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By Dr Peter Harrop, Franco Gonzalez, Jess Armstrong and Kathryn
Greaves
IDTechEx
www.IDTechEx.com
Supercapacitor/
Ultracapacitor Strategies
and Emerging
Applications
2013-2025 Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors &
Supercabatteries AEDLC: Supplier & User
Interviews/Appraisal: Advances Creating Extra
Markets – Map to 2023
© IDTechEx Ltd
except company literature which remains the
copyright of the companies in question.
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United Kingdom
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IDTechEx GmbH
Berlin
Germany
The rights of Dr Peter Harrop, Franco Gonzalez, Jessica Armstrong and Kathryn Greaves to be identified as
the authors of this work
have been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
DISCLAIMER
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1304A
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
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Raghu Das, CEO
+ 44 1223 813703
Dr Peter Harrop, Chairman
+ 44 1256 862163
Glyn Holland, Senior Editor
+ 44 1223 813703
The authors
Dr Peter Harrop, PhD, FIEE is founder, controlling shareholder and
Chairman of IDTechEx Ltd. He was previously Chief Executive of Mars
Electronics, the $260 million .electronics company and Chairman of
Pinacl plc, the $100m fibre optic company. He has been chairman of
over 15 high tech companies. [email protected]
Franco Gonzalez is technology analyst at IDTechEx. Franco obtained an
MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development from the University
of Cambridge, where he focused on Sustainable Energy Systems. He
has a degree in Chemical Engineering from National Autonomous
University of Mexico. At IDTechEx, he is mainly involved with analysis
and research of the electric vehicles and energy harvesting industries.
Jess Armstrong and Kathryn Greaves are technical researchers for
IDTechEx and are based in the UK.
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
Contents Page 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 1
1.1. Supercapacitors and batteries converge 1
1.2. Success by application and territory 3
1.3. Most are chasing area improvement 9
1.4. Even lower temperature 10
1.5. Price and functional issues 11
1.6. Supercapacitors in vehicles 13
1.6.1. Conventional vehicles 13
1.6.2. Electric vehicles 14
1.7. Incidence of the different technologies 17
1.7.1. Incidence of manufacturers by operating principle 17
1.7.2. Incidence of current collector and active electrode types 17
1.7.3. Electrolytes 18
1.7.4. Solid electrolytes 19
1.8. Achieving the impossible 20
1.9. Manufacturers and putative manufacturers 29
1.10. New entrants 33
1.11. Supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries are now one business 33
1.12. Change of leadership of the global value market? 36
2. INTRODUCTION 39
3. ADVANCES REQUIRED AND PROGRESS IDENTIFIED 45
3.1. Supercapacitors in vehicles 48
3.2. Ensuring that supercapacitors will replace more batteries 60
4. APPLICATIONS NOW AND IN THE FUTURE 61
4.1. Pulse Power 62
4.2. Bridge Power 62
4.3. Main Power 62
4.4. Memory Backup 62
4.4.1. Evolution of commercially successful functions 64
4.4.2. Composite structural and smart skin supercapacitors for power storage 64
4.5. Manufacturer successes and strategies by application 66
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5. SURVEY OF 80 MANUFACTURERS 69
6. ACHIEVEMENTS AND OBJECTIVES BY MANUFACTURER 77
7. EXAMPLES OF NON-COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS 105
8. ELECTROLYTES BY MANUFACTURER 109
9. INTERVIEWS AND COMMENTARY ON COMPANY STRATEGY FOR SUPERCAPACITORS 117
9.1. Interviews with suppliers 117
9.1.1. Cap-XX Australia 117
9.1.2. Cellergy Israel 118
9.1.3. East Penn Manufacturing USA 118
9.1.4. Elton Super Capacitor Russian Federation 119
9.1.5. Inmatech USA 123
9.1.6. Ioxus USA 127
9.1.7. JR Micro Japan 127
9.1.8. Maxwell Technologies USA 128
9.1.9. Nanotune Technologies USA 150
9.1.10. Nesscap Energy Inc Canada/Korea 150
9.1.11. Nichicon Japan 152
9.1.12. Nippon ChemiCon/ United ChemiCon Japan 155
9.1.13. Yo-Engineering Russian Federation 159
9.1.14. Yunasko Russian Federation 160
9.2. User interviews and inputs 164
9.2.1. Bombardier Canada 164
9.2.2. Hydrogenics Corporation USA 164
9.2.3. Honda Japan 164
10. DEVELOPER, MATERIALS SUPPLIER AND ACADEMIC INPUTS 165
10.1. Daikin Industries Japan 165
10.2. Hutchinson (TOTAL) France 167
10.3. IFEVS Italy 171
10.4. Northeastern University USA 172
10.5. NYSERDA grants reveal trends of research 173
10.6. Tecate Group USA 175
10.7. Yuri Gogotski 175
APPENDIX 1: IDTECHEX PUBLICATIONS AND CONSULTANCY 179
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
Tables Page Table 1.1 Main achievements and objectives with supercapacitors and their derivatives by number of
manufacturers and putative manufacturers involved 5
Table 1.2 The ten advances that will create the largest add-on markets for supercapacitors and their
derivatives in order of importance in creating market value with examples of organisations
leading the advance 8
Table 1.3 15 examples of component displacement by supercapacitors in 2012-3 21
Table 1.4 Supercapacitor functions reaching major market acceptance 2013-2023 with some of the
companies leading the success by sector 28
Table 1.5 80 manufacturers, putative manufacturers and commercial companies developing
supercapacitors, supercabatteries and carbon-enhanced lead batteries for
commercialisation with country, website and device technology. 29
Table 2.2 Some of the pros and cons of supercapacitors 41
Table 3.1 Advances that will create the largest add-on markets for supercapacitors and their
derivatives by value in order of importance with examples of organisations leading the
advance. 45
Table 3.2 Examples of component displacement by supercapacitors. 53
Table 4.1 Supercapacitor functions reaching major market acceptance 2013-2023 with some of the
companies leading the success by sector 64
Table 5.1 80 manufacturers, putative manufacturers and commercial companies developing
supercapacitors, supercabatteries and carbon-enhanced lead batteries for
commercialisation with country, website and device technology. 71
Table 6.1 By application, for Automotive, Aerospace, Military and Oil & Gas, the successes by 78
supercapacitor/supercabattery manufacturers in grey green and their targets for extra
applications in the near term in yellow. Six sub categories are analysed 78
Table 6.2 The successes in six categories in the Utility sector by 78 supercapacitor/supercabattery
manufacturers in grey green and their targets for extra applications in the near term in
yellow 87
Table 6.3 The successes by 78 supercapacitor/supercabattery manufacturers in the Consumer and
Industrial & Commercial sectors in grey green and their targets for extra applications in the
near term in yellow. Eight sub-categories are analysed. 94
Table 7.1 Non-commercial supercapacitor developers with their country, website, industrial partner,
applications targeted 105
Table 8.1 Electrolytes used – acetonitrile solvent, other solvent or ionic liquid - by supercapacitor and
lithium supercabattery manufacturers and putative manufacturers. 111
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
Figures Page Fig. 1.1 Some of the options and some of the suppliers in the spectrum between conventional capacitors
and rechargeable batteries with primary markets shown in yellow 2
Fig. 1.2 Examination of achievement and strategy in the most important applicational sectors. Number
of manufacturers of supercapacitors and their variants that have that have supplied given
sectors vs number that target them for future expansion without having achieved significant
sales so far 4
Fig. 1.3 Probable timeline for market adoption by sector and technical achievements driving the growth
of the market for supercapacitors and their derivatives 2013-2025 with market value projections
for supercapacitors, cost and performance parameter improvements by year and, for
comparison, lithium-based batteries and pure/hybrid electric vehicles value market by year
2013-2025 7
Fig. 1.4 Some of the main ways in which greater supercapacitor energy density is being sought by the
route of increasing useful carbon area per unit volume or weight 10
Fig. 1.5 The main functions that supercapacitors will perform over the coming decade 12
Fig. 1.6 Examples of the main functions performed by supercapacitors 13
Fig. 1.7 The evolution from conventional to various types of electric vehicle related to supercapacitor
applications in them today, where hybrids and pure electric versions are a primary target 15
Fig. 1.8 Possible timeframe and technology for reaching the tipping point for sales of pure electric on-
road cars 16
Fig. 1.9 The number of manufacturers and putative manufacturers of supercapacitors/supercabatteries
by six sub-categories of technology 17
Fig. 1.10 Incidence of manufacturers of various types of supercapacitor and variant by operating principle 18
Fig. 1.11 Component displacement mapped as a function of benefits relative to batteries conferred by
supercapacitors 20
Fig. 1.12 Estimate of the number of trading manufacturers of supercapacitors and supercabatteries
globally 1993-2025 including timing of industry shakeout. 33
Fig. 2.1 Types of capacitor 39
Fig. 2.2 Symmetric supercapacitor EDLC left compared with asymmetric AEDLC ie supercabattery with
battery-like cathode (ie part electrochemical in action) shown right. During charge and
discharge, the voltage is nearly constant resulting in higher maximum voltage and twice the
capacitance of anordinary supercapacitor/ ultracapacitor 40
Fig. 2.3 Symmetric supercapacitor EDLC compared with asymmetric AEDLC ie supercabattery with
lithiated carbon anode (ie entirely electrostatic in action) shown right 40
Fig. 2.4 Eight families of option and some of the suppliers in the spectrum between conventional
capacitors and rechargeable batteries with primary markets shown in yellow 42
Fig. 3.1 The main functions that supercapacitors will perform over the coming decade 47
Fig. 3.2 Examples of the main functions performed by supercapacitors. Those in black are currently only
achieved with a flammable, carcinogenic electrolyte – acrylonitrile – but this will change 48
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Fig. 3.3 The evolution from conventional to various types of electric vehicle related to supercapacitor
applications in them today, where hybrids and pure electric versions are a primary target. 49
Fig. 3.4 Possible timeframe and technology for reaching the tipping point for sales of pure electric on-
road cars 50
Fig. 3.5 Component displacement mapped as a function of benefits relative to batteries conferred by
supercapacitors 51
Fig. 3.6 Siemens view in 2012 of the elements of Electrical Bus Rapid Transit eBRT, for example,
mentioning U-Caps meaning supercapacitors 52
Fig. 4.1 Examples of applications of the ULTIMO Cell 63
Fig. 4.2 Structural supercapacitor as flexible film. 65
Fig. 4.3 Primary demand for energy storage for battery-like products in Europe in 2020, which will be
satisfied by batteries, supercapacitors, intermediate products and combinations of these 67
Fig. 5.1 Incidence of the different technologies 74
Fig. 5.2 Number of manufacturers offering the various supercapacitor technologies including
derivatives, some companies having several options 75
Fig. 5.3 Estimate of the number of trading manufacturers of supercapacitors and supercabatteries
globally 1993-2025 including timing of industry shakeout. 76
Fig. 9.1 UltrabatteryTM for medium hybrid vehicles 118
Fig. 9.2 Inmatech Innovations 124
Fig. 9.3 Supercapacitor market and Inmatech 124
Fig. 9.4 Maxwell Technologies flat supercapacitor for mobile phones etc. exhibited at EVS26 Los
Angeles 128
Fig. 9.5 Nichicon supercapacitor emphasis at EVS26 Los Angeles 2012 153
Fig. 9.6 Supercapacitor-based electric vehicle fast charging stations launched in 2012 by Nichicon. 155
Fig. 9.7 Mazda car supercapacitor exhibited at EVS26 Los Angeles 2012 156
Fig. 9.8 Nippon Chemi-Con low resistance DXE Series priority shown in 2012 157
Fig. 9.9 Exhibit by United ChemiCon at EVS26 Los Angeles 158
Fig. 10.1 Daikin Industries display on fluorination of supercapacitor electrolytes 166
Fig. 10.2 Extracts from Hutchinson presentation at eCarTec Munich October 2012 168
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1. Executive summary and
conclusions Our report, “Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors: Supercapacitors 2013-2023” introduced the
subject, gave overall market forecasts, examples of research trends, analysis of patents and
achievements and it briefly profiled the manufacturers and putative manufacturers. By popular
request, we now look much more closely at the applications and technology today and in future and
company strategy in matching the two as they rapidly evolve. We address when certain new
applications will be identified and taken seriously plus when currently-impracticable applications
will become viable. Yes, the market is limited by unimaginative copy-cat marketing as well as
technological advance. This new report is based on extensive interviews and searches to reveal the
trends and lessons. Mainly, it consists of detailed tables of new analysis and roadmaps to 2025.
1.1. Supercapacitors and batteries converge
Traditionally, rechargeable batteries have been used as energy dense products and the other
devices based on capacitors have been used as power dense products. There are more-power-
dense versions of the favourite rechargeable batteries – lithium-ion with 70% or so of the
rechargeable battery market in 2023. Unfortunately, power dense rechargeable batteries surrender
a lot of energy density. It is therefore helpful that more and more energy dense supercapacitors
and variants are becoming available, some even matching lead acid batteries and yet retaining
excellent power density. This convergence of properties has led to the widespread combination of
the two in parallel, particularly in power applications. Battery/ supercapacitor combinations
approach the performance of an ideal battery – something that can never be achieved with a battery
alone because its chemical reactions cause movement, swelling and eventually irreversability. In
some cases, things have gone further. For example, hybrid buses using supercapacitors now rarely
use them across the traction battery – the supercapacitor replaces the battery, the only battery
remaining in the vehicle being a small lead-acid starter battery.
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Many more variants are now available, so there is now almost a continuum of devices between
conventional electrolytic capacitors and rechargeable batteries as we show below. The examples of
manufacturers, that are given below, illustrate how battery manufacturers and conventional
capacitor manufacturers are entering the business of devices intermediate between the two.
However, rather surprisingly, most of the intermediate devices are developed and manufactured by
companies not in either conventional capacitors or batteries. Although we use the term
intermediate devices, some have some properties superior to both conventional capacitors and
rechargeable batteries.
