Ultracapacitors: Power for Greener, More Efficient Cars

Automotive OEMs are developing cars with smaller engines that provide adequate power in bigger platforms and boost performance with electrical energy by using Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS), some utilizing ultracapacitors to capture and store regenerative braking energy.

The Latest Media Coverage on Maxwell’s Ultracapacitors

Recently we had the good fortune of being included in two news stories I’d like to share with you.

The first was by Heather Clancy from ZDNet’s GreenTech Pastures about ultracapacitors and their different uses in energy storage. I spoke with Heather last month while on a trip to New York. Here’s part of what she had to say:

New Emissions Standards Will Help Ultracapacitor Adoption

Ultracapacitors can be recharged through regenerative braking and provide the power needed for acceleration and starting the vehicle—making the battery last longer. By decreasing the size of the battery, and at the same time increasing its life, ultracapacitors reduce system cost for all types of hybrid vehicles.

Reader Question: Why Hasn’t Detroit Embraced Ultracapacitors?

Ultracapacitors have proven their value, safety, efficiency and durability in more than 1,000 public transit buses now in daily revenue service in the U.S., Europe and Asia, so we aren’t suggesting that U.S. automakers take a “leap of faith.” Rather, we are suggesting that Detroit could reinvent itself and create U.S. jobs by taking advantage of cost-effective, readily available, American technology to produce the energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly cars consumers want.

Secretary of Energy Endorses Ultracapacitors at Auto Show

At the Washington D.C. Auto Show last week, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu spoke about the Obama administration’s commitment to advancing fuel-efficient vehicles.

Is There a Silver Bullet to Reducing Foreign Oil?

Again, I keep thinking that the reason for all this activity is that we want to get away from foreign oil and reduce our emissions at the same time. If you listen to John Petersen of Seeking Alpha, he says how we can get there. You put a mild-hybrid engine in cars using electric motors and conventional lead acid batteries.

The Chevy Volt Needs an Ultracapacitor

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.

Ultracapacitor Technology for the Here and Now!

Whether it’s potential customers, partners or investors, whenever I speak to people outside the company the fact that impresses them most about Maxwell is that the technology is in use all over the world today.
We have literally millions of ultracapacitors out in the field working everyday, in windmills for pitch control, in trains and buses [...]