A123 Systems is a company in the US that has the patents to a new battery technology, seems like really good stuff, the kind of performance that could wipe out petrol and diesel engines in the same way brushless has to nitro. Seems to have been a bit slow coming to market though, conspiracy would say that automotive companies want to slow down it's release to protect the huge business associated with internal combustion engines.

http://www.a123systems.com/

Anyway looks like an RC manufacturer has finally got hold of some, interesting pics from Tamiya:

http://www.rcitn.com/2008/11/early-look ... e-battery/

Who knows how long it will take for them to become more available, but it will likely be the end of LiPo, they are supposed to be much more resilliant to abuse. About the only downside is that their capacity is lower size for size compared to LiPo, but LiPo is way more than we need for 5 min racing anyway. Still for all I know may be ages before we see any, so LiPo for me for now.

LiIon in my experience don't last very long. The number of cycles you get can be poor. They're used extensively in industry, I can't believe RC firms have not looked at this option before. If it was going to take off I think it would have done so by now.

The problem with new technology is not whether it's available, it's when it's available. LIPO's are now well established, people have invested lots of money in new cells and chargers. For years we had brushed motors and NiCad or NIMH, all of sudden we got brushless and LIPO. The performance of cars took a big jump in one go. I can't see many people taking this on. I am more than happy with LIPO's.

I'm with Glenn and the li-po and brushless era.

I think its make racing much cheaper in terms of nothing wears out and I have not had to get a new motor for the last couple of years. Where as I am on my second 27T already as the last one only lasted one indoor season.

I love LiPo and brushless too, but LiPos are easy to abuse and I can understand why someone like Tamiya would want something more robust for the ready to run market.

Li Ion is actually older technology than Li po. I cant see people moving away from Lipo's for a long time

Lipo's have been used for many ready to run helicopters and boats. I really don't think LIPO's are that dangerous, any cells can be abused.

Not too sure about that one Glenn. I think its quite easy to wreck a pack of li-pos and blow them to bits.

It's not so much them being dangerous, but the fact you can render them useless just by leaving them plugged into your car for a few days. The cheap rtr helicopters don't have on/off switches, so you can't easily leave the batteries plugged in. Decent quality Tamiya stuff does have on/off switches, so it would be very easy to accidentally leave the battery connected, just like it is for us, but hopefully we're careful...

Seems these A123 cells have been around for a little while, this pack is the same size as a 6 cell sub-c pack.

http://www.rclipos.com/AR18650-2S2P.htm

Very comparable to the Orion 2400 pack I've been trying, only a lower voltage, in off road that means just use a hotter motor, doesn't fit in so well with stock touring cars though. At that price with free worldwide shipping they're tempting for whatever I end up putting my Novak HV in, I could get four of those for the price of two TrakPower packs. It would be nice not to have to worry about them going flat.