Fuel cells were originally considered to be replacements for internal combustion engines used in traditional vehicles and replacements for traction batteries used in pure electric vehicles.

Led by the Japanese and with Hyundai of Korea, the Europeans and the Americans coming up fast, we are in the decade of the hybrid vehicle, with much more being spent on them than on pure electric vehicles. This is because traction batteries alone cannot affordably provide sufficient range in most of the large applications by land, sea or air.

This article shares some of the research in the new IDTechEx report, {{Range Extenders for Electric Vehicles | http://www.idtechex.com/research/reports/range-extenders-for-electric-vehicles-2011-2021-000276.asp}}. We are in the age of the hybrid electric vehicle which is strongly outselling the pure electric vehicle in market value though not in numbers over the next decade.

The judges noted very innovative and impressive features with real benefits for electric vehicles.

IDTechEx began exploring energy harvesting for small devices four years ago when it was obvious that conventional batteries were a dead end for many wireless sensor applications.

In April 2011, it was announced that Sweden will test the world's first fast rechargeable hybrid bus in Umeå City with a pantograph-based fast charging station, Bůsbaar, developed by Opbrid Transporte Sostenible S.L. It will be a Volvo 7700 diesel converted to hybrid.

Over twenty million electric vehicles produced in 2010 will employ on-board energy harvesting to help charge the traction batteries. That includes both hybrid and pure electric vehicles.

Energy harvesters enabling micro-power generation provide new levels of efficiency and automation in the built environment, process control, vehicles and healthcare.

There are now other forms of energy harvesters developed initially at the micro level which are now being scaled to produce enough energy to replace or supplement grid power.

The IDTechEx exhibition with the only co-located conference on Energy Harvesting & Storage with Wireless Sensor Networks & Real Time Locating Systems saw an unprecedented 340 people attending and 28 exhibitors.

Last week the second annual IDTechEx Energy Harvesting & Storage USA 2010 event opened to 340 people and 28 exhibitors, up significantly from the previous year, indicative of the rising interest in the topic. The event was co-located with the IDTechEx Wireless Sensor Networks and RTLS conference, bringing together all those involved in these two industries.

Next week the second annual IDTechEx event "Energy Harvesting & Storage USA 2010" opens in Boston, USA. Since last year, the attendance has grown by 25% at this stage and there are a total of 28 exhibitors - compared to 20 last year.

This event was the first of a global series of events on these topics to be held in Asia. After holding successful annual conferences on those topics in Europe and North America, IDTechEx launched the first Asian version of ...

In 1880, they said that the future of the car was electric. In April 2010, Bill Ford of Ford Motor Company said "It appears that the biggest game-changer will be electric vehicles."

This week more than 250 people attended the second annual IDTechEx event on Energy Harvesting and Wireless Sensor Networks & Real Time Locating Systems. These two events are co-located given the overlap in topic and attendees were delighted with the breadth of subjects that were covered. The exhibition had trebled from last year to 20 exhibitors.

The first day of the conference (attended by more than 290 attendees) was focused on presentations from end users of energy harvesting and wireless sensor networks technologies, with the first presentation given by IDTechEx CEO Raghu Das, giving an overview of needs for energy harvesting as well as the three generations of technologies (active RFID, RTLS and mesh & WSN) that have evolved into the current market for Wireless Sensor Networks, a market due to reach US$1.75 Billion by 2019.

This week the IDTechEx events Energy Harvesting & Storage and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) & RTLS took place in Denver, CO, USA. The event was attended by more than 290 attendees, with a brilliantly diverse spread of those through the value chain - from component suppliers to solution providers to many end users from different industries.

Active RFID will rise from 10% of the total RFID market this year to 24% in 2019, meaning a huge $6.74 billion market.

While some involved in OLEDs and OTFTs are moving out of the business of printed and potentially printed electronics, work on inorganic materials and compounds is increasing. The IDTechEx Printed Electronics Asia event in Tokyo will give a balanced view with many presentations being World firsts.

Speakers already confirmed include The US Navy SPAWAR, GE, Savi Technology, University of Michigan, Fisk University, Structural Graphics, MicroStrain, Axcess Technologies, The Facility, NREL and many others.