Charging a Car Capacitor in Seconds Soon

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Details are still secret but we could be charging a car capacitor in seconds shortly and then driving it for 150 miles. This follows supercapacitor research by scientists at the universities of Surrey and Bristol in England. The secret sauce is contact lens technology applied to polymer material

Polymer as Used In Lithium Batteries

charging a car capacitor in seconds
Polymer Solid-State Battery: DOE: Public Domain

Previously developers had some success by using polymer as electrolyte although other lithium developments proved more successful.

Thus nowadays we are more likely to find it enclosing a lithium battery in a flexible shell.

Sometimes polymer gets a bad name when the battery inside it overheats. Polymer itself is relatively stable when used as electrolyte.

The Technology behind Charging a Car Capacitor in Seconds

charging a car capacitor in seconds
Optically Heating Polymers: NSF: Public Domain

The polymer material comprises ‘large organic molecules composed of many repeated sub-units, bonded together to form a three-dimensional network.’ That is about all the scientists are willing to reveal at present.

We can safely assume they are probably deploying the network as electrolyte.

Beyond that, we are not really much wiser how they plan to go about charging a car capacitor in seconds.

The weakness of capacitor energy density has been their downfall as far as large applications are concerned. That said, supercapacitor research has been progressively changing the rules. The latest polymer development does not only have electric vehicle applications. We could also be charging mobile phones, laptops and other mobile devices in just a few seconds soon.

Last Word on the Subject from Elon Musk

The Tesla CEO has always had his finger on supercapacitors. We could be charging a car capacitor in seconds but ‘we need a breakthrough in energy density,” he says. We could not express the exciting future better than Dr. Brendan Howlin of the University of Surrey. ‘This new ultra-capacity supercapacitor has the potential to open the door to unimaginably exciting developments,’ he says.

Related

What Is A Supercapacitor?

Energy Density in a Battery

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I tripped over a shrinking bank balance and fell into the writing gig unintentionally. This was after I escaped the corporate world and searched in vain for ways to become rich on the internet by doing nothing. Despite the fact that writing is no recipe for wealth, I rather enjoy it. I will not deny I am obsessed with it when I have the time. I live in Margate on the Kwazulu-Natal south coast of South Africa. I work from home where I ponder on the future of the planet, and what lies beyond in the great hereafter. Sometimes I step out of my computer into the silent riverine forests, and empty golden beaches for which the area is renowned. Richard

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