Electro Energy was visited today by Senator Lieberman, better known outside of America as the other half of the Kerry ticket for the 2004 Presidential elections.

Electro Energy was giving the Senator a close-up of its plug-ih hybrid batteries- which are rechargeable bi-polar nickel metal hydride batteries. The genesis of the plug-in hybrid vehicle is fascinating. Plug in hybrids are hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, that have had extra batteries fitted, in order to run much further on pure electric power. The extra batteries would simply be plugged into the mains for charging up overnight. These batterie are heavy of course. To give you some idea, the energy density of one litre of gas/petrol is 13,000 watt hours. The equivalent for a lithium ion battery is 200 watt hours.

That's probably why Toyota initially rejected the plug-in idea out of hand. So it was taken up by enthusiasts who with their own success at reverse engineering the Prius, managed to turn the debate right around.

You will hear lots of cynics who claim that a diesel is far more fuel efficient and less CO2 emitting than a hybrid. What they ignore or don't admit is that particulates from diesel exhaust are far more dangerous than CO2 emissions (if dangerous at all), especially in cities, where road speeds are low and congestion is high. A very high proportion of any city's air pollution is from diesel combustion engines.

A Toyota Prius might run just run 1 mile on the battery alone. A plug in kit enables it run up to 30. This is ideal for citiy journeys.

Electro Energy therefore, not only seems to enjoy political support, but appears well situated to take advantage of the near future roll-out of plug-in hybrids.