http://www.technologyreview.com/business/22298/?a=f

What fascinated me was that Toyota tried several hybrid configurations before settling on its current “Hybrid synergy drive”, and that a pure series hybrid was the runner-up. I suspect that highway cruising is when you want the most direct connection between the ICE and the wheels.

This suggests that vehicles that only cruise rarely, like mail and other delivery vehicles, and city buses, are already perfect for series hybrids. It also suggests that this new battery could tip the scales toward series hybrid for most cars.

Smaller means more design flexibility and less interior room eaten by batteries.

Lighter means less means less mass to haul around.

Less materials means lower costs.

Those things are just as important to all-electric cars as is a 18x to 36x faster charge rate.

Lighter and less expensive is what we need to move quickly through the PHEV stage and on to a personal transportation system free of petroleum.

What it might do is make a series hybrid a reality. Prius hybrid synergy drive rules the roost now, but its transaxle is heavy, complex, and expensive. A Toyota engineer discusses it here:
http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/848.html

A better battery could make a simpler, more efficient, less expensive series hybrid a reality.

The issue of needing a large power supply to get a quick charge doesn’t seem like that big of a problem to me. It’s on long trips that a quick charge would be needed most. Otherwise, slower charging at home should be adequate for most situations. Commercial charging stations could fill the need for longer trips. It’s always seemed to me that the biggest issue that will keep people from buying electric cars is range limitation. These charging stations could fill that need. Which is what makes the PHEV attractive at least as a transition vehicle.
Even with a PHEV you would want to charge the battery, if it can be done quickly, on a long drive. (cheaper and greener than gasoline)

(As you can see I’m still dreaming of delivering juice to the car somehow while it’s on the road. Rapid charge/discharge removes one stumbling block.)

First, very rapid charging ability means that these batteries make regenerative braking feasible.

Current lithiums accept power too slowly for regenerative braking to be effective and people have been working with hybrid lithium battery/ultra capacitors to solve this problem.

They also simplify the problems of supplying lots of power for rapid acceleration. Rapid charging lithiums eliminate the need for more complex solutions.

Second, rapid charging lithiums make long distance all-electric travel possible without resorting to battery swap schemes.

We (the majority of us) don’t need rapid charing for our daily lives. In fact, most could get by with a 40 mile range electric and the ability to plug in both at home and work. Expand that range to 100 miles or more and only “traveling salesmen” would routinely need anything more.

Rapid charge batteries would make it possible to drive long distances with only short stops for recharging. For example, we would need only a handful of rapid charge stations between SF and LA to get the system going.

Rapid charging could be done with either “big wire”/HVDC feed in or with banks of ultra capacitors which would be continuously charged.