Fig. 1.1 Some of the options and some of the suppliers in the spectrum between conventional capacitors
and rechargeable batteries with primary markets shown in yellow
Conventional
symmetrical
(bipolar) solid
capacitor
Conventional
electrolytic
capacitor
Etched
aluminium foil
oxidised Al2O3
or sintered
tantalum
oxidised Ta2O5
“Hybrid
capacitor”
Super
Capacitor
electrode
plus sintered
tantalum
oxide Ta2O5
electrode
Symmetric
Super-
Capacitor ie
Electrochemical
Double Layer
Cpacitor
Asymmetric intermediate devices Rechargeable
battery
Supercabattery ie
Asymmetric
Electrochemical Double
Layer Capacitor AEDLC
Pseudo-
Capacitor eg
RuO2
Nippon
Chemi-con
Nichicon
AVX
Nippon
Chemi-con
Nichicon
Evans Maxwell
Technologies
Nippon Chemi-
con
Nichicon
AVX
Panasonic
Batscap
With battery
anode and
supercap.
cathode
JRMicro
With battery
cathode and
supercap
anode
East Penn
Furukawa
Evans
Capacitor
Panasonic
Batscap
Electrostatic
Partly electrostatic and
partly electrochemical
(faradaic)
Electro-
chemical
Source IDTechEx
Let us define the pseudocapacitance. There are two types of charge storage that can occur at the
interface: pseudocapacitance and electrochemical double layer capacitance. For example, if the
electrode is a carbon nanotube with some functional groups on it or nanoparticles that allow
intercalation of Li ions, then electron transfer reaction (Faradaic reaction) occurs at the surface of
the electrode, and this type of capacitance is called ‘pseudocapacitance’. Currently it gives a more
expensive capacitor because of use of ruthenium with higher capacitance and certain performance
limits so Evans capacitor sells them to the military for instance. Faradaic phenomena usually limit
INCREASING ENERGY DENSITY
INCREASING POWER DENSITY
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the life to electrostatic devices, something also seen in the hybrid devices with one battery-like
electrode and one battery-like (faradaic) one. Currently the market for faradaic variants of
supercapacitors, notably pseudocapacitors and supercabatteries is about one hundredth of that for
fully electrostatic supercapacitors and they are unlikely to ever dominate because most
applications need fit and forget and fastest charge-discharge (power density) and greatest safety
and reliability. Where highest energy density is needed, that may be provided by any of the three
options in years to come – opinion is divided. IDTechEx sees the biggest market value being
supercapacitors then supercabatteries in ten years from now.
If no Faradaic reaction is allowed, charges can only be physically absorbed in to the double layer
without any electron transfers. In this case we only have purely electrostatic double-layer
capacitance the primary topic of this report. As MIT reports, “When we view the
electrode/electrolyte interface as a black box, we only see that ions and electrons enter and are
stored at a given voltage, and it is difficult to distinguish whether charge is stored capacitively or
Faradaically. The time scales and nonlinear response of each process is very different, however, so
it is possible to separate these processes from experimental data using suitable mathematical
models.”
1.2. Success by application and territory
A multi-billion dollar market for supercapacitors and their variants is emerging within the decade,
so creation of a one billion dollar manufacturer will be feasible, certainly by 2025. Put at its
simplest, the lesson of the extensive interviews and investigations carried out for this report show
that, if you want to create such a billion dollar supercapacitor company, whatever else you do, you
sell into the automotive sector, land, water and airborne but particularly land – off and on-road -
for the next decade and secondarily the utility sector . You must work to increase energy density
and reduce cost, if necessary by making the variant called the lithium-ion capacitor, though several
participants believe that symmetric supercapacitors are all you need to make these gains. You
must make acquisitions and creatively market, opening up new applications with customised
products such as drop-in battery replacements. Large companies will have an advantage in taking
the ever bigger orders available from a relatively small number of large automotive companies and
utilities. Our study reveals that, although the early supercapacitor orders were for small devices in
electronics such as CMOS backup, we have passed through a period where electrical engineering
applications have become more important. Indeed, they will now be by far the most important. Let
us look at the evidence.
Our study of 78 manufacturers and putative manufacturers shows the following achievements and
intentions to enter a sector to be pre-eminent. The minor differences in numbers are not of
significance. However, on these criteria, this is an industry that has sharply changed direction and
this is reinforced by other evidence we present.
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Fig. 1.2 Examination of achievement and strategy in the most important applicational sectors. Number of
manufacturers of supercapacitors and their variants that have that have supplied given sectors vs
number that target them for future expansion without having achieved significant sales so far
Industrial &
Commercial
Vehicles Consumer Utility Aerospace &
Military
Achievement 43 33 32
28 18
Intention 11
16
10
11
10
Total number of
manufacturers
targeting these
sectors
54
49 42 39 28
Source IDTechEx
This conclusion is supported by the facts that market leader Maxwell Technologies derived its
largest business from buses in 2012 and the largest order in that year was the Meidensha/Sojitz
$318 million (¥25bn) contract to supply two 2 MW Capapost regenerated energy storage units for
Hong Kong’s South Island Line metro project. Another large commitment was for Batscap to
supply large supercapacitors to go across the batteries in 22,000 Bluecars its parent company is
making for open rental in Paris and more are being made for open sale. That may be of the order of
$20 million. The similar application in Mazda pure electric cars also in 2012 may also involve a
substantial commitment. So the largest recent orders and the main delivery by the market leader
are in vehicles and vehicle/utility-related project. Everything points to the largest market for
supercapacitors now being in electrical engineering rather than electronics, the easy entry point
for beginners.
Our more detailed results below support this, though mobile phones are also a strong interest
where supercapacitor prices of one thousandth may eventually be compensated by selling one
thousand times the number. Most of the most popular potential markets will involve large orders
from a few companies, so there will be few winners, these being large suppliers in all likelihood. In
the case of the automotive industry, these large suppliers will sometimes not be the traditional Tier
One suppliers, the supercapacitor suppliers bypassing the traditional Tier One suppliers as has
already happened with supply of automotive lithium-ion batteries. Now for the detail.
Largest
recent
orders
Largest
recent
orders
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Table 1.1 Main achievements and objectives with supercapacitors and their derivatives by number of
manufacturers and putative manufacturers involved
Total interest Achievement Interest for the future
1. Office equipment, medical
and small electronics
47
Attracting
most
suppliers
42 5
2. Hybrid & pure electric on-
road vehicles
42 23 19 STRONG. Very large orders
will be available from a
relatively limited number of
customers
3. Conventional on-road
vehicles
34 20 14 STRONG. Very large orders
will be available from a
relatively limited number of
customers
4. Mobile phone & camera 32 7 25 STRONG Very large orders
will be available from a
relatively limited number of
customers
5. Remotely-read utility
meters
21 19 2
6. Vehicles off-road 27 9 18 STRONG Very large orders
will be available from a
relatively limited number of
customers
7. Photovoltaics 24 9 15 STRONG Very large orders
will be available from a
relatively limited number of
customers
8. Wind turbines 22 18 4
9. Train, trolleybus & tram 21 11 10 STRONG Very large orders
will be available from a
relatively limited number of
customers
10. Military 21 12 9
11. Toys & other consumer 20 19 1
12. Grid power factor
correction and frequency
control
18 6 12 STRONG Very large orders
will be available from a
relatively limited number of
customers but there are
many competing options
13. Audio 18 17 2
14. Grid storage 16 6 10 STRONG Very large orders
may be available from a
relatively limited number of
customers but there are
many competing options
15. Other energy harvesting
including thermoelectric
and piezoelectric
14 4 10 STRONG Large orders may
be available from a relatively
limited number of customers
16. Standby power & UPS not
on a grid scale
13 6 7
17. Aerospace 11 8 3
18. Telecoms inc GSM/GPRS
PC cards
7 6 1
19. Oil & Gas 5 4 1
20. Gaming machines 4 3 1
21. Heavy pulse power :
welding, metal forming,
robotics
4 2 2
Source IDTechEx
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Location of suppliers
Supercapacitors and their variants will be a multi-billion dollar business in 10 years mainly served
by the USA, Russia, Japan and Korea, if current trends continue. Europeans are users notably in
trains and buses, but, as suppliers, they are almost fast asleep with little leadership beyond
Skeleton Technologies in Estonia and a skimpy research base.
Indeed, the main reason that market leader Maxwell Technologies saw its supercapacitor sales
growth drop to single digits in 2012 was weakness in Europe. Maxwell Technologies has
supercapacitor sales of the order of $100 million with China being its strongest territory throughout
2012. With rapid increase in the number of manufacturers of supercapacitors and their variants,
Maxwell Technologies may be losing market share particularly to the rapidly growing number of
local suppliers in East Asia, one of which took the largest order in the world in 2012. Market growth
continuing at 30% or more is largely driven by East Asian demand supplied locally by a host of new
manufacturers but also underpinned by rapid adoption in such things as cars, buses, wind turbines
and backup power from the micro to the grid level in the other parts of the world.
A probable timeline for market adoption and technical achievements driving the growth of the
market for supercapacitors and their derivatives is as follows. Our projection of 30% compound
growth is supported by Nesscap commencing to triple output and Maxwell to increase it by 30%.
Additional supporting facts are the large increase in value of the largest orders being taken, the
growth of the end user markets such as bus production and the large number of new
manufacturers and applications continuing. Our interviews confirmed that suppliers see double
digit growth in future and our projection is one of the lowest among analysts.
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Fig. 1.3 Probable timeline for market adoption by sector and technical achievements driving the growth of
the market for supercapacitors and their derivatives 2013-2025 with market value projections for
supercapacitors, cost and performance parameter improvements by year and, for comparison,
lithium-based batteries and pure/hybrid electric vehicles value market by year 2013-2025
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2025
Super-
capacitor/
super-
cabattery
global
market
$ billion
0.84 1.1 1.42 1.85 2.41 3.13 4.07 5.29 6.87 8.93 11.6 19.6
Market leader Maxwell Technologies either buys companies,
gets bought or loses its market leadership. Will the NASDAQ
listing lead to short-termism or to funding?
Nippon Chemi-Con/United Chemi-Con gains share. Most of the
top players in supercapacitors/ supercabatteries lose market
share if only because so many new companies enter the
business
Increased percentage of sales are
supercabatteries and green
supercapacitors. Number of
manufacturers rises to 200 then
consolidation begins
First $1bn
manufacturers
created, mainly by
acquisitions
Li-ion
battery
market
$ billion
25.3 27.8 30.6 33.7 37.0 40.7 44.8 49.3 54.2 59.7 65.6 79.6
An increasing percentage of lithium-ion battery sales will generate the sale of a supercapacitor to go across it
Supercap/
Super
cabatttery
best
Wh/kg in
lab.with at
least
10kW/kg
45 47 49 52 56 61 67 74 93 96 200 300
Nano
Tune
Nano
Tune
plans
this with
up to
30kW/kg
in 2014
Half of
Li-ion
battery
energy
density,
closing
the gap
Super
cap/
Superca
bat.
best
Wh/kg in
volume
prodn
15 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 67 85 93 100
Serious impact on
lead acid battery
market which starts
to shrink rapidly for
many reasons
Serious impact on
lithium-ion battery
market which
continues to be
several times
larger but grows
more slowly
Cost $/kW
of power
version
10kW/kg,
5Wh/kg,
0.1mOhm
ESR
13 12 10 9.8 9.5 9.1 8.7 6.5
Yunasko
targets this
for 2014
Yunasko targets
This in 2020
Li-ion or
LiMetal
battery
Wh/kg in
prod-
uction
130 140 300 320 340 360 380 400 420 460 500 600
Envia
Systems
demo’d this
in lab in
2012.
Pure EV
car sales
surge
In 2012,
Nikkei
wrote
that
Toyota is
working
on this
Hybrid &
Pure
Electric
Vehicles
land, water
and
airborne
global EV
market
$ billion
64 75 87 104 123 145 172 206 242 264 290 322
An increasing percentage of hybrid and pure electric vehicles will use a large fast charge/discharge or main power
supercapacitor /supercabattery plus many small supercapacitors for regenerative brake backup, emergency door opening,
power circuit balancing etc
Integrated units will gradually become popular where the supercapacitor/ supercabattery is part of a more comprehensive
module, some of these modules being made by the supercapacitor manufacturer.
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2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2025
Gap closing
between energy
density of
supercapacitors/
supercabatteries
and batteries and
costs reduced,
boosting
applications.
Super
cap locos
in prod-
uction in
China. This
gives
limited
operation
without
catenary
Fuel cell cars, buses
and trucks in
production from
several major makers
many with power
supercapacitors
across the fuel cell
Most new phones &
cameras have
supercapacitor
flash. Apple USA
becomes a large
purchaser of
supercapacitors.
Samsung and Toyota
major on
supercapacitors as a
key enabling
technology for their
products
100K wind turbines installed
with supercapacitor pitch
control
Most hybrid buses made have
a supercapacitor instead
of a battery.
China over 70% of global bus
market and supplied locally
with buses and their
supercapacitors
Graphene supercapacitors in
volume production.
Green supercapacitors outsell
Others
Extensive sale of
supercapacitors/
supercabatteries as structural
components in vehicles,
phones etc.
Surge in consumer and hand-
tool applications
Wind
3-5% of
China’s
power –
big
supercap
market
including
Power
balancing
Chinese
get the
business
Supercapacitors
in most new
on-road ICE stop-
start vehicles.
Largest market is
in East Asia and
supplied locally
Supercapacitors
In power for most
material
handling vehicles
Super
caps widely
used for grid
power smooth
& other grid and
green power uses
Many
hand tools
use super
cap not battery
and they are used
as smart skin on
vehicles etc.
Source IDTechEx
The primary advances that will create the largest add-on markets by value will be the following in
order of importance.
Table 1.2 The ten advances that will create the largest add-on markets for supercapacitors and their
derivatives in order of importance in creating market value with examples of organisations
leading the advance
Feature Examples of organisations leading, or claiming to lead, this
advance
1. Affordable, greater gravimetric and, less
important, volumetric energy density particularly
because it will allow more batteries to be
completely replaced and, where the
supercapacitor is used across a battery to protect
it and enhance its performance, less battery will
be needed. Less battery means improved system
reliability and potentially lower cost, not just
improved performance. Where this is achieved by
higher cell voltage there are other benefits such
as greater reliability and lower cost of high
voltage stacks because they have fewer
interconnects.
