In a 2004 corporate report Toyota said the key to the improvements was its decision to switch to a high-voltage system.

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Its high-voltage direct current system is delivering electricity to the British Petroleum platform in the middle of the ocean.

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That company, Kanto Aircraft Instrument Co. makes a system that monitors voltage, charging and temperature of the lithium-ion batteries.

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Main.net's system skips the high-voltage lines, injecting data into the grid further downstream, on medium-voltage (4, 000 to 25, 000 volts) lines.

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For example, a system could be injected with current and voltage to see how it would react.

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The investigation has now shifted from the battery maker to the manufacturer of the system that monitors the battery's voltage and temperature, Ishii said.

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However, it's the future uses we're more excited about -- eventually, you'll be able to upload energy usage data into the system automatically, provided you're getting voltage from one of the partner companies.

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For example, in large hotels, voltage dips and power interruptions of less than a second can result in booking and reservation system failures, which are extremely expensive.

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Severinsky's bright idea was to run the electric motor on a high voltage--say, 40 times the 14 volts that is standard for the electrical system in a gasoline car with a 12-volt battery.

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