Part of the disincentive to buying hybrids and electric vehicles is the fact that battery technology is expanding by leaps and bounds and consumers don't want to purchase a vehicle that has "last year's battery" in it.

This article in the latest Newsweek shows some real promise in a way to deal with this. Instead of people owning the batteries in their vehicle and being responsible for the charging, the battery packs are easily removable and you exchange them at charging stations for a fee. As technology advances, your car no longer becomes obsolete.

Here's the article

I think it's sheer genius. Those battery replacement centers could designed to have multiple power sources for charging - solar cells, wind generators, bio-fuel generators, ties to the regular electrical grid, etc. Now the trick becomes convincing the auto manufacturers to agree on standards for battery packs.

Art