This is achieved by increasing cell voltage and/or
capacitance because E=0.5CV2
Cell voltage records are being set by Vina Technology, and
Nisshinbo both at 3V and JM Energy 3.8V (LiC) LithChem
Energy 3.9V at present. C is increased primarily by
increasing the usable active electrode area or making a
supercabattery but there is also scope to move from thick
current collectors, presently at up to 40 microns to thinner
ones, maybe down to 5 microns. Those tackling electrode
area successfully include
State University of New York at Binghampton
Elbit Systems
Graphene Energy
JR Micro
Nanotune Technologies
Skeleton Technologies
University of Kentucky
Yunasko
2. Lower price for existing capabilities Chinese suppliers
Maxwell Technologies
Inmatech
ApowerCap Technologies
NanoTune
3. More imaginative marketing opening up new
applications
Nippon Chemi-Con
Maxwell Technologies
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Feature Examples of organisations leading, or claiming to lead, this
advance
4. Guaranteed 20 year life. The best supercapacitors
probably last at least 20 years but commercial
guarantees rarely exceed ten years and are often
less.
JM Energy
5. Higher frequency of operation, improved pulse
operation
Evans Capacitor
Cellergy
Elbit Systems
6. Green, non-flammable versions with as good or
better capabilities than the often flammable,
poisonous organic versions, some of which
contain liquids that can cause birth defects and
cancer such as acetonitrile. In the past this has
been less of a problem. This was because most
were used in electronics with such small amounts
of liquid that most regulations concerning
transport of them, uses where they may be split
open and disposal conditions were not onerous.
However, now the electrical engineering
applications dominate, usually with bigger
supercapacitors containing more of the
dangerous liquids such as acetonitrile, colliding
with more of the existing regulations. Research
has revealed new malign physiological effects
leading to greater caution and potentially tougher
regulations
Advanced Capacitor Technology
Asahi Kasei/FDK
CDE Cornell Dubilier
Cellergy
Elbit Systems
FDK
Hitachi
Inmatech
Kankyu battery
NEC
Nichicon
Nippon Chemi-Con
Panasonic
Power System Co.
Taiyo Yuden
Tavrima
Vina Technology
7. Greater power density Case Western Reserve University
Inmatech
ApowerCap Technologies
8. Reduced self-leakage
9. Reduce capacitance loss during discharge and
during life
University of West Florida
10. New form factors such as smart skin, electronic
wallpaper, stretchable, transfer printed,
implantable, edible, dissolves in the human body
Paper Battery Company
Advanced Biomimetic Sensors
University of Texas at Dallas
Imperial College London
OptiXtal
Source IDTechEx
1.3. Most are chasing area improvement
In the quest for the top priority of volumetric and gravimetric energy density improvement, most
are chasing wider useful active electrode area that is affordable and not degraded over life. This
quest is summarised below. The more advanced forms cost more per gram and can be more
delicate, calling for special measures (expense) to make them stable and effective (eg not
agglomerating to lose area) throughout supercapacitor life but the hope is that they will be lower
cost per kWh stored. Indeed, many professors believe that something near to their theoretical
potential may be achievable and this could exceed the energy density of lithium-ion batteries
existing and planned, severely impacting sale of such batteries. However, for now, no
supercapacitor or even supercabattery in production exceeds the energy density of lead-acid
batteries 20-40 Wh/kg and most are no more than 10-15 Wh/kg. It is ironical that the adhesion and
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series resistance problems of lithium-ion batteries caused by swelling and movement during use,
due to the electrochemistry, recur in supercapacitors for a different reason. Here the active
electrode layer is more delicate and presents much less area to the current collector that can be
gripped, so adhesion and series resistance are still challenging even though the supercapacitor,
being electrostatic in action, does not swell and shrink during cycling.
Fig. 1.4 Some of the main ways in which greater supercapacitor energy density is being sought by the route
of increasing useful carbon area per unit volume or weight
Source IDTechEx
1.4. Even lower temperature
Supercapacitors are already popular in cold countries because they lose only a few percent of
charge availability at minus twenty to minus forty degrees centigrade. Maxwell Technologies
successfully offers a drop-in replacement for one of the three lead acid batteries in a typical truck
so it can start cold after hotel facilities have drained some of the lead-acid power overnight and
these low temperatures make up to 50% of what remains in the lead-acid batteries unavailable but
there is even more to go. Drexel University reported as follows in March 2012.
“Many people can relate to the hardship of starting a vehicle during a bitter cold morning before
work. It takes a huge amount of power relative to a warm sunny day for two reasons: the
mechanical parts of an engine require more power to start moving when cold (motor oil becomes
viscous, like honey), and the battery operates at a very low efficiency because the ions in electrolyte
solution move much slower at freezing temperatures.
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A collaboration between researchers at Drexel University in Philadelphia, The University of Texas at
Austin, and Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France have recently engineered a supercapacitor
system that can operate efficiently at very low temperatures - as low as -50 °C (-58 °F). Just
published in the journal Nano Energy, their work involves a unique nanostructured carbon material
deemed activated microwave exfoliated graphite oxide ("a-MEGO"), which was inspired by the
recent interest in graphene. Graphene, which is an atomically thin layer of carbon, has many
applications in energy storage and generation.
Combined with a-MEGO is an electrolyte called an ionic liquid. These are salts like sodium chloride,
but are liquid at room temperature or below. The a-MEGO material has a high surface area, with
about 2 grams having the surface area of a football field; as a result, a-MEGO is able to store a
large amount of charge on its surface as a supercapacitor. The unique electrolyte, which is a
mixture of ionic liquids, allows for operation at low temperature. Commercial supercapacitors, by
comparison, use an electrolyte that will fail at temperatures below -25 °C (-13 °F). Finally,
supercapacitors will last for more than 10 years and up to 1 million charge/discharge cycles,
compared to batteries that will last a couple years for about 1 thousand cycles. Imagine never
having to change your car battery!
This study reinforces the potential of graphene in energy storage applications, but also
demonstrates that only the right combination of an electrode material and an electrolyte leads to
truly outstanding performance. This opens the door to development of even better supercapacitors
using safe and non-flammable ionic liquid electrolytes.”
1.5. Price and functional issues
Today, the upfront cost of a supercapacitor is almost never lower than the component or circuit
replaced such as a tantalum or aluminium electrolytic capacitor or a battery. Despite this, the high
up front cost of a supercapacitor does not prevent the occurrence of cost saving over life for
systems where supercapacitors are introduced. This is partly because supercapacitors last longer
and take more punishment than batteries.
The main functions that supercapacitors will perform over the coming decade are shown below
with examples of appropriate applications. Relative to batteries, working at very low temperatures
and fast charging without fast discharging in a given application are less important than the other
functions and combinations of function shown relative to batteries. Note that most of them can be
described as electrical engineering rather than electronics, this being the trend in market value as
well. Pulse power and bridging power applications tend to combine high power density ie fast
charging and fast discharging relative to batteries.
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Fig. 1.5 The main functions that supercapacitors will perform over the coming decade
FAST DISCHARGE Pulse power & bridging power
Alone Alone
FAST CHARGE
LOW TEMPERATUREEG -40C
SAFETY, LONGLIFEHIGH RELIABILITY
MAINAPPLICATIONS
2013-2023
Source IDTechEx
These benefits are particularly useful in replacing, partially replacing, enhancing and extending the
life of rechargeable batteries.
Examples of the main functions performed by supercapacitors in 2013 are shown below.
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Fig. 1.6 Examples of the main functions performed by supercapacitors
Low temperature starting is currently only achieved with a flammable, carcinogenic electrolyte –
acrylonitrile – but this will change. Indeed, Nippon Chemi-Con and several others have recently
claimed -40oC performance with aqueous electrolytes.
GSE = Airport ground support equipment such as aircraft tugs and baggage towing
ICE = Internal Combustion Engine
EV = Electric vehicle hybrid or pure electric, land, water or air
Source IDTechEx
1.6. Supercapacitors in vehicles
1.6.1. Conventional vehicles
There are now many applications of supercapacitors in conventional vehicles such as racing car
starter and opening an electric bus door in an emergency. Stop-start idle-elimination systems
reduce fuel consumption and emissions by shutting off a car's internal combustion engine as the
vehicle slows, and seamlessly restarting the engine when the driver requires to drive off. The
millions of conventional vehicles with this are called “microhybrids” because are usually not
electric vehicles in that they usually do not have electric traction, these vehicles that automatically
switch off when stopped, however briefly and sometimes even when coasting, usually employ
improved lead acid batteries to do this. Peugeot Citroen of France uses lithium-ion batteries in
their piston engine cars for stop-start given that the lead acid batteries cannot cope with frequent
stop start or even very cold weather. Now there is another development even here because none of
these solutions are “fit and forget”. In December 2012, Lamborghini announced that it will
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incorporate Maxwell “ultracapacitors” to support a stop-start idle-elimination system in their
Aventador conventional cars which are due to go into production shortly. The idle-elimination
system is an important element of Lamborghini's announced program to reduce its new models'
CO2 emissions by 35 percent by 2015. Incorporating the six-cell ultracapacitor module for added
cranking power to ensure efficient restarting for the 12-cylinder, 700-horse power Aventador also
enabled Lamborghini to reduce the size and weight of the battery to further enhance performance.
The system originally was designed by Dimac, Maxwell's ultracapacitor distribution partner in Italy.
The production system will be supplied by the Continental Engineering Services unit of Continental
AG, one of the world's leading automotive electronics and mechatronics suppliers. Ultracapacitors
provide burst power to re-start the engine, relieving the car's battery of high current, repetitive
cycling that can shorten battery life.
"This design win with one of the world's leading producers of high-performance autos provides
additional validation of ultracapacitors as an enabling technology for fuel-efficiency and reduced
emissions in passenger, commercial and public transit vehicles," said David Schramm, Maxwell's
president and chief executive officer. "We continue to focus on penetrating the large and
strategically important automotive and transportation markets by aligning ourselves with industry
leaders such as Lamborghini and Continental, and continuously strengthening our design,
engineering and production capabilities."
1.6.2. Electric vehicles
Clearly vehicles are a major focus because the properties of existing supercapacitors are
appropriate to many functions in vehicles. A more detailed view of the vehicle market is shown
below.
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Fig. 1.7 The evolution from conventional to various types of electric vehicle related to supercapacitor
applications in them today, where hybrids and pure electric versions are a primary target
Source IDTechEx
In contrast to the massive success with pure electric e-bikes, which sometimes use
supercapacitors, forklift and boats, the pure electric on-road cars are a failure today. They sell
globally at a fraction of the number of even pure electric golf cars where demand is 150,000 yearly,
let alone pure electric power chairs and 3 and 4 wheel scooters for the disabled at around 1.3
million yearly or pure electric e-bikes at over 30 million yearly.
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Pure electric cars will attain the necessary affordable 320 -480 km/ 200-300 miles range in ten
years because there are so many development routes to this:
Lithium-ion batteries: Altria 300Wh/kg & Toyota 600Wh/kg?
Lithium metal batteries: IBM/Argonne, BASF/Sion, Kolibri, Oxis, Bollore Batscap <300WH/kg
so far
Graphene supercapacitors: several professors say 1000Wh/kg potential or more.
Supercabatteries in the form of lithium-ion capacitors
Lots of little things including multiple energy harvesting, light weight aerodynamic bodies,
composites, more efficient and printed electrics save 40% of cost, space, weight
However, although supercapacitors will have a part to play in the future success of pure electric
cars, we believe that will not be as the primary source of power even by the end of the coming
decade. Supercapacitors will be across the battery in a minority of cases. In our opinion, what will
cause the tipping point will be a combination of 1 and 5 in the main. A possible timeframe is shown
below.
Fig. 1.8 Possible timeframe and technology for reaching the tipping point for sales of pure electric on-road
cars
Source IDTechEx
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1.7. Incidence of the different technologies
1.7.1. Incidence of manufacturers by operating principle
The number of manufacturers and putative manufacturers of supercapacitors/supercabatteries by
six sub-categories of technology is shown below.
Fig. 1.9 The number of manufacturers and putative manufacturers of supercapacitors/supercabatteries by
six sub-categories of technology
Symmetric supercapacitor EDLC
6574%
Supercabattery based on lithium LiC
1416%
Ionicliquid
6%
Supercabattery based on nickel battery
AEDLCNi 2
2%
Pseudocapacitor RuO2 part electrostatic, part
electrochemical2
2%
Tantalum electrolytic/ supercapacitor
TaHybrid 1
1%
Source IDTechEx
1.7.2. Incidence of current collector and active electrode
types
Current collectors are mainly aluminium for symmetrical EDLCs. The active electrode material is
mainly vegetable-derived carbon which is “activated” by solvents to give high area and an active
surface generating efficient electrochemical double layers. An increasing minority use larger-area
carbon such as carbon from carbide, aerogel carbon, carbon nanotubes CNT or nano-onions or
graphene, sometimes curved to deter re-agglomeration, though much of this work is currently pre-
production and not yet anywhere near to its theoretical capacitance and energy density or even
significantly better than coconut-based active-electrode carbon in supercapacitors. Some cells are
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reaching higher voltage giving the prospect of higher energy density and reliability, since fewer
interconnects are generated and energy density is proportional to the square of voltage. The
current collectors are usually aluminium foil for acetonitrile and other organic electrolytes and 3D
conductive polymer film for aqueous electrolytes though pre-coating aluminium foil with a carbon-
based elastomer is being trialled to protect the foil from aqueous electrolyte. Such slot coated
eleastonmers are often used to grip difficult active electrode materials such as graphene and CNT.
1.7.3. Electrolytes
It is the electrolyte that burns in a supercapacitor just as it is in lithium-ion batteries. In both cases
the traditional electrolytes are wet and toxic (eg giving off HCN that can kill in an enclosed space) in
the main. Accordingly, solid/ gel polymer electrolytes were developed for both that lack the toxicity.
