High-density hybrid powercapacitors: A new frontier in the energy race

You don’t need a power plant to charge, you just need a bigger capacitor sitting at the gas station that’s been filling up for a while and ready to dump into your car.

They write that they&#x27;ll be at the Battery Show 2020 in Stuttgart (28 to 30 April, Booth C229.): <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;kurt.energy&#x2F;visit-us-at-the-battery-show-2020-stuttgart&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;kurt.energy&#x2F;visit-us-at-the-battery-show-2020-stuttg...</a><p>EDIT: Maybe they could partner up with the capacitor-electrode-made-from-Durian people? <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;2020&#x2F;03&#x2F;super-stinky-durian-fruit-could-charge-your-cell-phone-someday&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;2020&#x2F;03&#x2F;super-stinky-durian-...</a>

From what I keep hearing, current EV acceleration is limited by the battery discharge rates. I haven&#x27;t seen anyone talk about creating a multi-tiered (hybrid) battery.<p>Have a comparatively small capacitor sit as a &quot;battery cache&quot; for short (5-10 second) bursts of acceleration, and let the battery be the slow but efficient &amp; steady main energy store. This would mitigate many potential downsides to capacitors (e.g. cost, leakage, energy density, etc etc).

They say in the intro that capacitors don&#x27;t explode. My past time as EE student tends to prove otherwise.

If I read the article in the worst possible way it suggests the hybrid capacitor stores 260 Wh&#x2F;kg and produces 300 W&#x2F;kg.<p>The Tesla battery stores 272 Wh&#x2F;kg and produces 207 W&#x2F;kg.<p>So this suggests the hybrid capacitor would charge 1.4 times faster.<p>Next question is the price, the article doesn&#x27;t give a straight-forward answer other than that it&#x27;s significantly more expensive. In theory (no hard proof) the hybrid capacitor would last longer.<p>Regardless, a promising development.

What does C as a unit mean in this context?<p>From the article:<p>&gt; The power-focused variants were delivering densities of 80 and 100 Wh&#x2F;kg, and were charging and discharging at 10 and 20C.<p>I don&#x27;t think it is Celsius, and Coulombs (which would be the correct SI unit) doesn&#x27;t really make sense. Some number of Amps would make sense, but 10 or 20 isn&#x27;t very impressive.<p>Does any one know?

Something seems fishy. Capacitors voltage versus charge conforms to the equation C= 1&#x2F;2<i>C</i>V*V with half the voltage you have only 25% of the charge remaining! With a battery, you have the 2 half cell potentials that sum to the rated voltage. As you discharge, this is a flat line voltage until the charged element is depleted and it goes to zero, (discharged). This has the ring of a scheme to get investor $$

They did not mention volume, only weight. Or did I miss it? So they have a good energy&#x2F;weight ratio? But bad energy&#x2F;volume?

extraordinary claims

Seems like an eternity we&#x27;ve been hearing&#x2F;waiting for super capacitors to become a thing. They seem to be the final puzzle piece in EV adoption. Not having to wait hours to &quot;fill up&quot; at the recharging station will be huge.

It&#x27;s weird for someone selling an ostensibly breakthrough EV energy storage system to say that he&#x27;s mostly focusing on plugin hybrids. Batteries aren&#x27;t the major contributor to cost or complexity in PHEVs.

Here is the actual manufacturer:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sztoomen.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sztoomen.com&#x2F;</a>

260 Wh&#x2F;kg sounds really impressive. I will keep an eye on this technology.

Lithium batteries don&#x27;t explode. They melt down and then catch on fire when pierced. You have plenty of time to get away, just don&#x27;t get stuck right next, under or above them.