Energy Storage

This innovative supercapacitor allows charging to be completed using thermal energy in addition to the traditional electrical charging method for capacitors.

Mostly, the view at the recent Industrial EV conference in Germany was that we go from HEV to maybe PHEV but certainly end with plug-in then, where possible, energy independent PEV with most industrial and commercial vehicles. The transition will be slow and involve fuel cells only in niche applications. In contrast to cars, fuel cell hydrogen charging is little trouble with industrial vehicles because they are short range and back-to-base. However, they need supercapacitors or batteries to accept inputs and provide surges and sometimes both so it gets complicated.

In this recording of the opening presentation at the IDTechEx Show! in Silicon Valley on Nov 16, 2016, Raghu Das, the CEO of IDTechEx, discusses some of the key technological trends that are creating huge opportunities.

n this second article on the iVT Electric and Hybrid Industrial Vehicle Technology Symposium November 9-10 in Cologne Germany, we look at powertrains and components being favoured. Because of the large power surges in and out with many of these vehicles, you more often saw supercapacitors compared to on-road vehicles and hybrids remain the preferred option by far.

Professor believes using glassy solids as the electrolytes in batteries would make for safer, more powerful batteries.

Take some metal scraps from the junkyard; put them in a glass jar with a common household chemical; and, voilà, you have a high-performance battery.