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Supercapacitors Technology Breakthrough Could Bring New Era in EV Development

Ever since the idea of using an electric motor to power a car - and it was a long time ago -, the one problem engineers faced was finding an efficient way to store enough energy to keep the vehicle going for as long as possible.
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Throughout the years, the solution chosen by everybody was the battery. Whether they used lead, Ni-Mh or, more recently, Li-Ion, the principle was always the same. An alternative to this solution was to mount a generator onboard, thus charging the battery on the go. Burning gasoline to create electricity kind of defeated the purpose, and the liquid hydrogen fuel cell solution is highly contested.

So what else is there for electric cars? Well, in many ways, supercapacitors would be ideal. Unlike batteries, they have the ability to charge and discharge a lot quickly, meaning they can provide more power and recharge in a fraction of the time needed by a conventional EV.

Of course, there has to be a reason why none of the current electric vehicles use them, and sure enough, ther is. It's all about their energy density. To build an EV that uses supercapacitors and has the same range as a Tesla Model S P100D, it would have to tug a trailer of considerable size full of them. They're just not feasible at the time, having an energy density 20 times lower than a lithium-ion battery.

A new discovery made by scientists at the University of Surrey and University of Bristol in conjunction with Augmented Optics might chage everything we know about supercapacitors. The scientists replaced the electrolyte in supercapacitors with a plastic based on the polymer used in soft contact lenses. The results were very encouraging, and researchers believe their advancement could find a way into tomorrow's electric vehicles.

A lot of people would be happier with a half the range of a 300-mile, lithium ion-batteried EV, but a fast charging time,” thinks Jim Heathcote, chief executive of Augmented Optics Ltd and Supercapacitor Materials Ltd, quoted by Teslarati. The trade-off wouldn't be such an issue if charging stations were abundant and a complete refill would indeed take no more than two minutes.

The researchers are now looking for commercial partners and hope to have a prototype ready in just a few months. If proven successful, this technology could already overturn the fledgling EV industry that seems to be committed to Li-ion battery cells.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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