (with a command line interface) throughout the blockbuster movie. Apple was also charging a phenomenal price for the machine, a whopping $6,500 for the 5300ce partly because it was Apple’s first PowerPC-based laptop. The good times didn’t last long. Less than a month after it was introduced, the machine was recalled when preproduction units caught on fire. The problem was blamed on batteries manufactured by Sony, but Apple recalled all the computers sold to that point (claiming that was less than 100 units). The 5300 went on to be recalled again for case problems, but the first recall (and the impetus for a lot of jokes) came this week in 1995 less than a month after the PowerBook 5300 had been released. Source

Yet another "hybrid" type or some kind of battery/capacitor energy storage concept... Battery-like device could power electric cars - CNN.com : "AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Millions of inventions pass quietly through the U.S. patent office each year. Patent No. 7,033,406 did, too, until energy insiders spotted six words in the filing that sounded like a death knell for the internal combustion engine. An Austin-based startup called EEStor promised 'technologies for replacement of electrochemical batteries,' meaning a motorist could plug in a car for five minutes and drive 500 miles roundtrip between Dallas and Houston without gasoline. By contrast, some plug-in hybrids on the horizon would require motorists to charge their cars in a wall outlet overnight and promise only 50 miles of gasoline-free commute. And the popular hybrids on the road today still depend heavily on fossil fuels. 'It's a paradigm shift,' said Ian Clifford, chief executive of Toronto-base