Nanotecture

Supercapacitors II - market forecasts

In a recent premium article, IDTechEx Research gave an initial assessment of the supercapacitor market globally. In the second part of this article series, IDTechEx Research offers its market projections for this fast-growing technology. As always, IDTechEx Research provides detailed reality checks on its forecasts.

Supercapacitors I - breakdown of global players by region and product

Supercapacitors are a curiously neglected aspect of electronics and electrical engineering with a multi-billion dollar market rapidly emerging.

Why ultracapacitors maintain 30% market growth

Ultracapacitors, also known as supercapacitors, have seen some setbacks lately. Market leader Maxwell Technologies has seen reduced ultracapacitor sales growth in early 2012 due to softness in Europe and Nanotecture, in Europe, developing the variant called a supercabattery went out of business.

Goodbye Nanotecture

IDTechEx believes that the market action now lies with supercabatteries based on lithium-ion technology and commonly referred to as lithium capacitors because lithium-ion capacitors now have the largest market value.

Electric vehicle infrastructure surprises

Electric vehicle charging infrastructure will see a frenzy of change over the next ten years. That will involve how it is made and installed, how it operates and even whether it is needed at all. For example, the 1.3 million electric vehicles for the disabled, obese and elderly being sold this year will rise to over three million in 2021 and none of them will have a charging station - you simply plug them into a regular socket. Registering that the most convenient and affordable charging station is none at all, the e-bike manufacturers have at last started to move in the same direction. Adoption of the new lithium-ion batteries releases a huge amount of weight and space and a charger can now be fitted into the e-bike. That will become more affordable as the years go by. Here are some more of the surprises revealed during the research for the new IDTechEx report, "Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure 2011-2021".

Can Sony Li-ion batteries recover market share?

Sony was once the leader in the lithium-ion "Li-ion" battery market. In 1991, it was the first in the world to commercialize them. It has focused mainly on compact batteries for PCs and mobile phones. The lithium-ion battery market continues to expand, driven by strong demand for mobile phones, PCs and now electric vehicles. For example, such batteries are seen in an increasing minority of pure electric forklift trucks and boats, in most off-road electric vehicles and in virtually all Autonomous Underwater Vehicles AUVs, electric aircraft and electric airships, not just in on-road electric vehicles from buses to trucks, cars and some e-bikes. Sony is noticeably absent from all this vehicle activity, despite Sony CEO Howard Stringer announced plans, in 2009, to enter the automotive battery business.

Students develop alternative energy storage

Students at Stevens Institute of Technology are working on a supercapacitor that will allow us to harness more renewable energy through biochar electrodes for supercapacitors.

Two devices will replace lead acid traction batteries

It is like waiting for a bus. You wait and wait then two come at the same time. Alternatives to short lived, toxic lead acid traction batteries, with their indifferent performance, have been sought for over 100 years. Now both lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors are near to replacing lead acid traction batteries in the many traction applications where they are still used.

Greatly enhanced supercapacitor

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin's Cockrell School of Engineering have created a new porous, three-dimensional carbon that can be used as a greatly enhanced supercapacitor, holding promise for energy storage in everything from energy grids and electric cars to consumer electronics.

Electromobility has a new key enabling technology

Foreign manufacturers of electric cars in China can own only minority shares and they must surrender intellectual property on at least one of what the government considers to be the three key enabling technologies for e-mobility. These are batteries, motors and control electronics. In exchange, foreigners gain access to a market they hope will be large enough to create cash flow that can be repatriated if the dominant partner approves.

Comprehensive line-up for Electric Vehicles Land, Sea & Air

Analysts IDTechEx have added a number of carefully chosen best-in-class speakers to the lineup for their unique event that covers the whole subject for the first time. There are six on-road vehicle manufacturers plus two companies involved in off-road electric vehicles. Six organisations describe electric aircraft work and four speakers cover their inland and seagoing electric boats.

Federal funding puts capacitor design on the road to realization

Funded with a recent $2.25 million stimulus grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy, or ARPA-E, Welsch will try to make a capacitor ready for market within three years.

Electric Vehicles - But Not As We Know Them

Today's electric family cars are useless in telling us anything about the future. The design and adoption of electric vehicles is subject to sudden change driven by surprising factors. The unique event "Electric Vehicles - Land Sea Air" in Stuttgart, Germany is alone in looking at the big picture in order to clarify what is really going on.

New military supercapacitor funding

ADA Technologies, Inc. has been awarded a $70,000 contract from the U.S. Army to begin Phase 1 of the development of an electrochemical supercapacitor (ultracapacitor) for use in hybrid military vehicles.

Printed electronics needs new design rules

The first cars looked like horse drawn carriages - suboptimal and using the design rules of the past. So it is with most printed electronics today. It is frequently burdened with old fashioned components like silicon chips, cylindrical capacitors, chip resistors and button batteries.

Printed Electronics uses more inorganics and composites

Printed electronics is using more inorganics and composites in the quest for higher performance, lower costs, finer feature size, stretchability and creation of radically new components such as memristors, supercabatteries and metamaterials.

Huge increase in printed electronics toolkit

This year has already seen a huge increase in the choice of electronic components that can be printed or are compatible with printing in that they are thin, flexible and can support further printed circuitry on top.

Nanotecture develops asymmetric electrochemical supercapacitors

Nanotecture has developed microbatteries and supercapacitors aimed at markets such as boosting the flash in mobile phone cameras to take pictures farther away, audio buffering in mobile phones etc for higher quality sound and powered smart cards.

Nanotecture develops asymmetric electrochemical supercapacitors

Nanotecture has developed microbatteries and supercapacitors aimed at markets such as boosting the flash in mobile phone cameras to take pictures farther away, audio buffering in mobile phones etc for higher quality sound and powered smart cards.