On batteries, supercapacitors and Power Capacitors.
We are witnessing an energy transition away from fossil fuels. This is not an easy undertaking as we want the new energy to be clean, abundant and safe. In other words, it has to be “practical” and “sustainable”. All things considered, electric energy is here a natural candidate. The world has more than 100 years of experience with it, distributing it over high power cables. Nowadays, there is a trend towards generating electricity at micro-scale, not only at large power plants, and we want to use it while on the move. This is where batteries come into play.
Batteries allow electric energy to be stored and buffered and to be mobile. Battery technology has been reasonably successful in fulfilling that role. Lead-acid batteries start our cars and lithium-ion batteries are increasingly used as traction batteries for electric vehicles, energy storage, power tools and other mobile devices or systems. But they present us with issues as well. They store energy but when it is really cold, they let us down. We can’t pull too much energy out of them or they become hot and can burn. Sometimes they burn spontaneously and when that happens there is no stopping to it as it is a chemical fire. But most importantly, batteries have to be oversized when they need to deliver power. Oversizing means more expensive and more dead weight to move when built into a vehicle. Not good for the life cycle costs and not good for the energy efficiency.
Of course, we have super capacitors (mostly also based on lithium) when high power bursts are needed. Traditional supercapacitors however have a low energy density and they are expensive. When the power has to be sustained for a while, they become overly big and costly.
But what if we had a new technology that combines the benefits of both: the energy density of the best batteries and the safety and power properties of super capacitors? Simply put the benefit not only comes from the inherent safety and wide temperature operating range, but from the power density. Hence, a 1 kWh battery for example can then provide the performance of a 10 or 20 kWh battery without any risk, allowing to use a smaller battery and charge it in a lot less time as well.
This technology is now in production and the impact is more significant than you would think. It enables today’s proof of concepts to become a practical, long lasting and safe reality. We call it Carbon based Power Capacitors. Learn first hand about Carbon based Power Capacitors at the Battery Show Europe 2019, 6-9 May 2019 in Stuttgart, booth G359. Get your free exhibition pass here
What can you discover at our booth?
1. The brand new pouch cell:
A Carbon based Power Capacitor delivering 230 Wh/kg or 972 Wh/l.
Read the press release here. https://kurt.energy/press-release-new-power-capacitor-pouch-cell-230-wh-kg
2. Game changing applications.
In the new white paper, we discuss some of them.
All the applications benefit from the reliability that Carbon based Power Capacitors offer:
- Works and charges from -40°C to + 80 °C
- No BMS needed, no thermal management needed
- No thermal risks
- Up to 50000 cycles
- Resilient: a failing cell doesn’t make the battery fail
- Power when you need it (can sustain up to 10x or 20x its nominal power)
A. Premium car batteries:
- Don’t let you down in the cold
- Last a lifetime
- For gasoline engines: up to 8% lower fuel consumption
B. Power tool batteries:
- Provide the peak power
- Work in the cold
- Charging in minutes
C. Heavy traction batteries:
- Provide the peak power
- Work in the cold
- Recharging while taking a short break
D. Serial (and parallel) hybrid drives:
- Ideal for heavy vehicles in urban environments
- No weight penalties versus classical ICE vehicles
- Fuel consumption drastically reduced ( < 2l / 100 km / ton)
- Allows very clean exhaust gasses, cutting pollution drastically
- Recharged while taking a break
E. Wind power turbine pitch control:
- Plug and play replacement at half the price of classical supercapacitors
- Delivers 3 x more performance
- Increased safety and reliability
F. High reliable energy storage:
- Operates in harsh and cold environments
- Better energy harvesting
- Long lifetime
- Modularity for more energy storage and very fast charging
- Can sustain 10x up to 20x its nominal power
Partnering up?
The possibilities for Carbon based Power Capacitors are endless, but building a system solution requires partners from many fields, financial as well as industrial, as each application is specific and requires other subsystems. Carbon based power capacitors are an enabler for many profitable and long term investments.
Feel free to contact us:
Eric Verhulst, CEO/CTO
eric (dot) verhulst (@) kurt (dot) energy
+32 477 608 339
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