Replace your car battery with capacitors!

[teoman]

Now that elon musk has bough maxwell our supply of caps may dry out.

[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by teoman

Now that elon musk has bough maxwell our supply of caps may dry out.

I don't think so.
Musk's mission is to replace as many ICE powered cars by EV's as possible, even if those are not Teslas. Blocking the sale of supercaps does not advance that goal.
He bought Maxwell to have access to their technology, not to end their business.

[hayden55]

Originally Posted by teoman

Now that elon musk has bough maxwell our supply of caps may dry out.

Well he made 18650's burst out the seams in supply and a couple other form factors. I think this will be a good thing. Plus salvage tesla battery packs per battery are usually unbelievable cheap per cell vs new. Should be good stuff.

[Angel And The Wolf]

Originally Posted by redneck

.
Replace your car battery with capacitors!
>

Since most hybrids use the traction battery alone for only brief periods at a time, I wonder if a group of enough of these capacitors to hold the over 200
volts dc could be a low cost replacement for a dead Prius non-lithium traction battery.

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by Angel And The Wolf

Since most hybrids use the traction battery alone for only brief periods at a time, I wonder if a group of enough of these capacitors to hold the over 200
volts dc could be a low cost replacement for a dead Prius non-lithium traction battery.

Honda was initially planning to use supercapacitors in the Insight - which was supposed to be a sports car.






Funny how much concepts change before hitting the lots, eh?

[Angel And The Wolf]

If super capacitors could be used in acceleration, a smaller engine could maintain vehicle speed.

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by Angel And The Wolf

If super capacitors could be used in acceleration, a smaller engine could maintain vehicle speed.

Precisely the point of Honda's IMA.

The Insight's 1.0L engine is geared like a V8, and in top gear may top out between 65 and 85mph at WOT, depending on conditions (headwind, wet roads, air conditioning). Peak BSFC lines up almost perfectly with the engine's RPM and load at ~55mph - around 2000rpm. The motor assist allows the car to reasonably climb slight inclines and not lose speed in top gear, or for the air conditioner to cycle on and off and not slow you down, and for the car to still accelerate to cruising speed in a reasonable time without leaving that most efficient range. If you downsized any further with the same specific output, with the target of not raising RPM at all, you simply could not maintain speed.

I imagine a newer engine might be able to downsize 5-10%, but point is that Honda and Toyota figured out 20 years ago that assist can make driving a car with the smallest practical output usable on American (or wherever) roads.

[Angel And The Wolf]

I got confused. When you said Insight, I was thinking about the CRZ, which has a pretty standard engine, and uses the electric assist to boost acceleration. Not an economy hybrid.

I don't know how small one can go on the engine in a Prius sized car and still maintain level cruising speed. I read some time ago that a full size American car just needed 35 HP to maintain highway speed, but I don't know how throttle position would affect mileage. Of course, electric assist would kick in on hills.

[Ecky]

I want to say that while the Insight's engine can crank out ~67HP at 6000rpm, it's probably only making around 22HP with the throttle wide open at 2000rpm. The 2004 Prius 1.5L is ~76HP at 5000rpm, so you're looking at a little over 30HP at 2000.

Check out the Base Specific Fuel Consumption thread for info on throttle position vs efficiency.

[jimsiggy]

I have been intrigued, by this for a while I guess I need to get off my butt and build one.