<< so have they come out with lithium ion rechargable batteries that come in "AA" or "AAA" yet? The ones for the cell phones seem to be excellent, but i havent seen them for standard appliances. >>
IIRC, Federal Law prohibits distribution of raw lithium ion cells. Lithium ion requires very sophisticated charging. Lithium ion battery can explode like a bomb and burst into flame with significant destruction potential when charging is not properly controlled. Algorithm and believe it or not, every lithium ion battery pack has a micro controller that regulates and monitors the battery charging as well as old school fuse that disables the pack should it ever encouter short circuit. The controller even counts the numbers of cycles the battery has gone through.