Comments on: Cheaper Ultracapacitors for Electric Vehicles

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Thu, 25 Dec 2014 21:09:00 +0000

“We’re trying to develop….”

By: Conspiracy_Fax

Conspiracy_Fax — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 23:26:00 +0000

Look, they are not going to give us the technology that will make combustion engines non competitive.

It is called “disruptive technologies” and are routinely suppressed by governments as “national security” even as we face apocalyptic disaster in Japan any moment.

(yes- look it up, Fukushima is more dangerous than ever an has the chance of a complete 6 reactor melt down during an upcoming operation to decommission reactor 4. There are 6,000 spent fuel rods that could fission for centuries and make the northern hemisphere uninhabitable.

http://www.infowars.com/doctor-reveals-fukushima-radiation-nightmare-solution/

By: flamefront

flamefront — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 20:50:00 +0000

Good point – for that even more capacitors are needed. But not twice, just a small fraction because those would have to be charged from the grid.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 15:34:00 +0000

If you’ve got at least a 200 mile range you won’t need to charge that last 20%. The Leaf can charge 80% in less than 20 minutes with a new charger apparently on the way which will cut the time to below 10 minutes.

A 500 mile driving day would take two short stops. Driving a gas powered car 500 miles will require at least one stop to refuel. And most people are going to want to stop more than once in a 8-10 hour driving day.

Ultracapacitors are capable of much faster charging and are capable of thousands of charge/recharge cycles without damage. But size, so far, kills. They just can’t store enough electricity in a small enough package to work for EVs. It’s going to be a race to see whether ultracapacitors or batteries win. At this point batteries are in the lead.

By: zach vogel

zach vogel — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:38:00 +0000

when he says seconds, he means seconds to full capacity 30 min is still a lot of time when you think about being on a road trip.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 13 May 2011 14:47:00 +0000

BYD recently released the results from their first year of real-world EV tests. A fleet of e6 EV worked the streets of Shenzhen as taxis. The fleet averaged 36,400 miles, a bit more than 3x the average distance driven by US drivers and were mostly ‘rapidly recharged’ without damage to the lithium-iron-phosphate batteries.

Rapid recharging can be done in less than 30 minutes (possibly in less than ten minuted) and will give the batteries an 80% charge. (The last 20% needs to be charged at a slower rate.)

If BYD’s batteries survived “three years” of rapid recharging without any noticeable decrease in performance then the standard against which ultracapacitors has been raised.

By: sola

sola — Thu, 12 May 2011 19:23:00 +0000

These capacitors will usually be put into hybrids and EVs in order to improve the braking regeneration ratio (which is quite low since even the best NiMh batteries cannot tolerate those brutal deceleration amps).

In the case of EVs, they will be used as a temporary buffer, not the main battery, since its energy density is still way to low (at 35wh/kg).

As far as I know, It is common practice in todays hybrid buses to use large ultracapacitor banks for the above reasons.

By: jason

jason — Thu, 12 May 2011 12:08:00 +0000

For me, the biggest thing with thinking about buying an electric car is range anxiety. I drive about 50 miles round trip each day for work. None of it is highway, about 15 of those miles are stop and go between traffic lights or lines of cars at stop signs. A scenario that I just know isn’t conducive to energy efficient driving. So, cheaper, lighter power storage to increase range is certainly something I’m keeping my eye on.

By: BillW

BillW — Wed, 11 May 2011 16:18:00 +0000

This is great news! One catch with being able to charge in seconds, though, it that it requires a charging system that can deliver that much current. This will require power storage at charging stations.