Hertz's e-bikes come in two slick-looking models, powered by lithium ion batteries and nearly silent motors.
Japan's two biggest airlines began installing revamped lithium ion batteries over the past week.
It said that Boeing's tests underestimated the frequency of "smoke events" in the lithium ion batteries.
And competing aircraft manufacturer Airbus uses similar lithium ion batteries on their A380 superjumbo jet.
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The coming glut of automotive lithium ion batteries will make for quite a fire sale.
Sinnett said Boeing has no plans to replace the lithium ion batteries with another type.
But the industry is shifting to lithium ion batteries because they pack more horsepower-hours into a pound.
Johnson Controls, the big auto supplier, says coming lithium ion batteries will also have better safety systems.
And in terms of energy storage, Tesla is one of its key customers for its lithium ion batteries.
Investigators turn their attention to the maker of lithium ion batteries that overheated in Boeing's grounded 787 jets.
Lithium ion batteries keep a charge longer than nickel cadmium and weigh less, so the plane can save fuel.
Lithium ion batteries replaced the traditional nickel cadmium batteries in the new aircraft.
Although the current batteries are "durable and reliable, " Hartline said lithium ion batteries pack more energy into a smaller space.
Safety concerns about lithium ion batteries as cargo recently prompted some airlines to begin isolating shipments and enhancing fire suppression.
International regulators grounded all 787 Dreamliners in January so that safety checks could be carried out on their lithium ion batteries.
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Those regulations include strict guidelines for the lithium ion batteries on the 787 because of concerns about the batteries' potential flammability.
He said the nature of lithium ion batteries means no fire extinguisher system will stop them from burning once they start.
One problem though, it's powered by lithium ion batteries, which have a potential to, erm, explode (if built by Sony, anyway).
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The FAA gave approval to Boeing to put into action a three layered plan to fix problems with its controversial lithium ion batteries.
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Hartline said Toyota will be using lithium ion batteries in some commercial fleets in late 2009, mostly to learn more about charging behaviors.
Ford already knew that lithium ion batteries were 50 percent lighter and 25 to 30 percent smaller than nickel-metal-hydride batteries, packing more energy pound-for-pound.
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The Dreamliner is the first plane in the world to use the lithium ion batteries, which are lighter, hold more power and recharge more quickly.
But there are questions about using lithium ion batteries because they've never been used on an airliner to the extent that the Dreamliner uses them.
The lithium ion batteries simply do not yet have that capacity.
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Officials have said one of the plane's lithium ion batteries burned.
Problem is, lithium ion batteries are inherently unstable, so safety systems have to be built in to prevent the batteries from getting too hot from, say, overcharging.
Automakers are scrambling to get lithium ion batteries into hybrid vehicles, and they are hoping these batteries will make plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles possible soon, too.
Johnson Controls (nyse: JCI - news - people ), the big auto supplier, says coming lithium ion batteries will also have better safety systems.
The methanol fuel cell uses methanol and oxygen to generate power and is one of several technologies vying to replace lithium ion batteries that are commonplace today.
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