They can still be flammable but to less an extent than volatile acetonitrile and they are usually not
subject to the stringent regulations restricting transport and use of large acetonitrile
supercapacitors. With supercapacitors things have gone farther than with batteries, so many
manufacturers now offer, usually exclusively, aqueous electrolytes such as sufuric acid. They have
very little restriction concerning disposal after use. The choice of electrolytes is therefore
acetonitrile, which is alleged to cause birth defects and cancer, and a rapidly increasing percentage
of companies that offer aqueous electrolytes or the relatively new ionic liquids that are inherently
ionically conductive, needing no solvent. The distribution is shown below
Incidence of acetonitrile, aqueous electrolytes/solid polymer electrolytes and ionic liquids by
number of supercapacitor and supercabattery manufacturer using them.
Fig. 1.10 Incidence of manufacturers of various types of supercapacitor and variant by operating principle
Acetonitrile51%
Aqueous43%
Ionicliquid6%
Source IDTechEx
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1.7.4. Solid electrolytes
In March 2013, it was announced that scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed
the first high-performance, nanostructured solid electrolyte for more energy-dense lithium ion
batteries.
Today's lithium-ion batteries rely on a liquid electrolyte, the material that conducts ions between
the negatively charged anode and positive cathode. But liquid electrolytes often entail safety issues
because of their flammability, especially as researchers try to pack more energy in a smaller
battery volume. Building batteries with a solid electrolyte, as ORNL researchers have
demonstrated, could overcome these safety concerns and size constraints.
"To make a safer, lightweight battery, we need the design at the beginning to have safety in mind,"
said ORNL's Chengdu Liang, who led the newly published study in the Journal of the American
Chemical Society. "We started with a conventional material that is highly stable in a battery system
- in particular one that is compatible with a lithium metal anode."
The ability to use pure lithium metal as an anode could ultimately yield batteries five to 10 times
more powerful than current versions, which employ carbon based anodes.
"Cycling highly reactive lithium metal in flammable organic electrolytes causes serious safety
concerns," Liang said. "A solid electrolyte enables the lithium metal to cycle well, with highly
enhanced safety."
The ORNL team developed its solid electrolyte by manipulating a material called lithium
thiophosphate so that it could conduct ions 1,000 times faster than its natural bulk form. The
researchers used a chemical process called nanostructuring, which alters the structure of the
crystals that make up the material.
"Think about it in terms of a big crystal of quartz vs. very fine beach sand," said coauthor Adam
Rondinone. "You can have the same total volume of material, but it's broken up into very small
particles that are packed together. It's made of the same atoms in roughly the same proportions,
but at the nanoscale the structure is different. And now this solid material conducts lithium ions at
a much greater rate than the original large crystal."
The researchers are continuing to test lab scale battery cells, and a patent on the team's invention
is pending.
"We use a room-temperature, solution-based reaction that we believe can be easily scaled up,"
Rondinone said. "It's an energy-efficient way to make large amounts of this material."
For information about industry collaboration opportunities, please visit the ORNL Partnerships
website at http://www.ornl.gov/adm/partnerships/index.shtml
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The study is published as "Anomalous High Ionic Conductivity of Nanoporous ß-Li3PS4," and its
ORNL coauthors are Zengcai Liu, Wujun Fu, Andrew Payzant, Xiang Yu, Zili Wu, Nancy Dudney, Jim
Kiggans, Kunlun Hong, Adam Rondinone and Chengdu Liang. The work was sponsored by the
Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering in DOE's Office of Science.
The materials synthesis and characterization were supported by the Center for Nanophase
Materials Sciences at ORNL. CNMS is one of the five DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers
supported by the DOE Office of Science, premier national user facilities for interdisciplinary
research at the nanoscale. Together the NSRCs comprise a suite of complementary facilities that
provide researchers with state-of-the-art capabilities to fabricate, process, characterize and model
nanoscale materials, and constitute the largest infrastructure investment of the National
Nanotechnology Initiative. The NSRCs are located at DOE's Argonne, Brookhaven, Lawrence
Berkeley, Oak Ridge and Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories. For more information about
the DOE NSRCs, please visit http://science.energy.gov/bes/suf/user-facilities/nanoscale-science-
research-centers/ . ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy's Office of
Science.
1.8. Achieving the impossible
In many cases something previously impossible is achieved by introducing supercapacitors. In
others, the performance of an existing component is enhanced by having a supercapacitor across it
or by replacing it. Here are some examples.
Fig. 1.11 Component displacement mapped as a function of benefits relative to batteries conferred by
supercapacitors
Source IDTechEx
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Relative to electrolytic capacitors, previously the capacitors with highest energy density,
supercapacitors have few of the above advantages. Here their advantages mainly relate to higher
capacitance and power density than the best capacitors in this respect and, for very high
capacitance, sometimes lower cost partly due to the mounting, connection and enclosure costs of
the equivalent huge array of electrolytic capacitors, which bring with them many extra failure
modes and even greater size if they are to be non-polar like most supercapacitors. However, there
are far fewer market opportunities in this as opposed to replacing or partly replacing batteries.
Only a few years ago, the major automotive and railway rolling stock manufacturers rarely saw
supercapacitors as part of their toolkit. However, nowadays almost all of them do. A Siemens view
presented in 2012 of the elements of Electrical Bus Rapid Transit eBRT, for example, mentioned
supercapacitors as part of the new design toolkit. Below we give just a few examples of the way in
which supercapacitors and their variants are replacing, or partly replacing other components,
particularly rechargeable batteries, this despite their energy density being inferior as yet. As energy
density improves – a priority we have observed in research – the pace of replacing batteries will
quicken.
Table 1.3 15 examples of component displacement by supercapacitors in 2012-3
Use Action Result Effect on
battery or
capacitor
market
Pure
electric
and fuel
cell
bikes,
cars,
buses,
material
handling
vehicles,
earth
moving
vehicles,
trucks,
trams,
trains,
cranes
and
military
vehicles
Put across
the battery –
typically
lithium-ion
batteries - or
fuel cell
Faster charging stations and regenerative braking, energy harvesting shock absorbers etc
can be used without damaging the battery. Sometimes more of the battery’s energy can be
used ie the battery can be used to a deeper state of discharge, extending the range of the
vehicle. In the case of fuel cells, it compensates for start-up time and provides surges of
power for eg starting off with a vehicle, accelerating or climbing a hill or earthmoving or
heavy lifting. Fuel cells and batteries have poor power density. In a system that eliminates an
internal combustion engine, you get little or no noise, land or air pollution. Military vehicles
have almost no heat or gas signature for missiles to home in on. Below and left: Mazda pure
electric car adds a supercapacitor across the Nippon Chemi-Con battery to protect it and
enhance performance.
Source IDTechEx
Bollore Pininfarina Bluecar below is a pure electric car which has a Batscap supercapacitor
to enhance performance and protect the battery. Bollore has introduced the Blue Car and it
is commercially available for daily rentals. The version currently on the road does not use
ultracapacitors, but is battery only. The next version is intended to use caps as well as being
available for sale to consumers.
Lithium-ion
battery
market
reduced in
value
compared
with the
partial
alternative
of over-
sizing the
battery.
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Use Action Result Effect on
battery or
capacitor
market
Source Bollore
The Kleenspeed KAR pure electric prototype shown below also has a supercapacitor across
the battery.
Source Kleenspeed
Below: the Riversimple car in the UK replaces the lithium-ion battery across its fuel cell
with a Maxwell Technologies supercapacitor.
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Use Action Result Effect on
battery or
capacitor
market
Source IDTechEx
Replacing
one of the
lead acid
batteries in a
truck for
cold starting
eg -20C to -
40C when
the lead acid
battery can
release no
more than
half its
power
Truck almost always starts even in the coldest weather and after the hotel facilities have
been used overnight with the engine off. New regulations often ban engine idling.
Source IDTechEx
Reduces the
lead acid
battery
market
Completely
replacing all
batteries in a
pure electric
vehicle
where
frequent
recharging is
practicable
to compen-
Longer life and faster charge and discharge at higher up front cost but possibly lower cost-
over-life due to tolerating tougher duty cycle with less maintenance and longer life.
Improved safety and reliability and almost no maintenance. Sinautec bus with
supercapacitors and no battery picking up overhead power at bus stop.
Lithium-ion
battery
market is
reduced in
value:
batteries not
needed
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Use Action Result Effect on
battery or
capacitor
market
sate for the
energy
density being
no better
than that of a
lead-acid
battery today
(a limitation
that will not
exist at some
time in the
future)
Source Sinautec
Hybrid
electric
vehicles
Replacing
the battery in
a hybrid
electric
vehicle like
this one in
Russia
shown right
that uses
ELIT super
capacitors
and the MAN
Lion’s City
Hybrid bus in
Germany
that also
uses a
super-
capacitor
instead of a
battery
shown.
Source ELIT
Reduces the
market for
lithium-ion
batteries
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Use Action Result Effect on
battery or
capacitor
market
Source MAN presentation at IAA Electric Vehicle Congress Hannover 2012
The Toyota hybrid TS030 racing car below was a winner in 2012 with Nisshinbo
supercapacitors replacing the battery
Source Toyota
Light
Train
Uses super-
capacitor
energy
storage to
operate
without an
external
power
Wireless operation seen as cheaper and less visually-intrusive than conventional
electrification. Demonstrated August 2012. Commercial production by 2014 - viable for use
in more than 100 smaller and medium-sized Chinese cities, as well as export.
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Use Action Result Effect on
battery or
capacitor
market
supply.
Underfloor
power pick-
ups 30 sec
(2km) charge
the roof-
mounted
super
capacitor
unit from a
fixed supply
while train is
standing at
station.
Energy re-
generated
during
braking is
recovered
for reuse.
Source CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive
Siemens has something similar in Germany with a supercapacitor set across a NiMH battery
in a streetcar that can cover 2.5km untethered. Again regenerative braking is made possible.
Power consumption reduced by one third and carbon dioxide sharply down. Overhead power
cables removed from where they are a visual blight and where they are a problem at
intersections.
Genève tram operator TPG is testing a prototype supercapacitor energy storage unit which
allows braking energy to be recovered, and enables a tram to run for short distances without
an external power supply.
Source Tango Trams
The 1 tonne supercapacitor unit has been installed on the roof of one of a batch of 32 Tango
trams being delivered to TPG by Stadler Rail. It can store the equivalent of the entire kinetic
energy of an empty tram moving at 55 km/h, according to Stadler, and is more effective than
batteries at absorbing and releasing the high short-term currents produced during braking.
Energy regenerated during braking is reused as the vehicle starts to move, when its power
requirement is highest. The stored energy can also power the tram for at least 400 m if the
overhead supply should fail. A distance of 1500 m has been achieved with careful driving
under low-acceleration, low-speed test conditions.
The prototype is undergoing extensive testing by TPG, Stadler and traction equipment
supplier ABB. Its energy consumption is being compared with the rest of the Tango fleet
equipped for conventional regenerative braking which feeds current back into the overhead
supply. If the tests prove successful, the other 31 Tango vehicles for TPG could be equipped
with supercapacitors 'relatively easily'. Source of the Geneva story: Railway Gazette
Wind
turbine
Pitch control
when
electrics fail
Replacing
previous
emergency
backup such
as a lithium-
ion
rechargeable
battery or a
lithium
thionyl
chloride
battery with
Faster more reliable pitch control backup prevents explosive destruction of the turbine in a
high wind if electrics fail
Reduces the
market for
lithium-ion
or other
back-up
batteries
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Use Action Result Effect on
battery or
capacitor
market
conventional
capacitors
.
Metal
forming
and
welding
Replacing
banks of
electrolytic
capacitors in
a much
smaller
space
provided the
longer time
constant is
tolerable
Smaller, lighter weight equipment Reduces
capacitor
market
Camera
flash eg
in mobile
phones
Replacing
electrolytic
capacitor/
halogen bulb
with super
capacitor/
high power
LED
Flash pictures can be taken from farther away because more energy can be discharged
within the severe space constraints
Source Murata
Reduces
electro-
lytic
capacitor
market
Cordless
drill with
except-
ional fast
charging
Replacing
lithium-ion
battery
Cordless drill for use in space developed by NASA with supercapacitors and no battery.
Commercial versions are now available from such companies as Demain International sold
through Top Link Industrial Co. as are battery free flashlights etc. Benefits include long,
maintenance-free life with lower cost of ownership, faster charging and greener credentials
in some cases.
Replaces
lithium-ion
batteries
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Use Action Result Effect on
battery or
capacitor
market
Source NASA
Source IDTechEx
The basic functions can be summarised as reaching market acceptance in the following sequence,
with a few notable exceptions. Most of these functions can be seen commercially now but we are
forecasting when major supercapacitor business will result from them and suppliers currently
obtaining major sales in these.
Table 1.4 Supercapacitor functions reaching major market acceptance 2013-2023 with some of the
companies leading the success by sector
Energy regeneration/ energy harvesting and surge power, particularly by battery enhancement and protection in road vehicles, material handling.
Backup power, notably for emergencies, and peak assist
Start up and peak assist power eg for fuel cells, office machines, remote metering
Energy regeneration/ energy harvesting and surge power, by fuel cell enhancement and protection
Pulse power for radar, welding, metal forming, camera flash etc and high frequency uses in electronics
Main traction power, particularly vehicles and load moving
Maxwell Technologies Nippon ChemiCon Batscap
Maxwell Technologies Nesscap LSMtron
Nesscap Energy LSMtron
Maxwell Technologies Ioxus JM Energy Skeleton Technologies
Nesscap Energy Yunasko Cap-XX Murata
LithChem Energy JM Energy Skeleton Technologies Asahi Kasei/FDK Hitachi Kankyu
Source IDTechEx
It is therefore unlikely that the current largest manufacturers, with Maxwell Technologies in the
lead, will stay in that position over the next ten years. However, it is too early to bet on who, if
2013 2018 2023
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anyone, will take their place. It is likely to include acquisitive companies offering broad capability
including high energy density, non-flammable, cleaner devices and other attributes in an affordable
package for electrical engineering applications and marketing and possibly manufacturing them
globally. With the winner having one billion dollars in sales within 15 years, this race is starting to
attract some very large companies.
