Let's not forget that most of us have driven around for the past century or longer with a tank of highly flammable, explosive, and toxic liquid called gasoline. Gasoline vapors can be explosive and set off with any open flame or static spark. Gasoline has often been used as an explosive and incendiary weapon by militaries, arsonists, and terrorists.

We feel safe with gasoline because of our familiarity with it and being around it constantly. But there are plenty of car fires and accidents in the world due to gasoline, and we dismiss them because we are used to them and no longer see them as a real problem. I think few people would allow gasoline to be stored in their garage if they knew the true dangers posed by gasoline.

I recently read an article from a safety official that stated that if gasoline were just being introduced today as a fuel, it would most likely be soundly rejected. It fails spectacularly in most categories considered for use by the public - it is highly flammable, explosive, possibly carcinogenic, and toxic to most living things. In addition, its production and use are destructive to the environment in multiple ways.

The lack of understanding of the dangers of gasoline is much like traffic accidents. People are quick to worry about flying and airline accidents which kill very few people in the US. However, in the US alone there are 30,000+ people killed in auto accidents each year and the fact is barely mentioned or even noticed.

This is an equation with which Toyota is "probably" familiar.

Equally obviously, they must have found a way, short-cut, of some kind, since, as you point out, 2400A @ 1000v is not remotely a realistic possibility.

It's been interesting reading some of the comments in the thread. I'm always amused by how some people will quickly adapt to new technology in cameras (mostly unused by most people, but it's shiny and new so let's buy it) but decry and denigrate concepts they don't want to think about or understand.

99.9% of the population has no serious clue about all it takes, the unbelievable cost and huge effort by hundreds of thousands of people, to get that gallon of gas into a vehicle, nor all the processes that make controlling that air/gas explosion useful, yet still bleat on about how it must be maintained.

Oil has had a wonderful ride - and I loved working in the industry for 40+ years - but it's time to move on.

Technology, with it's many faces, is like a freight train coming down the tracks. Good, bad or indifferent, it's on its way as an unstoppable.

King Canute would have understood.