Korean scientists have developed a method of doping the graphene* used in supercapacitors (also called ultracapacitors) to double the capacity over undoped ones. The lifetime of the new nitrogen-doped supercapacitors is said to be near infinite for all practical purposes, the test being 230,000 cycles of charge/discharge without degradation. This brings the possible general automotive use for supercapacitors nearer. (China already has supercapacitor busses).
A mix of lithium-carbon battery with a built-into-the-cell supercapacitor is already in production, extending the lifetime of the lithium battery part considerably.
*Graphene is a form of carbon which is finely divided at the nano-level much like activated charcoal is at the micro-level. The surface area of graphene is phenomenally huge, hence the high capacitance of supercapacitors. Carbon 'nano-tubes' are also used in supercapacitors. Graphene is as hard as diamond say reports.
Leedsman.

 

Will we hear next that these cars run on banana peels, a la "back to the future"? BTW- what is the American equivalent of "capacitors"? Fuel cells?

 

But will it make my ABS light go out?

 

"Capacitor" IS an american term. The original british was "condenser" gradually changed in the 1950s in UK to capacitor in consideration of the huge american influence on the electronics world. Make no mistake, these devices are coming for vehicle propulsion, as the energy store is the only problem for electric vehicles. There are now two powerful motivations -- high price petrol/diesel, and pollution. If you have money to invest, this is the area to consider for your venture capital.
Leedsman.

 

Leedsman,

It's a serious question. Is "capacitor/condenser" as used in the article the same as fuel cell or is there some other technology involved? I didn't mean to sound flip.

 

No. A capacitor/condenser might be used with a fuel cell, but it is not a fuel cell in and of itself. For example, a cell phone will have dozens if not hundreds of capacitors on the circuit board. So will the ECU, BPM, and so on.

 

I understanding capacitors perfectly as I'm an electronics/radar dude from back in the day. I'm just having trouble conceptualizing a capacitor large enough to hold a charge sufficient to power a vehicle in any practical way. I had to check the terminology.

I'm going back to reread the submission now. If these scientist really have figured out a way to store meaningful energy in a capacitor (as you and I understand the term), that isn't bigger than a house - then we have a major breakthrough.

 

A capacitor is not a fuel cell at all. A capacitor originally was two metal plates separated by a dielectric insulator, usually very thin. Before that, there was the "Leyden jar" of the 19thC. The metal plates come out to terminals. In fact, capacitance exists to a tiny extent between any two conductors close to each other. A capacitor will store some electricity in its static form. If you make a capacitor big enough, you can store a lot of electricity, but up 'til now not enough to propel a car.
Nowadays, capacitors don't look like two metal plates. They usually look like a small cylinder. There are many different kinds of capacitors, all with different jobs and at different prices. The biggest I ever saw was in a high-voltage laboratory which they charged up to a million volts. It was about the height of a house. When they discharged it remotely (it was inside a big cage) the bang deafened me temporarily.
In the 1930s the electrolytic capacitor was developed for smoothing out the rectified dc in mains/linepowered radios. It had some similarity to the cells in batteries, and was polarized like them. This capacitor had big capacitance for a small size and low price. They dried out gradually, and the radio began "humming" with 100Hz ripple. (120Hz-US). In tv sets of old, when the filter electrolytics were drying out, the picture would start "swimming" as the 100/120Hz ripple mixed with the picture framing frequency. Sometimes there were black "hum-bars" across the picture.
Very recently supercapacitors appeared (sometimes called ultracapacitors) and these are capable of propelling a car, albeit not very far yet. We are right in the middle of a development curve now. Supercapacitors are a bit like electrolytics in having an electrolyte and being polarized, only they have thousands of times more capacitance for a given size. This size is usually given in microfarads, farads for supercapacitors, and working voltage. The farad is named after Faraday.
Supercapacitors are now so big in capacitance, they are being regarded as being like secondary batteries, these being batteries that have to be charged, unlike primary batteries (e.g. zinc-carbon) that generate their own electricity chemically. These when 'flat' they have to be thrown away, whereas secondary batteries can be charged up again and again, same as a supercapacitor, or any capacitor for that matter.
Hope this clears up what a capacitor is and does. There is a huge amout of theory to do with capacitors, not germain to this discussion.
Leedsman.

 

Something seems to be missing. A search through the thread shows that "fuel cell" was introduced by you in post 2 in relation to the movie "Back To the Future".

 

And so-------?

 

And so, why this:

A fuel cell in current usage converts fuel, such as hydrogen, into electricity. As you know from your background, a capacitor/condenser solely stores electrical potential. The apparent connection to lithium battery cells is the possibility of integrating the new capacitor design in order to improve their life. Possibly by smoothing out the effects of charge/discharge cycles on short term demands.

What is confusing is "an electronics/radar dude from back in the day" asking "BTW- what is the American equivalent of "capacitors"? Fuel cells?"

Most electronic devices, and all conventional radar units involve capacitors, no?

 

That "flux-capacitor" from the movie was entirely fictitious -- there is no such thing!
Leedsman.
Addition: If you want an understandable dissertation of supercapacitors, check this:-- http://www.illinoiscapacitor.com/pdf...capacitors.pdf

Excellent teaching material IMO, and full credit of course.

 

Crikey Plumsauce.

Settle down. I defer to your superior knowledge in all things electrical, electronic. grammatical and automotive. Can I get up now? May I take 2 steps forward? Better yet - go take a flying----. No wait. I didn't mean that. What I meant was, can we be friends now? Oh God. My teeth are breaking.

I really gotta write this stuff down.

 

Leedsman,

Even though the "flux capacitor" in Back To The Future was fictitious - isn't it wonderful how life imitates art. To think, we may soon come full circle to electric propulsion in 100 years.

I wonder if I can adjust to not having a supercharged V8 under the hood/bonnet. On the other hand, large amounts of current being available to drive electric motors should provide all the power/torque one could use.