Electric Capacitor drive vehicles? Range of 400 miles on one 10 minute charge? Anybody heard about this?

Question

Zenn reported about something being tested with this a few months back? Any news on this lately?

Answer 1

If this is indeed the case,then I bet it would be more likely be in either/both sports cars or luxury cars therefore.

Answer 2

http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/15/technolo...

http://search.yahoo.com/search?search=ee...

I heard of a guy years ago that built an electric car using huge Russian tank capacitors or some such thing.

Answer 3

Capacitors release energy quickly and are usually used as an

acceleration helper in electric vehicles, I don't believe a capacitor driven vehicle would be a good choice.

Answer 4

Here's one  on Oct 4th 2007, Don't know if there's anything new.

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/10...

They expect to be manufacturing its ultra-capacitor pack by mid-2008

The honda FCX fuel cell car has them too.  http://world.honda.com/FuelCell/FCX/ultr...

Answer 5

Batteries work better.  A capacitor leaks energy faster than a battery and there is no weight benefit that I know of over batteries.  A capacitor can be charged more quickly but systems are being developed to charge batteries almost as quickly so no real benefit there either.

Answer 6

I have heard that it may be possible in the future to use carbon nanotubes to build super capacitors that can store more electricity than a battery. But that has not yet been proved. It is just an idea that will need millions of dollars of research to try and develop. And even then it may turn out not to work after all. But wouldn't it be cool if it did?

Answer 7

STUPID!

9th grade science class!

A Capacitor has an instant discharge of power, not a discharge over an extended time frame.

That's why we have batteries.  They store and discharge power of a long time frame.  Other wise we would be useing Capacitors not Batteries!  DUH!!!!!

I guess you couldn't get through I'm smarter than 5th grader!  A 5th grader could research and find this out in 10 minutes!

Answer 8

Keep an eye on this link for the latest news. Usually hits the threads within a few hours.

http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/...

They are still moving on this all be it very slowly.

The capacitor is based on highly purified barium-titanate powders. EEStor (The company developing these) has been successful in obtaining several patents.

Personally I'm a sceptic, but I really hope that this lives up to even a fraction of the hype.

Several years of following electric vehicles has educated me not to be VERY patient and slow to take the wallet out.

All and all, I still believe that Electrics are much closer to a practical solution than most other alternatives.