The Holy Grail of technology surely has to be power. Clean, cheap, small, available power. The people who come up with the right package, to completely replace our reliance on fossil fuel, will most assuredly earn their place in the history books. And it will come. There is nothing quite like desperation to bring out the inventiveness and focus in the human spirit. So one day….

Meanwhile, I do tend to read just about any layman’s article that covers the issue of power which brings me to an article from today’s mix at Wired News entitled Super Battery.

MIT spin-off A123 Systems have launched their ‘M1′ battery technology which sounds quite spectacular. Read the Wired article or visit the A123 site for the nanoscale science but basically the M1 is based on the same lithium-ion technology used in your cell phone and laptop only smaller, with more stored power and extremely quick re-charge time.

The results are electrifying: Power density doubles, peak energy jumps fivefold (the cells pack more punch than a standard 110-volt wall outlet), and recharging time plummets. Going nano also solves a safety problem. Regular high-capacity Li-ion batteries tend to explode under severe stress, like if they’re dropped from a ladder.

The real target here, of course, is powering up vehicles:

A123 says their cells could lighten a Toyota Prius’ 100-pound battery by as much as 80 percent and help boost any hybrid’s performance. The quick recharging time – the M1 takes five minutes to reach 90 percent capacity – plus high peak power also would be ideal for plug-in versions of gas-electric vehicles. With a bit more research, the world’s roads may someday see fast, zero-carbon autos that zip past gas guzzlers and tank up from the grid faster than a rest-stop Starbucks can serve you a latte.