The Chevy Volt Needs an Ultracapacitor
January 28, 2010 by David Schramm
Filed under Blogs, David's Blog, Recommended Reading
I opened my Wall Street Journal with my morning coffee the other day and there on Page B2 is another story on the electric car. This time it’s the Vice Chairman of GM saying the upcoming Chevy Volt’s battery may not have much range beyond 40 miles, and that he only gets 28 miles in the Michigan cold.
That’s quite an admission by an auto executive about a well-publicized, up-and-coming product with new technology. As the CEO of the world’s largest manufacturer of ultracapacitors, it also makes me feel a little wistful.
Take a look at us.
Now, I know there’s probably a dozen CEOs for every story in the Wall Street Journal saying the exact same thing every day. But it crosses your mind nonetheless. Human nature, I suppose.
The fact remains ultracapacitors work extremely well in cold weather – down to minus 40 degrees Celsius. They also complement the power density of batteries extremely well – ultracaps can store and release energy quickly in powerful bursts, reducing the drain on batteries for things like acceleration. And ultracapacitors can be recharged through regenerative braking – there’s minimal drain on the car’s power.
We’ve made these points before to many companies, and the good news is that Europe and Asia are responding. And third-party studies like this (which actually featured GM!) are proving the power of our technology in automotive applications.
There’s no doubt that good things are starting to happen for Maxwell and its ultracapacitors. I would just like to see a venerated automotive brand from the good ol’ USA have a chat with us as well.
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Wistful? I’m curious why you, the CEO, are failing at getting these car companies to adopt your product? If it’s so much better than batteries then why aren’t they flocking to your company? I know they all know about your product. Heck, I’ve known about your product for over 10 years. But there has to be some reason over why it isn’t being used.
Off the top of my head some possibilities are:- a) expense, the manufacturers are looking at $$’s per kilowatt-hour of stored energy.. b) are control circuits complicated.. c) reliability.. d) kilowatt-hours per liter of volume.. All of those are important considerations a vehicle maker has before adopting a product, right?
David,
Thank you for the thoughtful comments. Rather than reply here, we feel your questions deserve a blog post of their own which will be posted by the end of the week.
There are newer UC technologies ready to be launched which GM should examine. GreenTech Media has cited several of them. I have investigated them all but only one stands out as being “disruptive”.
While all of the present competing UC technologies produce around 5 Farads per gram, (Thanks to Andrew Burke, UC Davis) one startup claims 100 F/g. That is the UC electrode developed and patented by Reticle Inc. of Los Altos Ca.
It seems that the reason for this is the way the activated carbon is consolidated. The present mfrs use binders which tend to occlude the pores of the AC, reducing both the surface area and conductivity. The “Big Three” stated at the World UC summit, last year that they can only get a max of 600 sq. meters per gram from 2000 sq. meter carbon. Additionally, they can only make thin film electrodes.
Reticle says they use a patented process which creates thicker electrode material without binders and can get 1800 sq. meters per gram. If this is true, they can dramatically reduce both weight and cost. Check it out for yourself. (I found a paper published on Ultracapacitors.org last year (. I also understand they won the Frost & Sullivan Award for Carbon Materials.
Show us what your product will do for a Prius or any other hybrid and maybe the entire internet will cheer in agreement with you.