Just a quick note as a lifetime R/C planes guy with a fair amount of experience experimenting with battery chemistry..
The "Lithium" batteries referred to by Joel are NOT the same as the exploding laptop / phone batteries you hear about on the news. The batteries in Laptops / Phones / Electric cars are Lithium Ion Polymer (LiPo) batteries. They offer the best energy density or "Power to weight" of the regular commercially available batteries but they are more sensitive to mishandling hence the bad rep. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_polymer_battery The "litium" batteries referred to by Joel are *lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO**4) *commonly known as LiFe batteries. They are a "reasonable Compromise" batteries that much higher energy density than Lead Acid / not as much as LiPo but are also much more stable than LiPo / less likely to misbehave if handled incorrectly.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_iron_phosphate_battery Quote from an electrical engineering forum: The main advantage of Life is safety. Lipos begin self heating at temperatures as low as 60°c, and once the interior starts to burn the whole battery rapidly 'explodes' into flames, setting fire to anything nearby. LiFe is more resistant to thermal runaway, 'cooks off' at higher temperature, and burns much less energetically. In other words: LiFe's are pretty safe and being much lighter than Lead acid, make a nice improvement over older chemistry. It's really more a question of price / how bad you want to save the weight. -Francois 1990 34+ "Take Five" Lake Lanier, GA
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