TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ELECTRICAL POWER AND ENERGY - Preferred Properties: The battery module has an internal resistance effective to provide a peak power density in relation to an energy density as defined by: P greater than 1375-15E, with P greater than 600 Watts/kg, where P is the peak power density as measured in Watts/kg and E is the energy density as measured in Watt-hour/kg. The peak energy density is at least 70 Watts/kg. The peak power density is greater than 700 (preferably at least 1000) Watts/kg.Preferred Component: The drive system further comprises:(1) a control mechanism for operating the battery module in a charge depleting mode or a charge sustaining mode;(2) a fluid cooled battery-pack system;(3) a cooling system for cooling the nickel metal hydride battery module;(4) a regenerative braking system providing charging current for the nickel-metal hydride batteries; and(5) a hydrogen storage unit adapted to receive hydrogen, store hydrogen, and supply hydrogen to the fuel cell.The hydrogen storage unit is a metal hydride hydrogen storage unit including a hydrogen storage material.Each hydride battery has negative electrode(s), and positive electrode(s).The negative electrode includes a porous metal substrate; an electrode tab welded to the porous metal substrate; and Ovonic alloys.The nickel metal hydride batteries are low pressure nickel metal hydride electrochemical cells comprising a negative electrode having a metal hydride active material, a positive electrode having a nickel hydroxide active material, and a reduced thickness separator positioned around the negative and positive electrodes.The negative electrode or the surface of the reduced thickness separator facing the negative electrode has a uniform distribution of hydrophobic material.The battery-pack system comprises a battery-pack case including coolant inlet mechanism(s) and coolant outlet mechanism(s); and coolant transport mechanism(s).The battery module is disposed within the case such that the module is spaced and disposed from the case and from any other module disposed within the case to form coolant flow channels along surface(s) of the module.The coolant transport mechanism causes the coolant to enter the coolant inlet mechanism of the case to flow through the coolant flow channels and to exit the coolant outlet mechanism of the case.The fuel cell is an alkaline fuel cell, a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell, a molten carbonate fuel cell, a direct methanol fuel cell, a phosphoric acid fuel cell, or a solid oxide fuel cell.The alkaline fuel cell comprises a hydrogen electrode; an oxygen electrode; a hydrogen electrode contacting mechanism for contacting the hydrogen electrode with a gaseous hydrogen stream; an oxygen electrode contacting mechanism for contacting the oxygen electrode with a gaseous oxygen-containing stream; and an electrode contacting mechanism for contacting the hydrogen and oxygen electrodes with an electrolyte stream.The hydrogen electrode comprises an anode active material having hydrogen storage capacity. The anode active material has a gaseous-hydrogen contacting surface, and an electrolyte-contacting surface. The bulk of the anode active material is disposed between the gaseous hydrogen contacting surface and the electrolyte-contacting surface. The gaseous-hydrogen contacting surface is adapted to dissociate and adsorb the gaseous hydrogen. The bulk of the anode active material is adapted to store the adsorbed hydrogen. The electrolyte-contacting surface is adapted to react the stored hydrogen with an electrolyte solution.The anode additionally includes a substrate component that provides for both electrical conductivity and mechanical support. The substrate component comprises an electrically conductive mesh, grid, foam, matte, foil, plate, or expanded metal. The anode active material is a hydrogen storage alloy that does not include noble metal catalyst.The fuel cell further includes an anode having a hydrophobic component, preferably polytetrafluoroethylene. The anode comprises an electrically conductive powder intimately mixed with the hydrogen storage material. The anode active material comprises a composite hydrogen storage material including an active material having hydrogen storage capacity, and a catalytic material having greater catalytic activity toward the dissociation of molecular hydrogen and/or oxidation of hydrogen than that of the active material having hydrogen storage capacity.The active material and the catalytic material are alternately layered throughout a portion of the composite hydrogen storage