Why we don't have fuel cells really

'The major shortcoming associated with platinum is that the cost of using it in a 100kW electric engine is more than the total cost of a 100kW gasoline engine. Furthermore only 3 million 100kW vehicles can be manufactured using the present annual world production of platinum, which is enough for less than one-twentieth of the present annual global production of vehicles.'

I never knew this was the limit on fuel cells. I knew platinum was used but I thought as a catalyst that it was used in small quantities. The big win here is the search for longer life batteries for laptops as an intermediate before an automotive use.

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Hybrids

I had the idea of combing a supercapacitor and a normal battery together. My original argument was that the it's hard to absorb all the energy in braking and deliver all the energy for good acceleration from a normal (lead-acid or NiMH) battery. 

This is why (I believe) that they have combined petrol/electric engines ( think electric turbo charge). Rather than have a tiny petrol motor power a battery which drives a electric motor which powers the wheels completely. 

The super-capacitor would help absorb and delver the big bursts of powers and then trickle the power into the battery. 

Next time I'll write the idea down.