1.9. Manufacturers and putative
manufacturers
We have investigated the following manufacturers and putative manufacturers and also others in
the value chain, the work taking place almost entirely in the last quarter of 2012 with following
updates and extensions.
Table 1.5 80 manufacturers, putative manufacturers and commercial companies developing
supercapacitors, supercabatteries and carbon-enhanced lead batteries for commercialisation
with country, website and device technology.
EDLC = Symmetric supercapacitor
LiC = Supercabattery based on lithium
PbC = Supercabattery or carbon-enhanced battery based on lead battery
AEDLCNi = Supercabattery based on nickel battery
PseudoC = Pseudocapacitor RuO2 part electrostatic, part electrochemical
TaHybrid = Tantalum electrolytic/ supercapacitor construction
CNT = carbon nanotube. Gp = Graphene.
Yellow = not yet trading
Company Country Website Technology
1. ABSL EnerSys UK http://www.abslspaceproducts.com http://www.enersys.com EDLC carbon
2. Ada
Technologies
USA http://www.adatech.com EDLC carbon
3. Advanced
Capacitor
Technologies
Japan http://www.act.jp/eng/ LiC
4. ApowerCap
Technologies
Ukraine http://www.apowercap.com EDLC carbon
5. Asahi Kasei –
FDK
Japan http://www.fdk.co.jp LiC
6. AVX USA
(Mexico)
http://www.avx.com EDLC carbon
7. Axion Power
International
USA www.axionpower.com PbC
8. Bainacap China www.bainacap.com EDLC carbon
9. Batscap
(Bollore)
France http://www.batscap.com/en EDLC carbon
10. Beijing HCC
Energy Tech
China www.hccenergy.com/en EDLC carbon
11. Cap-XX Australia http://www.cap-xx.com EDLC carbon
12. CDE Cornell
Dubilier
USA www.cde.com LiC
EDLC carbon
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Company Country Website Technology
13. Cellergy
owned by PCB
technologies,
part of Prior
Tech Group
Israel www.cellergycap.com EDLC carbon
14. Chaoyang
Liyuan New
Energy (Liyuan
Company)
China www.cyliyuan.com EDLC carbon
LiC
15. Cooper
Bussmann
USA www.cooperindustries.com EDLC carbon
16. Daying Juneng
Technology
and
Development
China http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&Ca
tId=&SearchText=Daying+Juneng+Technology+and+Development
EDLC carbon
17. Dongguan
Amazing
Electronic
China http://amazing.en.alibaba.com/contactinfo.html
EDLC carbon
18. Dongguan
Fuhui
Electronics
Sales
China http://winwinsupercap.en.alibaba.com/contactinfo.html EDLC carbon
19. Dongguan
Gonghe
Electronics
China http://worldghc.en.alibaba.com/contactinfo.html
Dongguan City GHC Electronic Co., Ltd (Domestic market)
http://www.kingep.com/
http://www.kingep.com/info/en/index.asp?page=30&id=95&Iss=3&pic=13
EDLC carbon
20. Dongguan WIN
WIN Supercap
Electronic
China http://www.diytrade.com/china/manufacturer/1160302/main/Dongguan_
WIN-WIN_Supercap_Electronic_Co_Ltd.html
EDLC carbon
21. East Penn
Manufacturing
Co.
USA www.dekabatteries.com PbC
22. Ecoult (East
Penn)
USA
(Australia)
www.ecoult.com EDLC carbon
23. Elbit Systems Israel www.elbitsystems.com EDLC carbon
PbC
PseudoC
24. ELIT Russia www.elit-cap.com EDLC carbon
25. Elna Japan www.elna.co.jp EDLC carbon
26. Elton Super
Capacitor
(ESMA)
Russia www.elton-cap.com
www.esma.com
EDLC carbon AEDLCNi
27. Evans
Capacitor
Company
USA www.evanscap.com TaHybrid
PseudoC
EDLC
28. Extreme
Capacitors X-
Caps
USA www.extremecapacitor.com EDLC carbon (Gp &
CNT)
29. FastCAP
Systems
USA www.fastcapsystems.com EDLC carbon CNT
30. FDK Japan www.fdk.com LiC
31. Furukawa
Battery Co
Japan www.furukawadenchi.co.jp PbC
32. Graphene
Energy Inc
USA www.grapheneenergy.net EDLC carbon Gp
33. Harbin Jurong
Newpower
China www.jurong-newpower.com.cn
http://www.iecyp.com/Heilongjiang/61601.html
EDLC carbon
34. Heter Battery/
Handong
Heter Battery
China www.heterbattery.com EDLC carbon
35. Honda Japan www.world.honda.com EDLC carbon
36. Hitachi
(Hitachi Maxell
Japan www.hitachi.com LiC
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Company Country Website Technology
and Hitachi
AIC)
37. Hutchinson
(Total group)
France www.cdt.hutchinson.fr
EDLC carbon
38. Illinois
Capacitor
USA www.illcap.com EDLC carbon
39. Inmatech USA www.inmatech.com LiC based on early
transition metal
carbides and nitrides
40. Ioxus USA www.ioxus.com EDLC carbon
LiC
41. JM Energy
(JSR Micro)
Japan www.jmenergy.co.jp LiC
42. KAM China www.kam.co.uk EDLC carbon
43. Kankyu
Batteries
Japan No website LiC
44. Korchip Korea www.korchip.com EDLC carbon
45. LithChem
Energy
USA www.lithchemenergy.com/ EDLC carbon
46. LSMtron Korea www.ultracapacitor.co.kr
www.lsmtron.com/
EDLC carbon
47. Maxwell
Technologies
USA www.maxwell.com EDLC carbon
Researching AEDLC
and CNT
48. MegaJoule
Storage
USA www.megajouleinc.com
PbC AEDLC
49. Meidensha/
Sumitomo
Electric
industries use
JM Energy LiC
Japan www.meidensha.co.jp EDLC carbon
LiC
50. Murata Japan www.murata.com EDLC carbon
51. Nanotune
Technologies
USA www.nanotune.com EDLC carbon Gp
52. NEC Tokin Japan www.nec-tokin.com EDLC carbon
LiC
53. Nesscap
Energy Inc
Canada
(Korea)
www.nesscap.com EDLC carbon
54. Nichicon Japan www.nichicon.co.jp EDLC carbon
55. Nippon
Chemi-con/
United
ChemiCon
Japan www.chemi-con.co.jp
www.chemi-con.com
EDLC carbon
56. Nisshinbo Japan www.nisshinbo.co.jp EDLCCarbon
57. Optixtal USA www.optixtal.com EDLC carbon
58. Panasonic Japan www.panasonic.net EDLC carbon
59. Paper Battery
Company
USA www.paperbatteryco.com EDLC carbon
60. PowerSystem
Co
Japan www.powersystems.co.jp EDLC carbon
61. Quantum
Wired
USA www.quantumwired.com EDLC carbon
62. Ryan
Technology
Taiwan www.ryan-technology.com EDLC carbon
63. SAFT France www.saftbatteries.com EDLC carbon
AEDLCNi
PseudoC
64. SAHZ Holdings
Sdn. Bhd
Malaysia www.nottingham.edu.my
EDLC
AEDLC
65. Shandong
Heter
Lampson
Electronic
China www.htlampson.com EDLC carbon
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Company Country Website Technology
66. Shanghai
Aowei
Technology
Development
China www.aowei.com EDLC carbon
67. Shanghai
Green Tech
China www.greentechee.com EDLC carbon
68. Shanghai
Power Oriental
International
Trade
China www.poweroriental.cn EDLC carbon
69. Shenzhen
Forecon Super
Capacitor
Technology
China www.forecon.hk EDLC carbon
70. Sino Power
Star
China http://www.spscap.com EDLC carbon
71. Skeleton
Technologies
Estonia www.skeletontech.com EDLC carbon
72. SPL USA www.splusa.net EDLC carbon
73. Taiyo Yuden Japan www.t-yuden.com LiC
74. Tavrima Canada www.tavrima.com EDLC carbon
75. TDK inc
EPCOS
Japan www.tdk.com EDLC carbon
76. Tecate Group USA www.tecategroup.com EDLC carbon
Makes PowerburstTM
But also resells
Maxwell and Cap-XX
versions
77. Vina
Technology Co
Korea www.vina-technology-co-ltd.imexbb.com EDLC carbon
78. WIMA
Spezialvertrieb
Elektronischer
Bauelemente
Germany www.wima.com EDLC carbon
79. Yo-
Engineering
Russia www.yo-auto.ru EDLC carbon
80. Yunasko UK
(Ukraine)
www.yunasko.com EDLC carbon
LiC
Source IDTechEx
Trend in number of manufacturers
The number of manufacturers of supercapacitors and supercabatteries is rising rapidly as
estimated below, being a later stage technology, supercapacitors and supercabatteries will only
reach 150 manufacturers in 2020, this being approximately the number of manufacturers of
lithium-ion batteries today.
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Fig. 1.12 Estimate of the number of trading manufacturers of supercapacitors and supercabatteries globally
1993-2025 including timing of industry shakeout.
200 200 Industry shakeout – failures
and mergers
130
80
50
30 20
10 1993 1998 2003 2008 2013 2018 2023 2025
Source IDTechEx
1.10. New entrants
There are new entrants to the supercapacitor business coming along and they tend to be larger
companies than most of those involved so far. For example, Corning is developing a supercapacitor
with “50% greater energy density”. They are tight lipped about what this value is and how they will
achieve it. It is the reason why Corning is part of the European Commission FP7 program called
ESTRELIA. We expect that Corning will seek to be a materials supplier once its new technology is
established.
1.11. Supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries
are now one business
Supercapacitors (Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors EDLC also known as ultracapacitors)
and lithium-ion batteries are one business, from the basic materials to the current and planned
applications. However, the penny has not dropped with most of the industry. Very few of the eighty
or so supercapacitor manufacturers in the world make lithium-ion batteries and very few of the 150
or so lithium-ion battery manufacturers make supercapacitors even though this would give them a
more comprehensive offering to customers, derisk their businesses and reduce their production
costs.
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Even more bizarrly, the popularly-researched halfway house of the supercabattery is substantially
populated by new entrants that make neither supercapacitors nor lithium-ion batteries such as the
Asahi Kasei joint venture, LM Energy and Advanced Capacitor Technologies all in Japan and
Inmatech in the USA. We can even say that the nascent business of so-called lithium-metal
batteries such as lithium metal polymer and later lithium air batteries are also in the same fold.
These are sometimes called rechargeable lithium batteries to distinguish them from lithium-ion.
One reason why supercapacitors and lithium-based rechargeable batteries are almost entirely
made by different companies lies in the fact that most lithium-ion battery manufacturers – the
biggest sector by far – are under-financed and not meeting targets. The over promising concerning
sales into pure electric cars is a part of this and, “when you are up to your neck in crocodiles you
cannot think about draining the swamp.”
Similar challenges and opportunities
There are many common factors and so it is not surprising that the challenges and opportunities
are similar as well. Both devices are usually wound components with separators, wet electrolytes
that are usually toxic and flammable and at least one aluminium foil electrode. Carbon is
traditionally favoured on at least one electrode. Slot coating of active electrode material is favoured
and encapsulation is in a cylinder, pouch or metal box – so-called prismatic. Energy density, power
density, self-leakage, life, reliability and cost are among the parameters of concern for both
devices, not surprising since they increasingly address the same applications.
Intermediate devices
The intermediate devices variously include pseudocapacitors and supercabatteries (Assymetrical
Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors AEDLC with either the anode or, more commonly, the
cathode being battery-like). Although much of the early work on these involved asymmetric lead-
acid and nickel devices, the favourite variant is now the “lithium capacitor” which is an AEDLC with
one electrode based on a lithium-ion battery. Further sub-segmentation acknowledges the
existence of high power lithium-ion batteries and high energy density lithium-ion batteries, given a
trade-off here. It is therefore ridiculous to agonise about where these all sit in the industry and
whether AEDLCs are a distinct category – they are all part of the supercapacitor/ lithium-ion
battery industry. Indeed, it is rare for the lithium-ion capacitor manufacturers to discuss
applications other than those currently addressed by supercapacitors or lithium-ion batteries.
Equipment suitable for both devices
In general the equipment manufacturers for lithium-ion batteries now offer the same or very
similar equipment to manufacture supercapacitors. Indeed, the whole value chain increasingly
covers both devices from the research institutes and universities worldwide to those supplying foil,
slitters and test equipment and distributors selling both types of component. But not thosemaking
the finished devices. Exploiting the false distinction that keeps companies in one or other type of
device manufacture, not both, current supercapacitor leader Maxwell Technologies in the USA
licences its solvent-free supercapacitor manufacturing process to lithium ion battery
manufacturers.
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Koem in Korea manufactures automatic winding machine and assembly equipment, “mainly used
in manufacturing the new generating power sources, such as lithium ion secondary cells and
supercapacitors”. In Switzerland, METAR develops and manufactures machines and equipment
“for the production of capacitors and batteries (Li-Ion)”. PNE has announced a single “formation
system for battery and EDLC”. Both supercapacitor and lithium-ion battery manufacturers would
go to Armor Group in France or Exopack Advanced Holdings in the USA if they needed the best one
micron pre-coating of carbon elastomer on their current collector, in order to reduce series
resistance, improve adhesion of the active electrode or provide chemical protection. Showa Denko
offers specialist materials for the manufacture of both lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors,
patents both and its recent license of printed electronics technology from Novacentrix in the USA
will apply to both.
Similar approach to next generation materials
Graphene and other relatively advanced allotropes of carbon are of interest for both families of
device. In both supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries, fires can occur in the toxic organic
electrolyte and having that electrolyte limits performance in certain respects. As a result, many in
both camps enthuse about ionic liquids where there is no solvent or solute, though it must be said
that non-flammable aqueous electrolytes have appeared commercially almost entirely in
supercapacitors and not lithium-ion batteries. On the other hand, most lithium-ion battery
manufacturers enjoy the higher energy density from foil that is 15 microns or less in thickness, five
microns being considered, whereas supercapacitor manufacturers are only gradually getting round
to it, many of them using the 40 micron foil employed by lithium-ion manufacturers many years ago.
