Its about time too, eversince lead acid came onto the scene Nickel Cadmium has gotten a bad wrap, its really not such a bad battery technology as long as all of them are recycled.
I'll just be glad to see lead acid put to rest as an obsolete technology.
Nickel Cadmium can be used for anything, starter battery, electric cars, even used them to power electric trams while moving from one power line to the next.
Popular Science - Google Books
Should be an even better future with Lithium overtaking everything
Though they won't last as long as NiCD.
When built properly (electric power drills excluded) they can last a surprisingly long time:
http://powerelectronics.com/news/nic...after-28-years