A team of researchers at Australia's national science agency has created what it calls the "UltraBattery," pairing old-fashioned lead-acid battery technology with cutting-edge supercapacitors, electronic devices able to quickly absorb and release large bursts of energy over millions of cycles without significant degradation. The UltraBattery recently completed a 100,000-mile track test in Britain, for which the team replaced the standard nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery pack in a Honda Insight (pictured at left with team member, Dr John Wright). The results are encouraging: The UltraBattery had a life cycle at least four times longer than conventional battery systems while producing some 50 percent more power. It also promises to be about 70-percent cheaper than the current-generation NiMH batteries. The UltraBattery added 37 pounds to the Insight's curb weight (the car's standard battery pack weighs 42 pounds), creating a fuel consumption penalty of 2.8 percent. But the team claims that a comparable UltraBattery pack would save close to $2000. Perhaps the biggest downsides to hybrid technology at this point are a.) the initial price premium compared with conventional vehicles, a good portion of which can be attributed to the cost of the batteries, and b.) the still-mysterious costs associated with the replacement of a spent battery pack. If Australia's lead-acid/ supercapacitor UltraBattery can indeed mitigate battery costs as substantially as its inventors claim, slashing up-front price premiums on hybrid vehicles and easing car-shoppers' replacement-cost fears, it may not be long before we see this 19th-century technology enjoying a 21st-century renaissance.

Photo courtesy of CSIRO.