There is more on this in the IDTechEx reports “138 Lithium-ion Battery Manufacturers”,
“Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors: Supercapacitors 2013-2023”, “Supercapacitor /
Ultracapacitor Strategies and Emerging Applications 2013-2025”, “Batteries and Supercapacitors
for Smart Portable Devices 2013-2023: Markets, Technologies, Companies”, “ Graphene: Analysis
of Technology, Markets and Players 2013-2018” and “Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) for Electronics &
Electrics 2013-2023”.
What next?
Will Panasonic of Japan, Hitachi of Japan and SAFT of France, among the few companies making
both supercapacitos and lithium-ion batteries exploit their potentially common R&D and production
investment? One sign of the future is how Bolloré subsidiary Batscap in France makes both
supercapacitors and lithium metal polymer traction batteries. It has progressed from using just the
lithium-ion battery in its pure electric Bluecar to having the supercapacitor across it in the last few
months to improve charge-discharge time and to make the battery last longer. Some of the next
wave of manufacturers of devices intend to make both, the start-up “The Paper Battery Company”
in the USA being an example. Meanwhile giants such as Fuji Heavy Industries Japan, Toyota Japan
and LG Chemical Korea continue to file patents for both supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries
while prioritising production of lithium-ion batteries.
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Heavy users of both, such as Bombardier, have noted that supercapacitors are being improved far
faster than batteries and IDTechEx and other analysts have forecasted faster growth for the
supercapacitor industry at around 30% compound, following recent trends in manufacturer’s
results but the lithium-ion market is much larger of course. Supercapacitors have replaced
lithium-ion batteries in most hybrid urban buses, a fuel cell car, some power tools and for wind
turbine blade feathering in emergency as well as in other high reliability backup applications. The
case for betting on both horses becomes stronger by the day.
1.12. Change of leadership of the global value
market?
Maxwell Technologies, which has been the leader in supercapacitors worldwide, has been
overstating its results by improperly recording certain sales through distributors. It has made the
following statement, “Maxwell believes that the restatement of revenue related to these
distributors will decrease previously reported revenues for fiscal year 2011 by approximately $6.5
million and decrease revenues in the first three quarters of 2012 by approximately $5.5 million in
the aggregate." Most of Maxwell’s overall revenue relates to supercapacitor sales, so how does this
affect supercapacitor market forecasts? Leading analyst IDTechEx has been looking again at the
figures and it concludes that Maxwell is not indicative of the overall industry.
The number of developers and manufacturers of supercapacitors, also called ultracapacitors, is
rising very rapidly, having doubled from 40 to 80 in the last few years. All are taking some business,
so Maxwell is losing market share. Although most of the business is taken by supercapacitors
containing toxic, flammable acetonitrile, we are now very near to the point where we over 50% of
manufacturers offer devices based on non-flammable, relatively non-toxic electrolytes, many of
them aqueous. Others use improved organic electrolytes and solid electrolytes are on the way.
Many of those in these various technologies are likely to gain market share because they have
improved safety and often improved performance in certain aspects as well.
The supercapacitor industry is rapidly moving to one where the leaders are big companies make
big investments in the technology and where they sell to big companies. For example, CSR Zhuzhou
Electric Locomotive in China has unveiled a prototype light metro trainset which uses
supercapacitor energy storage to operate without an external power supply. Sooner or later,
Chinese supercapacitor manufacturers will get this business. Under floor power pick-ups charge
the roof-mounted supercapacitor unit from a fixed supply while the train is at a station. Charging
takes 30 seconds and can power the train for 2 kilometers. Energy regenerated during braking is
recovered for reuse. Commercial production is envisaged by 2014, with the manufacturer believing
the technology could be viable for use in more than 100 smaller and medium-sized Chinese cities,
as well as for the export market
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The largest orders for supercapacitors are no longer being landed by Maxwell Technologies. For
example, there has never been anything like the Meidensha/Sojitz $318 million (¥25bn) contract to
supply two 2 MW Meidensha CapapostTM regenerated energy storage units for Hong Kong's South
Island Line metro project. Sojitz is not involved in the supercapacitor banks in this system, which
also includes transformers and switchgear. The installation of the supercapacitor technology is
expected to reduce traction power consumption by 10% on the 7.1 km five-station line, which is
under construction to connect Admiralty with South Horizons from 2015. Compare that with
Maxwell Technologies’ faltering gross sales value in supercapacitors of the order of $100 million.
In collaboration with Sumitomo, in 2015, Meidensha will put supercapacitors with 3.4 times today’s
energy density into volume production, the target after that being five times and that may mean half
the energy density of today’s lithium-ion batteries, though the company does not release figures.
IDTechEx believes that, subject to price, such devices could make a dent in the lithium-ion battery
business not just expand supercapacitor sales, since a supercapacitor is in many respects and
ideal “battery”, something real batteries can never attain and increasingly cost over life will be
superior not just life – “fit and forget”.
These very advanced Meidensha supercapacitors are completely different. The wound foil current
collectors are replaced by Sumitomo aluminium celmet porous plates. The active electrodes
consist of carbon nanotubes not the activated carbon that most manufacturers employ today. The
non-flammable electrolyte is an ionic liquid not the solvent/ solute approach of today that is usually
based on acetonitrile and employed by all of today’s leaders. The resulting Meidensha
supercapacitors have high energy and power density, with widened temperature range. They are
primarily targeted at electric vehicles, both hybrid and pure electric. Meidensha says they will
improve both acceleration and range and even permit faster braking energy regeneration. Samples
are being released in 2013. Their goal is to have the capacitor used in 30% of the green vehicles
sold in Japan and account for 50 billion yen (about $500 million) in sales by fiscal 2020.
Meidensha of japan sources supercapacitor modules from other suppliers but even here it is
pushing the boundaries. For example, Meidensha will deploy the Japanese JM Energy Corporation
ULTIMO TM supercabattery ie Asymmetric Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitor AEDLC. Its
variant of this is known as a lithium-ion capacitor and, in most respects, it is intermediate between
a lithium-ion battery and a symmetrical supercapacitor. To begin, these new cell designs have
formed the basis of a system for compensation of short-term power disruptions for Chubu Electric
Power Co., Inc. The system is designed to comprehensively protect plant manufacturing facilities
from electric power failure caused by lightning strikes and other causes. Upon confirmation of
reliability, Meidensha will commercialize the system starting 2014. Supercapacitor manufacturer
JSR Micro is linked to JM Energy. Such groupings seem likely to land the biggest supercapacitor/
supercabattery orders in future.
In short, Maxwell Technologies is being side-lined. IDTechEx sees no reason to revise its forecast
of robust 30% ongoing annual growth in the global market for supercapacitors and their variants.
They even record more and more cases of supercapacitors completely replacing batteries for
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traction and energy harvesting. Other supercapacitors are increasingly being put across batteries,
reducing the amount of battery needed, particularly in applications employing large lithium-ion
battery packs for traction. For more see the IDTechEx general report “Electrochemical Double
Layer Capacitors: Supercapacitors 2013-2023 and the drill down “Supercapacitor / Ultracapacitor
Strategies and Emerging Applications” which gives the technological roadmap and applications
resulting.
There is one other lesson from this story. Small companies like Maxwell Technologies are
attracted to take a listing because it gets them funding and prestige and an exit for early investors
but there is a price to pay. The intense attention to half year and even quarterly results is not
conducive to long term objectives and it diverts the attention of management. When reporting
errors arise, as in this case, all hell is let loose. Perhaps they should have stayed private.
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2. Introduction Supercapacitors and their variants are known by about thirty different names. Those using search
engines prefer Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors EDLC followed by supercapacitors and
then ultracapacitors. The electrical engineering applications that will dominate the value market
for the next decade typically employ the word ultracapacitor. The abbreviation EDLC is relatively
little used, unfortunately. For brevity, in this report we therefore use the words supercapacitor and
ultracapacitor interchangeably with precise terms used for the variants.
Here is where they fit in.
Fig. 2.1 Types of capacitor
Source IDTechEx
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Fig. 2.2 Symmetric supercapacitor EDLC left compared with asymmetric AEDLC ie supercabattery with
battery-like cathode (ie part electrochemical in action) shown right. During charge and discharge,
the voltage is nearly constant resulting in higher maximum voltage and twice the capacitance of
anordinary supercapacitor/ ultracapacitor
Source Web
Fig. 2.3 Symmetric supercapacitor EDLC compared with asymmetric AEDLC ie supercabattery with lithiated
carbon anode (ie entirely electrostatic in action) shown right
Source JM Energy
Supercapacitors are near-to-ideal batteries in many respects – properties batteries will never
achieve because of chemical reactions causing swelling and movement and irreversible chemical
changes. There are about 70 manufacturers of supercapacitors and an increasing proportion make
the “green” aqueous versions which are non-flammable and can contain such things as sulphuric
acid or may be more benign. The pros and cons are compared below.
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Table 2.2 Some of the pros and cons of supercapacitors
PRO CON
Can be fully discharged for safe transport.
Charge and discharge exceptionally rapidly.
Operate at wide temperature ranges: – nearly all the energy
available at -20C and some work at -40C
Have about four times the life (cycle or calendar life) “fit
and forget”.
Be more reliable.
They cost much more per energy stored.
They change electrical characteristics during charge,
discharge and life.
Those which have “organic” electrolyte usually contain
acetonitrile.
That is said to cause cancer and birth defects and is
flammable, sometimes creating poisonous gases. As a
result, the large organicsupercaps often have restrictions of
fire prevention, air transport and disposal (in the past,
organic versions have been best at low temperature & in
some performance/cost characteristics)
Source IDTechEx
Traditionally, the rechargeable batteries have been used as energy dense products and the other
devices based on capacitors have been used as power dense products. However, although there
are more-power-dense versions of the favourite rechargeable batteries – lithium-ion with maybe
70% or so of the rechargeable battery market in 2023 – there has still been a convergence of
properties and increasing use of super forms of capacitor with batteries. This is partly because
power dense rechargeable batteries surrender a lot of energy density and are still not as power
dense as most supercapacitors and their derivatives. The main options are summarised below. The
examples of manufacturers illustrate how battery manufacturers and conventional capacitor
manufacturers are entering the business of devices intermediate between the two. However, rather
surprisingly, most of the intermediate devices are developed and manufactured by companies not
in either conventional capacitors or batteries. Although we use the term intermediate devices,
some have some properties superior to both conventional capacitors and rechargeable batteries.
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Fig. 2.4 Eight families of option and some of the suppliers in the spectrum between conventional capacitors
and rechargeable batteries with primary markets shown in yellow
Conventional
symmetrical
(bipolar) solid
capacitor
Conventional
electrolytic
capacitor
Etched
aluminium foil
oxidised Al2O3
or sintered
tantalum
oxidised Ta2O5
“Hybrid
capacitor”
Super
Capacitor
electrode
plus
sintered
tantalum
oxide Ta2O5
electrode
Symmetric
Super-
Capacitor ie
Electrochemical
Double Layer
Cpacitor
Asymmetric intermediate devices Rechargeable
battery
Supercabattery ie
Asymmetric
Electrochemical Double
Layer Capacitor AEDLC
Pseudo-
Capacitor
eg RuO2
Nippon
Chemi-con
Nichicon
AVX
Nippon
Chemi-con
Nichicon
Evans Maxwell
Technologies
Nippon Chemi-
con
Nichicon
AVX
With
battery
anode and
supercap.
cathode
JRMicro
Panasonic
Batscap
With
battery
cathode
and
supercap
anode
East Penn
Evans
Capacitor
Panasonic
Batscap
Electrostatic
Partly electrostatic and
partly electrochemical
(faradaic)
Electro-
chemical
Source IDTechEx
Success by territory
Put at its simplest, the lesson of the extensive interviews and investigations carried out for this
report show that, if you want to create a large supercapacitor company, whatever else you do, you
sell into the automotive sector while working to increase energy density and reduce cost, if
necessary by making the variant called the lithium-ion capacitor. They will be a multi-billion dollar
business in 10 years mainly served by the USA, Russia, Japan, China and Korea, if current trends
continue. Europeans users but, as suppliers, fast asleep with little leadership beyond Estonia.
Indeed, the main reason that market leader Maxwell Technologies saw its supercapacitor sales
growth drop to single digits in 2012 was weakness in Europe.
This report goes beyond our first one on this subject.
Our report, “Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors: Supercapacitors 2013-2023” introduced the
subject, gave overall market forecasts, examined the research trends, patents and achievements
and briefly profiled the manufacturers and putative manufacturers. By popular request, we now
INCREASING ENERGY DENSITY
INCREASING POWER DENSITY
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look much more closely at the applications today and when certain new applications will be
identified and taken seriously plus when currently-impracticable applications will become viable.
Yes, the market is limited as much by unimaginative copy-cat marketing as by technological
advance. This new report is based on extensive interviews and analysis.
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3. Advances required and
progress identified The advances that will create the largest add-on markets by value will be the following in order of
importance.
Table 3.1 Advances that will create the largest add-on markets for supercapacitors and their derivatives by
value in order of importance with examples of organisations leading the advance.
Feature Examples of organisations leading, or claiming to lead, this advance
Affordable, greater gravimetric and, less important, volumetric energy density particularly because it will allow more batteries to be completely replaced and, where the supercapacitor is used across a battery to protect it and enhance its performance, less battery will be needed. Less battery means improved system reliability and potentially lower cost, not just improved performance
This is achieved by increasing cell voltage and/or capacitance because E=0.5CV2
Cell voltage records are being set by Vina Technology and Nisshinbo both at 3V and LithChem Energy 3.9V at present. C is increased primarily by increasing the usable active electrode area or making a supercabattery but there is also scope to move from thick current collectors, presently at up to 40 microns to thinner ones, maybe down to 5 microns. Those tackling electrode area successfully include State University of New York at Binghampton Elbit Systems Graphene Energy JR Micro Nanotune Technologies Skeleton Technologies University of Kentucky Yunasko
Lower price for existing capabilities Chinese suppliers Maxwell Technologies Inmatech ApowerCap Technologies
More imaginative marketing opening up new applications Nippon Chemi-Con Maxwell Technologies
Guaranteed 20 year life. The best supercapacitors probably last at least 20 years but commercial guarantees rarely exceed ten years and are often less.
