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Are ultracapacitors the key to making hybrids king of the auto market? (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=AE786E24-E7F2-99DF-3546F86843FBD646&ref=rss)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Toyota_Supra_HR-V_Racing_Hybrid.JPGLarry Greenemeier - Scientific American - Aug. 28, 2007

An ultracapacitor-equipped Toyota Supra HV-R coupe was the only hybrid to win the 24-hour endurance race held at Japan's Tokachi International Speedway.

Many motorists chuckle smugly after giving their cars a little extra gas to leave a Toyota Prius or some other eco-friendly automobile in the dust. But Toyota and its Earth-loving ilk may yet have the last laugh as they cultivate encouraging new advances in ultracapacitor technology that promise to one day put hybrids in the driver's seat.

The greatest victory so far for the cars, fueled by a combo of electricity and gas, came just weeks ago when an ultracapacitor-equipped Toyota Supra HV-R coupe became the first hybrid to win the 24-hour endurance car race held at Japan's Tokachi International Speedway. The hybrid Supra finished 616 laps of the 5.1-kilometer (roughly three mile) course-19 more laps than the second-place nonhybrid Nissan Fairlady Z. "The Toyota that won was able to deliver energy more quickly, accelerate faster, and use braking generation more efficiently," says Kevin Mak, an analyst with research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics and author of a recent study that explores the potential for ultracapacitors to complement and possibly even replace batteries in hybrid vehicles. "The days of the large hybrid vehicle battery pack may be numbered," he adds … http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=AE786E24-E7F2-99DF-3546F86843FBD646&ref=rss

Many motorists chuckle smugly after giving their cars a little extra gas to leave a Toyota Prius or some other eco-friendly automobile in the dust.

Okay, I admit it, I sometimes chuckle smugly after leaving some planet-ravaging SUV or oversized 4X4 in the dust with my Prius. ;)

Harry

Decades ago, we should have charged NASA with the tasks of developing fuel efficient transportation technologies and also energy production and storage systems.

Or, we could have formed a new agency and hired any needed scientists and engineers from NASA into it.

In my view it's a crying shame that now, with global oil sources at risk and refinery capacity below what is needed and large parts of Asia becoming Western-style energy consumers - at this point in time we're developing potetially useful technologies and still need to determine which ones would be most effective when implemented.

Anybody following the news back in the '70's could have seen this coming and we could by now be past the issue. Instead, we're still fighting to get some people to realize that there is something to be concerned about.

Grrrrrr.

I agree, Bruce. Pretty much everything we are playing with now was thought up in the 70s. The only difference now is slightly better battery tech and computers running things more efficiently.

I think that we are likely to see some combination of tech including "supercaps" and batteries.

Hi All:

___The item that attracted my attention was not so much the super-caps as I think those that Maxwell has off the shelf are far too expensive or lack energy density to meet an HEV/PHEV’s needs. There is however another named EEStor. That Energy storage medium is one we can all sink our teeth into. Far cheaper then Li-Ion, base chemicals are far less scarce, millions of cycles durable and can hold huge amounts of energy for decades without losing but a few % of CAP per the claims. The DOD is all over this technology for some reason however :(

___Good Luck

___Wayne

The DOD? Hm... rail guns perhaps?

I've heard of EEStor and I'd like to get my hands on some -- I did some calculations a while back to figure out just how much motivation I could get from a given charge it was pretty awesome.

Hi Sean:

___Rail guns? Exactly :(

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Not just rail guns. A few years ago Popular Mechanics published an article on how to generate a hefty electromagnetic pulse using a large bank of capacitors and a few other bits. The more energy in the capacitors the stronger the EMP, and the wider the area over which the lights go out immediately. We live in a messed-up world where we are deprived of this technology so that we can wage a better war. One would think it would be better to eliminate the reasons for fighting!

Hi Tim:

___Ahhh. An EMP generated by a SuperCap. I wish I would have read that article as I seem to remember it on the cover when on the news stands? An EMP makes sense as to why the DOD would be involved and possibly burying this one? I wonder if EEStro’s tech can provide the immediate energy discharge needed for a weapon like that vs. what would be needed for a BEV/PHEV/HEV? We have far bigger problems wrt our dependence on oil for all the wrong reasons other then a small EMP. I would not want to be in the area when one went off however. I can see the parking pawls of a Prius going to fail safe (engaged) at whatever speed you were traveling and the immediate lockup would not be a friendly experience to say the least. Let alone the $ cost damage including possible fires caused by everyone’s electronics getting fried in the immediate vicinity the instant it was let loose?

___We are headed in an all-electric direction no matter what government stands in the way and unfortunately, if there is a way to weaponize new technology, it will be used for that exact purpose probably sooner then later :(

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Wayne, I don't know what these things are constructed of exactly but if they can handle the heat generated by innate resistance when discharging enormous current -- absolutely!!

Of course I'd much rather have it in my car with controlled discharge...

It seems like ultracapacitors will be still be too expensive to be the primary power storage for an EV for a long time, but it seems like a smaller bank of UC's could be used to provide a durable storage buffer to reduce charging cycles on the main battery pack.