material. The catalytic material comprises a multicomponent compositionally disordered non-equilibrium catalytic material including a host matrix having transition element(s) and having incorporated one or more modifier elements. The modifier element modifies the local structural chemical environments of the material to provide the disorder. The material includes a creating mechanism for creating an increased density of catalytically active sites for the dissociation of molecular hydrogen.The creating mechanism includes chemical elements for providing a large number of catalytically active sites; a providing mechanism designed to provide local chemical environments that include sites for selectively inactivating poisonous species; and non-equilibrium metastable phases and configurations.The disordered material is a polycrystalline multicomponent material lacking long range compositional order; a microcrystalline material; a mixture of polycrystalline or microcrystalline phase regions and amorphous phase regions; an amorphous material containing amorphous phase(s); or a mixture of microcrystalline and polycrystalline phases.The catalytic material is continually compositionally graded with the anode active material throughout a portion of the anode. The anode active material is in the form of particulate material onto which a layer of the catalytic material is deposited. The catalytic layer has the greatest concentration of catalytic material at the exterior surface of the layer.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Material: The separator comprises a material from nylon or grafted polyethylene. The hydrophobic material comprises a 1% aqueous solution of polytetrafluoroethylene.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - METALLURGY - Preferred Material: The porous metal substrate comprises a material from copper, copper alloy, nickel coated with copper, or nickel coated with copper alloy. The positive electrode comprises an active material comprising a disordered gamma-phase positive electrode material. The active material further comprises an additive from nickel particles, nickel fibers, graphite particles, nickel-plated graphite particles, nickel-plated copper particles, nickel-plated copper fibers, nickel flakes, or nickel-plated copper flakes. The electrically conductive powder comprises material(s) from copper, a copper alloy, nickel, a nickel alloy, or carbon. The catalytic material is a nickel-titanium-molybdenum alloy. The hydrogen storage material includes AB2 or AB5 type hydrogen storage alloys. The AB2 or AB5 type hydrogen storage alloy is rare earth-nickel alloys, titanium-manganese alloys, titanium-zirconium alloys, titanium-iron alloys, or magnesium alloys.Preferred Component: The Ovonic alloys comprise the composition (I): (Base Alloy)aCobMncAldFeeLafMog. The hydrogen storage alloy is rare-earth/Misch metal alloys, zirconium alloys, and/or titanium alloys. It has the following composition (II): (Base Alloy)aCobMncFedSne. The Base Alloy (II) comprises 0.1-60 at.% titanium; 0.1-40 at.% zirconium; 0-60 at.% vanadium; 0.1-57 at.% nickel; and 0-56 at.% chromium. The host matrix includes nickel. The modifier element is a transition element. It is preferably titanium, zirconium, molybdenum, vanadium, magnesium, silicon or aluminum. The hydrogen storage alloy is a powder defined in that the alloy powder has a hydrogen storage capacity of at least 6 wt.%, absorption kinetics such that the alloy powder absorbs 80% of its total capacity within 5 minutes at 300 degrees C, and a particle size of 30-70 microns. It includes at least 90 wt.% magnesium; 0.5-2.5 wt.% nickel; 1-4 wt.% Misch metal; and 3-7 wt.% aluminum, 0.1-1.5 wt.% yttrium, or 0.3-1.5 wt.% silicon. It is a non-pyrophoric alloy comprising: 0.5-10 at.% zirconium, 29-35 at.% titanium, 10-15 at.% vanadium, 13-20 at.% chromium, 32-38 at.% manganese, 1.5-3 at.% iron, and 0.05-0.5 at.% aluminum; Zr1Ti33V12.54Cr15Mn36Fe2.25Al0.21; or Zr1.5Ti32.5V12.54Cr15Mn36Fe2.25Al0.21.It further comprises 1-10 at.% total of element(s) from barium, cobalt, copper, cesium, potassium, lithium, Mm (sic), molybdenum, sodium, niobium, rubidium, tantalum, tellurium, or tungsten. The Misch metal comprises predominantly cerium, lanthanum and praseodymium.Base Alloy (of (I)) = a disordered multicomponent alloy having structure(s) from amorphous, microcrystalline and/or polycrystalline;b = 0-7.5 at.%;c (of (I)) = 0-8.5 at.%;d (of (I)) = 0-2.5 at.%;e (of (I)) = 0-6 at.%;f = 0-4.5 at.%;b+c+d+e+f+g = greater than 0;a+b+c+d+e+f+g = 100 at.%;c (of (II)) = 13-17 at.%;d (of (II)) = 0-3.5 at.%;e (of (II)) = 0-1.5 at.%; anda+b+c+d+e = 100 at.%.