Energy Storage

At the "Utility Vehicles and Buses" session of the eCarTec conference in Munich, Dr Ulrich Piotrowski of Daimler EvoBus revealed more about the high stakes game being played by many of the major automotive companies in introducing fuel cells as range extenders in on-road vehicles.

The term printed electronics is shorthand for printed and potentially printed electronics and electrics. It is an enabling technology like paper or the wheel and, like them, its applications are now taking unexpected turns.

At eCarTec in Munich, Prof Dr-Ing E. Jobson of Volvo Bus Corporation illustrated the contribution of energy harvesting in electrodynamic braking as part of the many other improvements over the years.

At eCarTec in Munich, Prof Dr-Ing E. Jobson of Volvo Bus Corporation illustrated the contribution of energy harvesting in electrodynamic braking as part of the many other improvements over the years.

Leading analysts IDTechEx provide this view of the recent eCarTec event in Munich Germany.

Leading analysts IDTechEx provide this view of the recent eCarTec event in Munich Germany.

Acetonitrile is used as electrolyte in some EV batteries and most EV supercapacitors. It is a very nasty substance, being volatile, flammable, carcinogenic and, according to recent research causes birth defects.

The large urban bus has gone from having a very large, noisy, polluting piston engine to parallel hybrid, series hybrid with slightly modified internal combustion engine, series hybrid with specially designed small internal combustion engine and then pure electric all in the space of ten years.

IDTechEx's Chairman, Dr Peter Harrop provides a snapshot of his insight into eCarTech held in Munich this week.

Cellergy, manufacturer of Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors, has just introduced its new CLK series, for extended operating temperature applications in the range of -40° to 85°C.

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.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority has awarded $250,000 to each of eight companies and research centers to develop working prototypes for a wide range of energy-storage technologies.

Ultracapacitors, otherwise known as supercapacitors, have recently become an essential part of the toolkit of designers of aircraft, trains, road vehicles, renewable energy, office equipment and the host of small electronic devices where it all began.

The supercapacitor market continues to power up at 30% yearly with some little-known names taking some of the biggest orders at well over $10 million dollars each.

A123 Systems has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Johnson Controls valued at $125 million.

Kleenspeed in Silicon Valley has put its first KAR compact car on the road with its GenESSys 40 lithium-ion battery pack solution that is being sold as a separate item. There is an ultra capacitor (supercapacitor) in the car that will be the subject of a patent.

This article shares some of the research carried out for the new IDTechEx report, "Batteries and Supercapacitors for Smart Portable Devices 2013-2023: Markets, Technologies, Companies"

Researchers work to improve the energy storage capacity of batteries so that laptops, cellphones, electric cars and other mobile devices will last longer between charges.

The supercapacitor market continues to power up at 30% yearly with some little-known names taking some of the biggest orders at well over $10 million dollars each. These represent volume breakthroughs in applications such as train energy capture and the new application of protection and enhancement of electric car traction batteries.

Researchers have come up with a potential solution to one of sustainable energy's greatest challenges: power storage for use in non-generation times.