I listen to a fun little podcast called “Skeptic’s Guide To The Universe”. One recent episode - #810, Jan 16, 2021 - had a brief but informed discussion about what are effectively “super capacitors” and how they could be used in EV’s. It starts around 10’ 26” in. They’re clearly not experts on this sort of thing, but I did find it quite interesting. Available on your podcast aggregator of choice, or here: https://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcasts/episode-810
Back in 1997, Honda was experimenting with "ultra-capacitors" with their pre-Insight concept car, the J-VX. Being lighter and offering greater longevity than batteries, super-capacitors offer great promise. Many companies have made those promises, but none have demonstrated an experimental super-capacitor that might compete with Li-Ion batteries.
For those who haven’t listened, I came away thinking that super-capacitors combined with “conventional” batteries might be analogous to our Clarity’s. I mean, we hope our 30 to 50 EV miles can handle most of our driving, with the ICE to fall back on for longer trips. With these proposed “hybrids”, the plan would be to go the first 30 to 50 miles on fast-charging and long-lived capacitors for most driving, with the larger “conventional” battery to fall back on for longer trips. May or may not ever pan out, but seems like a decent idea once the technology is right.
I don't believe any super-capacitors can power a car anywhere near that far at this point. When teamed with Li-Ion batteries, the super-capacitors with their ability to deliver their power more quickly would provide instant power for acceleration and would be able to absorb regen power without the charging-speed limitations batteries impose.
Of course. And I think the guys on the podcast were up front about that. Which is also while I qualified my comment with “once the technology is right”. Plus, as super capacitors improve in efficiency, battery efficiency isn’t sitting still either. So there may never come a time when this hybrid model is feasible. But I still like the idea.
Interesting. I look at it differently. Drive the car 50 miles on battery and when it reaches a preassigned low point charge it with the capacitor for another 50 miles. Drop in 4 capacitors and go 250 miles. I'm not a scientist by any means so the viability of this idea is suspect.
I don’t know if you listened to the podcast, but that would be the opposite of best practice - capacitors have a lot more potential charge cycles than batteries, so the idea is to use them first or solely, only going on battery once the capacitors are discharged.
Here is a wiki page with interesting info on where supercapacitors are currently being used in vehicles.
Even though it's been a few years since this podcast episode was shared, the world of technology and science is ever-evolving. It's still worth exploring the fascinating developments in supercapacitors and their potential applications in electric vehicles.