JM Energy
Higher frequency of operation, improved pulse operation Evans Capacitor Cellergy Elbit Systems
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Feature Examples of organisations leading, or claiming to lead, this advance
Green, non-flammable versions with as good or better capabilities than the often flammable, poisonous organic versions, some of which contain liquids that can cause birth defects and cancer such as acetonitrile. In the past this has been less of a problem. This was because most were used in electronics with such small amounts of liquid that most regulations concerning transport of them, uses where they may be split open and disposal conditions were not onerous. However, now the electrical engineering applications dominate, usually with bigger supercapacitors containing more of the dangerous liquids such as acetonitrile, colliding with more of the existing regulations. In addition, research has revealed new malign physiological effects leading to greater caution and potentially tougher regulations
Advanced Capacitor Technology Asahi Kasei/FDK CDE Cornell Dubilier Cellergy Elbit Systems FDK Hitachi Inmatech Kankyu battery NEC Nichicon Nippon Chemi-Con Panasonic Power System Co. Taiyo Yuden Tavrima Vina Technology
Greater power density Case Western Reserve University Inmatech ApowerCap Technologies
Reduced self-leakage Reduce capacitance loss during discharge and during life University of West Florida New form factors such as smart skin, electronic wallpaper, stretchable, transfer printed, implantable, edible, dissolves in the human body
Paper Battery Company Advanced Biomimetic Sensors University of Texas at Dallas Imperial College London OptiXtal
Source IDTechEx
Today, the upfront cost of a supercapacitor is almost never lower than the component or circuit
replaced such as a tantalum or aluminium electrolytic capacitor or a battery. Despite this, the high
up front cost of a supercapacitor does not prevent the occurrence of cost saving over life for
systems where supercapacitors are introduced. This is partly because supercapacitors last longer
and take more punishment than batteries.
The main functions that supercapacitors will perform over the coming decade are shown below
with examples of appropriate applications. Relative to batteries, working at very low temperatures
and fast charging without fast discharging in a given application are less important than the other
functions and combinations of function shown relative to batteries. Note that most of them can be
described as electrical engineering rather than electronics, this being the trend in market value as
well. Pulse power and bridging power applications tend to combine high power density ie fast
charging and fast discharging relative to batteries.
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Fig. 3.1 The main functions that supercapacitors will perform over the coming decade
FAST DISCHARGE Pulse power & bridging power
Alone Alone
FAST CHARGE
LOW TEMPERATUREEG -40C
SAFETY, LONGLIFEHIGH RELIABILITY
MAINAPPLICATIONS
2013-2023
Source IDTechEx
These benefits are particularly useful in replacing, partially replacing, enhancing and extending the
life of rechargeable batteries.
Examples of the main functions performed by supercapacitors in 2013 are shown below.
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Fig. 3.2 Examples of the main functions performed by supercapacitors. Those in black are currently only
achieved with a flammable, carcinogenic electrolyte – acrylonitrile – but this will change
GSE = Airport ground support equipment such as aircraft tugs and baggage towing
ICE = Internal Combustion Engine
EV = Electric vehicle hybrid or pure electric, land, water or air
Source IDTechEx
3.1. Supercapacitors in vehicles
Clearly vehicles are a major focus because the properties of existing supercapacitors are
appropriate to many functions in vehicles. That was not true in the early days of supercapacitors
when only small versions were available and first applications were in electronics, notably CMOS
memory backup. A more detailed view of the vehicle market is shown below.
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Fig. 3.3 The evolution from conventional to various types of electric vehicle related to supercapacitor
applications in them today, where hybrids and pure electric versions are a primary target.
Source IDTechEx
In contrast to the massive success with pure electric e-bikes, which sometimes use
supercapacitors, forklifts, boats etc, pure electric on-road cars are a failure today. They sell
globally at a fraction of the number of even pure electric golf cars where demand is 150,000 yearly,
let alone pure electric power chairs and 3 and 4 wheel scooters for the disabled at around 1.3
million yearly or pure electric e-bikes at over 30 million yearly.
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Pure electric cars will attain the necessary affordable 320 -480 km/ 200-300 miles range in ten
years because there are so many development routes to this:
Lithium-ion batteries: Altria 300Wh/kg & Toyota 600Wh/kg?
Lithium metal batteries: IBM/Argonne, BASF/Sion, Kolibri, Oxis, Bollore Batscap <300WH/kg
so far
Graphene supercapacitors: several professors see 1000Wh/kg or more potential
Supercabatteries in the form of lithium-ion capacitors
Lots of little things including multiple energy harvesting, light weight aerodynamic bodies,
composites, more efficient and printed electrics save 40% of cost, space, weight ……………
However, although supercapacitors will have a part to play in the future success of pure electric
cars, we believe that will not be as the primary source of power even by the end of the coming
decade. Supercapacitors will be across the battery in a minority of cases. In our opinion, what will
cause the tipping point will be a combination of 1 and 5 in the main. A possible timeframe is shown
below.
Fig. 3.4 Possible timeframe and technology for reaching the tipping point for sales of pure electric on-road
cars
Source IDTechEx
Achieving the impossible
In many cases something previously impossible is achieved by introducing supercapacitors. In
others, the performance of an existing component is enhanced by having a supercapacitor across it
or by replacing it. Here are some examples.
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Fig. 3.5 Component displacement mapped as a function of benefits relative to batteries conferred by
supercapacitors
Source IDTechEx
Relative to electrolytic capacitors, previously the capacitors with highest energy density,
supercapacitors have none of the above advantages. Here their advantages mainly relate to higher
capacitance and power density than the best capacitors in this respect and, for very high
capacitance sometimes lower cost partly due to the mounting, connection and enclosure costs of
the equivalent huge array of electrolytic capacitors, which bring with them many extra failure
modes and even greater size if they are to be non-polar like most supercapacitors. However, there
are far fewer market opportunities in this as opposed to replacing or partly replacing batteries.
Only a few years ago, the major automotive and railway rolling stock manufacturers rarely saw
supercapacitors as part of their toolkit. However, nowadays almost all of them do. Here is a
Siemens view in 2012 of the elements of Electrical Bus Rapid Transit eBRT, for example,
mentioning U-Caps meaning supercapacitors.
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Fig. 3.6 Siemens view in 2012 of the elements of Electrical Bus Rapid Transit eBRT, for example,
mentioning U-Caps meaning supercapacitors
Source Siemens
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Table 3.2 Examples of component displacement by supercapacitors.
Use Action Result Effect on
battery or
capacitor
market
Pure
electric
and fuel
cell
bikes,
cars,
buses,
material
handling
vehicles,
earth
moving
vehicles,
trucks,
trams,
trains,
cranes
and
military
vehicles
Put across the
battery –
typically
lithium-ion
batteries - or
fuel cell
Faster charging stations and regenerative braking, energy harvesting shock absorbers etc
can be used without damaging the battery. Sometimes more of the battery’s energy can be
used ie the battery can be used to a deeper state of discharge, extending the range of the
vehicle. In the case of fuel cells, it compensates for start-up time and provides surges of
power for eg starting off with a vehicle, accelerating or climbing a hill or earthmoving or
heavy lifting. Fuel cells and batteries have poor power density. In a system that eliminates
an internal combustion engine, you get little or no noise, land or air pollution. Military
vehicles have almost no heat or gas signature for missiles to home in on. Below and left:
Mazda pure electric car adds a supercapacitor across the Nippon Chemi-Con battery to
protect it and enhance performance.
Source IDTechEx
Bollore Pininfarina Bluecar below is a pure electric car which has a Batscap
supercapacitor to enhance performance and protect the battery. Bollore has introduced the
Blue Car and it is commercially available for daily rentals. The version currently on the road
does not use ultracapacitors, but is battery only. The next version is intended to use caps as
well as being available for sale to consumers.
Source Bollore
The Kleenspeed KAR pure electric prototype shown below also has a supercapacitor across
the battery.
Lithium-ion
battery
market
reduced in
value
compared
with the
partial
alternative
of over-
sizing the
battery.
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Use Action Result Effect on
battery or
capacitor
market
Source Kleenspeed
Below: the Riversimple car in the UK replaces the lithium-ion battery across its fuel cell
with a Maxwell Technologies supercapacitor.
Source IDTechEx
Replacing one
of the lead
acid batteries
in a truck for
cold starting
eg -20C to -
40C when the
lead acid
battery can
release no
more than half
its power
Truck almost always starts even in the coldest weather and after the hotel facilities have
been used overnight with the engine off. New regulations often ban engine idling.
Reduces the
lead acid
battery
market
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Use Action Result Effect on
battery or
capacitor
market
Source IDTechEx
Completely
replacing all
batteries in a
pure electric
vehicle where
frequent
recharging is
practicable to
compensate
for the energy
density being
no better than
that of a lead-
acid battery
today (a
limitation that
will not exist at
some time in
the future)
Longer life and faster charge and discharge at higher up front cost but possibly lower cost-
over-life due to tolerating tougher duty cycle with less maintenance and longer life.
Improved safety and reliability and almost no maintenance. Sinautec bus with
supercapacitors and no battery picking up overhead power at bus stop.
Source Sinautec
Lithium-ion
battery
market is
reduced in
value:
batteries
not needed
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Use Action Result Effect on
battery or
capacitor
market
Hybrid
electric
vehicles
Replacing the
battery in a
hybrid electric
vehicle like
this one in
Russia using
ELIT shown
right and the
MAN Lion’s
City Hybrid
bus in
Germany that
also uses a
supercapacitor
instead of a
battery shown
below it
Source ELIT
Source MAN presentation at IAA Electric Vehicle Congress Hannover 2012
Reduces the
market for
lithium-ion
batteries
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Use Action Result Effect on
battery or
capacitor
market
The Toyota hybrid TS030 racing car below was a winner in 2012 with Nisshinbo
supercapacitors replacing the battery
Source Toyota
Light
Train
Uses super
capacitor
energy storage
to operate
without an
external power
supply.
Underfloor
power pick-
ups 30 sec
(2km) charge
the roof-
mounted
super
capacitor unit
from a fixed
supply while
train is
standing at
station. Energy
regenerated
during braking
is recovered
for reuse.
Wireless operation seen as cheaper and less visually-intrusive than conventional
electrification. Demonstrated August 2012. Commercial production by 2014 - viable for use
in more than 100 smaller and medium-sized Chinese cities, as well as export.
Source CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive
Siemens has something similar in Germany with a supercapacitor set across a NiMH
battery in a streetcar that can cover 2.5km untethered. Again regen. braking is made
possible. Power consumption reduced by one third and carbon dioxide sharply down.
Overhead power cables removed from where they are a visual blight and where they are a
problem at intersections.
Genève tram operator TPG is testing a prototype supercapacitor energy storage unit which
allows braking energy to be recovered, and enables a tram to run for short distances
without an external power supply.
The 1 tonne supercapacitor unit has been installed on the roof of one of a batch of 32 Tango
trams being delivered to TPG by Stadler Rail. It can store the equivalent of the entire kinetic
energy of an empty tram moving at 55 km/h, according to Stadler, and is more effective
than batteries at absorbing and releasing the high short-term currents produced during
braking.
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Use Action Result Effect on
battery or
capacitor
market
Energy regenerated during braking is reused as the vehicle starts to move, when its power
requirement is highest. The stored energy can also power the tram for at least 400 m if the
overhead supply should fail. A distance of 1500 m has been achieved with careful driving
under low-acceleration, low-speed test conditions.
The prototype is undergoing extensive testing by TPG, Stadler and traction equipment
supplier ABB. Its energy consumption is being compared with the rest of the Tango fleet
equipped for conventional regenerative braking which feeds current back into the overhead
supply.
If the tests prove successful, the other 31 Tango vehicles for TPG could be equipped with
supercapacitors 'relatively easily'.
Source of the Geneva story: Railway Gazette
Wind
turbine
Pitch control
when electrics
fail Replacing
previous
emergency
backup such
as a lithium-
ion
rechargeable
battery or a
lithium thionyl
chloride
battery with
conventional
capacitors
Faster more reliable pitch control backup prevents explosive destruction of the turbine in a
high wind if electrics fail.
Reduces the
market for
lithium-ion
or other
back-up
batteries
Metal
forming
Replacing
banks of
electrolytic
capacitors in a
much smaller
space provided
the longer
time constant
is tolerable
Smaller, lighter weight equipment Reduces
capacitor
market
Camera
flash eg
in
mobile
phones
Replacing
electrolytic
capacitor/
halogen bulb
with super
capacitor/ high
power LED
Flash pictures can be taken from farther away because more energy can be discharged
within the severe space constraints
Reduces
electro-
lytic
capacitor
market
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Use Action Result Effect on
battery or
capacitor
market
Source Murata
Cordless
drill with
except-
ional
fast
charging
Replacing
lithium-ion
battery
Cordless drill for use in space developed by NASA with supercapacitors and no battery.
Commercial versions are now available from such companies as Demain International sold
through Top Link Industrial Co. as are battery free flashlights etc. Benefits include long,
maintenance-free life with lower cost of ownership, faster charging and greener
credentials in some cases.
Source NASA
Replaces
lithium-ion
batteries
Source IDTechEx
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3.2. Ensuring that supercapacitors will
replace more batteries
Both supercapacitors and supercabatteries are being improved to the point where they replace
more and more rechargeable batteries, notably the lithium-ion batteries that currently dominate
the marketplace. We have seen that supercapacitors are being adopted despite their high leakage
current and poor energy density. This is because of their performance and long life in the main,
coupled with grearly superior safety and reliability. Here is an example of the thrust of work to
increase the extent to which supercapacitors and their variants replace batteries.
