Electricnick, The EV Revolution

The intriguing and promising future of the the ultracapacitors for electric cars, especially when coupled to a regular type of battery would point the best of both worlds.

The gist is that using ultracapacitors with regular batteries, whether lead/acid based or lithium-ion and everything in between makes sense in an electric vehicle, EV.  We’ve talked about the very impressive numbers from AFS Trinity and their XH-150 who have proven both technology work well together.  Squeezing 150 mpg from an SUV that gives you the freedom to choose from all electric drive, to gas only and hybrid mode is the stuff we can only hope to see in future hybrid, HEV and plug-in hybrid, PHEV technology.

The Strength Of The Ultracapacitors.  Using ultracapacitors with regular batteries make sense.  It is not only well suited for short bursts of energy, as much as it depletes its charge, it can recharge instantaneously.  Using ultracaps also helps raise the longevity of the batteries it is working in tandem with.

Ultracapacitors Development.  If the latest buzz is around lithium-ion developments, a current project in partnership with Argonne, Maxwell Technologies and Gold Peak Battery USA is working on blending high power/energy ultracapacitors and lithium-ion batteries together.  If all goes well, it should provide the best of both worlds, according to the GreenCarWebsite.

Why is this news important? The first obvious answer is that we all know the Achile heel of the electric car is the battery energy density ration.  With more powerful batteries, EVs will give us longer range and bigger sedans won’t have a performance hit.  While we still await firm proof that EEStor has a revolutionary product, we can say so far Maxwell is doing a good at showing results.