ZAP! Goes the Capacitor

Interesting article indeed. The headline kind of turned me a bit sideways however.

"A new version of an old idea is threatening the battery industry"

If I were a battery industry, I don't think I would feel too threatened. Even if great strides are made there will still be plenty of need for batteries. Kind of like when television was invented and some predicted the demise of movie theaters. New things just make more choices. (But don't tell that to the buggy-whip salesmen)

Battery technology seems to be moving again with the development of Lithium Ion batteries. Liquid battery technology hasn't made much progress beyond the liquid sodium designs of some twenty years ago however there are some developments at NASA which may result in a "super liquid battery", small in size with a power density unrivaled by either capacitors or LION batteries.

I think the competition from the capacitor technologists is a healthy inducement to accelerate battery research and development. With escalating fuel prices promised to continue without end, the promise of a quickly charged electric car will catch the publics attention, all the more so if solar generated electricity is the prime source for charging.

Many things are misleading about the article, but one key misleading statement is this:

At least one firm is backing the logic of this argument in its showrooms rather than just in prototypes. Ian Clifford, the chief executive of the Zenn Motor Company in Toronto, has done a deal with EEStor to replace the lead-acid batteries in the small, low-speed electric cars that his firm sells for urban use. Mr Clifford reckons that ultracapacitors will transform his vehicles and enable them to be used on motorways as well as city streets.

This suggests that Zenn has these in showrooms "rather than just in prototypes". They do not, and they are hoping something comes of the EEstor business, because they are investors in it. The web (and CR4) has thousands of posts re the EEstor. Generally, the concept has met with skepticism from people who know about capacitors -- but who knows? They are well behind schedule, but Lockheed Martin has agreed to help develop a prototype -- so Lockheed Martin (who say they have not seen a working prototype) is at least interested enough to do some experimentation. If the idea can be made to work, the payoff would be phenomenal. It is so much lighter than a traditional battery that it would suddenly be senseless to drive anything but an electric car.