Dear friends, Wishing you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year. It has been long since I wrote anything. After returning to India, I find many Battery operated 2 wheelers on the road. Without any noise or warning, they simply zip past you. Few handbills and advertisements in local news paper promote these as a cheap, safe and pollution free mode of transportation in the city. I wonder are they really cheap and pollution free? First, these vehicles run on batteries that are recharged at home using Electricity. Generally Electricity for homes is subsidized by charging higher tariff to the Industry, thus it appears to be cheap because of the subsidy. If the real cost is considered than it may not be as cheap as the general perception is. Secondly, recharging battery is an inefficient use of electricity. Lots of electricity is wasted in heat and vibration of electrodes. As the battery ages, it consumes more and more Electricity for every recharge. People, who use Invertors at home, are