y technologies such as lithium (same capacity but smaller volume and weight) requires some form of supercapacitor to provide a quick-start source of instant energy. University of Texas 17 for example is presently working on nanoscale carbon structures described generically as graphene that act like a superabsorbent sponge. This means that a supercapacitor could potentially hold an energy capacity similar to lead acid with a lifetime of 10 000 charge-discharge cycles. Although automotive applications are the most likely initial mass market application there may be scaled down applications in mobile devices that require intermittent bursts of power. Energy density for more mainstream power sources in general is presently improving at about 10% per year. The energy density of high explosive is about 1000 Wh/kg SO as energy density increases the stability of the electrochemical process becomes progressively more important. The lead acid battery was discovered by Gaston Plante in 1869. Batteries store and release energy through an electrochemical oxidation-reduction reaction that causes ions to flow in a particular direction between an anode and cathode with some form of electrolyte in between, for example distilled water in a lead acid battery. The first lithium-ion-based products were 16 Interferometric modulator display. 17 http://bucky-central.me.utexas.edu/publications/journal_in_group.html Making Telecoms Work introduced by Sony in 1990 and have now become the workhorse of the cellular phone and lap top industry. Lithium is the third element of the periodic table and the lightest element known on earth. Most of the world's lithium supply is under a desert in Bolivia dissolved in slushy brine that is extracted and allowed to dry in the sun. It is a highly reactive substance often combined with a combustible electrolyte constrained in a space. Much of the material cost, as much as 90%, is absorbed into overcharge/overdischarge protection. Even so, from time to time there are incidents when batteries ignite. In Apr