The United States Army Research Laboratory has joined hands with a Mumbai lab to develop nano-
hybrid supercapacitors. These long-lasting power storage devices would be a cheaper and greener
alternative for use in hybrid vehicles.
The US Army's Research Lab of Aberdeen has tied up with the chemistry department of the
University of Mumbai to develop a hybrid supercapacitor using nanotechnology. The US lab will
spend $34,000 to fund this project in the first year.
"The collaboration was finalised in December 2012 and research work will start next month," says
Prof AK Srivastava, head of the autonomous chemistry department.
He adds, "Unlike batteries, supercapacitors can be charged and discharged in seconds and can
withstand many thousands of such charging cycles."
The joint project will combine the powers of both a battery and supercapacitor to achieve the best
result. Prof Srivastava says, "In the first phase, we will test certain electrochemical reactions in
dipolar aprotic solvents." The nano-supercapacitor could also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by
around 30%, he adds.
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4. Applications now and in the
future One way of summarising this is given in the excellent Maxwell Technologies “The Ultracapacitor
Product Guide”, part of which states:
Maxwell BOOSTCAP® ultracapacitors products are offered in a full range of sizes. This enables
utilization of ultracapacitors in a variety of industries for many power requirement needs. These
applications span from milliamps current or milliwatt power to several hundred amps current or
several hundred kilowatts power needs. Industries employing ultracapacitors have included:
consumer electronics, traction, automotive, and industrial. Examples within each industry are
numerous.
Automotive – 42 V vehicle supply networks, power steering, electromagnetic valve controls, starter
generators, electrical door opening, regenerative braking, hybrid electric drive, active seat belt
restraints.
Transportation – Diesel engine starting, train tilting, security door opening, tram power supply,
voltage drop compensation, regenerative braking, hybrid electric drive.
Industrial – uninterrupted power supply (UPS), wind turbine pitch systems, power transient
buffering, automated meter reading (AMR), elevator micro-controller power backup, security doors,
forklifts, cranes, and telecommunications.
Consumer – digital cameras, lap top computers, PDAs, GPS, hand held devices, toys, flashlights,
solar accent lighting, and restaurant paging devices.
Consideration for the various industries listed, and for many others, is typically attributed to the
specific needs of the application the ultracapacitor technology can satisfy. Applications ideally
suited for ultracapacitors include pulse power, bridge power, main power and memory backup.
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4.1. Pulse Power
Ultracapacitors are ideally suited for pulse power applications. Due to the fact the energy storage
is not a chemical reaction, the charge/discharge graphene of the capacitors is efficient.
Since ultracapacitors have low internal impedance they are capable of delivering high currents and
are often times placed in parallel with batteries to load level the batteries, extending battery life.–
buffers the battery from seeing the high peak currents experienced in the application. This
methodology is employed for devices such as digital cameras, hybrid drive systems and
regenerative braking (for energy recapture). (IDTechEx notes that this goes beyond vehicles to
include a crane lowering a load or stopping during rotation).
4.2. Bridge Power
Ultracapacitors are utilized as temporary energy sources in many applications where immediate
power availability may be difficult. This includes UPS systems utilizing generators, fuel cells or
flywheels as the main power backup. All of these systems require short start up times enabling
momentary power interruptions. Ultracapacitor systems are sized to provide the appropriate
amount of ride through time until the primary backup power source becomes available.
4.3. Main Power
For applications requiring power for only short periods of time or is acceptable to allow short
charging time before use, ultracapacitors can be used as the primary power source. Examples of
this utilization include toys, emergency flashlights, restaurant paging devices, solar charged accent
lighting, and emergency door power. (IDTechEx adds hand tools to that).
4.4. Memory Backup
When an application has an available power source to keep the ultracapacitors trickle charged they
may be suited for memory backup, system shut down operations, or event notification. The
ultracapacitors can be maintained at its full charged state and act as a power reserve to perform
critical functions in the event of power loss. This may include AMR for reporting power outage,
micro-controllers and board memory.
JM Energy, in promoting its lithium-ion capacitor variant of a supercapacitor sees the following
applications, the attributes being relative to batteries.
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“An electricity storage device with a high energy density and a high power density at the same time,
an ULTIMOTM cell can be charged and discharged at a large current.
In addition, an ULTIMOTM cell is provided with features of exhibiting an excellent repeated charge
and discharge characteristic, less self-discharge, and wider working temperature ranges while
ensuring a high degree of safety. Typical examples of applications making the most of these
features are shown below.”
Fig. 4.1 Examples of applications of the ULTIMO Cell
Source JM Energy
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4.4.1. Evolution of commercially successful functions
The basic functions above can be summarised as reaching market acceptance in the following
sequence, with a few notable exceptions. Most of these functions can be seen commercially now
but we are forecasting when major supercapacitor business will result from them and suppliers
currently obtaining major sales in these.
Table 4.1 Supercapacitor functions reaching major market acceptance 2013-2023 with some of the
companies leading the success by sector
Energy
regeneration/
energy harvesting
and surge power,
particularly by
battery
enhancement and
protection in road
vehicles, material
handling.
Backup power,
notably for
emergencies, and
peak assist
Start up and
peak assist
power eg for
fuel cells,
office
machines,
remote
metering
Energy
regeneration/
energy harvesting
and surge power,
by fuel cell
enhancement and
protection
Pulse power for
radar, metal
forming,
camera flash
etc
and high
frequency uses
in electronics
Main traction
power,
particularly
vehicles and
load moving
Maxwell
Technologies
Nippon ChemiCon
Batscap
Maxwell
Technologies
Nesscap
LSMtron
Nesscap
LSMtron
Source IDTechEx
4.4.2. Composite structural and smart skin supercapacitors
for power storage
At Imperial College London, Dr Natasha Shirshova is working on this aspect and IDTechEx expects
commercialisation within five years. The focus of this research is developing a multifunctional
composite material that can simultaneously carry mechanical loads and at the same time storing
(and delivering) electrical energy. This work carried out at Imperial College London holds the key to
devices powered by their own casings. She says,
“Conventional approaches to energy storage include batteries, capacitors and supercapacitors.
Batteries have a high energy density, but low power density, due to high internal resistance at high
discharge rates associated with the kinetics of the redox process; capacitors offer a limited energy
density with a high power density, since the energy is only stored as charge on the electrodes. The
focuses of our research are supercapacitors, which have a higher specific power than most of the
batteries, and specific energy which is significantly higher than conventional capacitor (typical
energy and power densities of 1-10 Wh/kg and 0.2-5 kW/kg respectively). This combination (energy
2013 2018 2023
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and power density) allows supercapacitor to occupy he position between batteries and conventional
capacitors. Moreover, supercapacitors have much longer cycle live compare to batteries. The
electrical performance of supercapacitors makes them desirable as short term storage media and
high power density energy sources in applications in which fast bursts of energy are inherent.
These components are particularly useful for the load-levelling applications; when used in
combination with a battery they provide for peak power demands (for example, during rapid
acceleration of a vehicle) that cannot be supplied efficiently by the battery, giving substantial
improvements in battery life. The most common form of electrochemical double layer
supercapacitor consists of two electrodes, a separator, and an electrolyte. The two electrodes
(made of activated carbon fibre in this project), provide a high surface area, and are separated by a
layer that is ionically-conducting but electrically insulating. The energy is stored in an
electrochemical double layer (Helmholtz Layer) formed at a solid/electrolyte interface. The amount
of stored energy is a function of the available electrode surface, the size of the ions, and the
electrolyte stability (usually about 3V). Our subsequent research is developing a proof-of-concept
multifunctional structural power storage material. We have investigated development of a carbon
fibre reinforced polymer composite which can act as a supercapacitor and show good mechanical
properties (Young’s Modulus, Shear stiffness, compression strength, and peel and shear
toughness). To this end we have investigated multifunctional composites derived from carbon fibres
and their activation as mechanically robust electrode materials, polymer gel electrolytes as the ion
conducting phase, glass fibres as the insulator layers and sol-gel derived porous silica as further
structural reinforcement. We have developed a treatment for structural carbon fibres with an
activated surface, allowing them to act both as a reinforcement and an electrode. 50-fold increase
in surface area with negligible loss in mechanical properties has been achieved. The composite
with the specific capacitance 20 mF/g and specific energy about 0.011Wh/kg has been formed.”
Fig. 4.2 Structural supercapacitor as flexible film.
Source Imperial College London
The so-called 'plastic supercapacitor' is an impressive leap forward in the concept of power
storage, allowing the actual casing of a device to provide the power it requires to run. In the case of
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vehicles, this means non-structural elements such as the bumpers and interior spaces could
provide additional power for increased range; in portable devices, the actual case itself could store
the energy required to make the device work. The technology could be used in portable devices in
two ways: certainly at first it's likely to be as an additional power source, helping to make a more
traditional Lithium-Ion or Lithium-Polymer battery last that little bit longer; once the technology
has been sufficiently improved, however, it's possible that the battery can be dispensed of entirely -
paving the way for thinner, lighter portable devices. Potentially, it is greener: requiring fewer
harmful chemicals during its manufacture, the plastic supercapacitor concept represents much
less of an environmental concern when it comes time to dispose of your device.
Project co-ordinator Dr. Emile Greenhaigh admits that "we’re at the first stage of this project and
there is a long way to go," but envisions a future where "you might have a mobile phone that is as
thin as a credit card because it no longer needs a bulky battery, or a laptop that can draw energy
from its casing so it can run for a longer time without recharging."
4.5. Manufacturer successes and strategies
by application
We have investigated the following manufacturers, putative manufacturers and commercial
companies developing supercapacitors (Symmetric Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors
EDLC) and their variants, most of which have some battery-type ie electrochemical/ Faradaic
aspect in addition to electrostatic ie capacitor-type storage. For example, supercabatteries
(Asymmetric Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors AEDLC) may have a lead acid or lithium-ion
electrode or, more rarely nowadays, a nickel battery electrode. The battery- type electrode ie
faradaic not electrostatic is usually an intercalating metal oxide. The capacitor-type electrode is
usually high surface area carbon on a current collector of conductive polymer or metal, notably
aluminium foil. This is true for both asymmetric and symmetric types. When the faradaic and
electrostatic storage is exhibited by one substance it is usually ruthenium oxide and the device is
then called a pseudocapacitor.
In asymmetric arrangement, the battery electrode has a greater capacity than the carbon electrode,
typically resulting in twice the energy storage capability of a comparable symmetric carbon based
supercapacitor. As the voltage swing of the cell during charge/discharge occurs mainly across the
carbon, the battery electrode experiences a relatively low depth of discharge and provides the
conditions required for high cycle life compared to a battery. However, the best symmetric EDLCs
in the laboratory are as good or better than AEDLCs in such parameters as gravimetric energy
density Wh/kg and cycle life. Commercial success of AEDLCs is limited as yet and usually pitched
as “a battery with better properties other than energy density and at a higher price.” They are rarely
pitched as “a capacitor with greater energy density”. They therefore compete with lead-acid
batteries and lithium-ion batteries in the main.
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Under 6% of supercapacitor/ supercabattery manufacturers are in Europe and Maxwell
technologies has seen a collapse in demand for these devices in Europe in the last year.
Nevertheless, there is a huge latent demand for this region as illustrated by a slide we have been
given by Professor Pietro Perlo of IFAVS in Italy that is shown below.
Fig. 4.3 Primary demand for energy storage for battery-like products in Europe in 2020, which will be
satisfied by batteries, supercapacitors, intermediate products and combinations of these
Source IFEVS
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5. Survey of 80 manufacturers The electrolytes used in supercapacitors and supercabatteries are broadly divided into acetonitrile
and other solvents plus the newer option of replacing a solvent with solute with an ionic liquid. The
favourite non-aqueous electrolyte, acetonitrile has recently been found to be more dangerous than
previously estimated in that, in addition to being flammable, sometimes creating toxic (eg HCN)
gases when burning and the liquid is a carcinogen, it is now maintained that the liquid can cause
birth defects and when it burns in a confined space such as a garage it can kill. Maxwell
Technologies gives the implications for the flammability and toxicity on its website. Broadly
speaking, small quantities in supercapacitors are of little concern but the larger devices can
contain quantities of acetonitrile that sometimes encounter restrictions on air transport, disposal
and so on. Because acetonitrile has given the higher cell voltages in the past at up to 2.75 V, this
has led to relatively high energy density and, in particular, acetonitrile has conferred high power
density and competitive costs compared with aqueous alternatives. Low temperature of operation
has also been a benefit sometimes meaning -40C. However, this is changing with improved
alternative electrolytes having good low temperature performance and energy density, most of
which are non-flammable (aqueous) or self-extinguishing (organic) an green from the point of view
of disposal. They are not usually restricted for air travel. Not surprisingly, the trend is for
companies starting to manufacture supercapacitors for the first time to shun acetonitrile and it is
possible that it will be banned at least in large amounts as adequate alternatives become fully
accepted. Some options for alternative organic solvent being as shown below.
Propylene carbonate PC used by several Japanese suppliers
Dimethylsulfoxide
N, N dimethylformamide
Ethylene carbonate
Diethyl carbonate
Sulfolane γ-butyrolactone
The choice between aqueous and organic electrolyte depends on 4 parameters which are
contradictory, the resistance, the capacitance, the manufacturability and the potential window size
in which the system is electrochemically stable. It has been shown that above 25oC the
supercapacitor capacitance is 5 to 10% greater with AN in comparison to that obtained with PC. In
the same temperature conditions the series resistance with PC is 50% bigger. At lower
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temperature the situation is even worse. At -30C for example, the capacitance is 50% bigger with
AN and the series resistance can be five times greater with PC. Nonetheless, developments are
altering all these relationships, electrolytes being an important focus of improved performance,
green credentials and reduced or eliminated flammability.
Supercapacitor manufacturers often have a reluctance to reveal that they are using acetonitrile. On
the other hand, many of the aqueous electrolytes employ sulphuric acid or potassium hydroxide for
example, which, while being much more benign, are scarcely non-poisonous. Gel polymer
electrolytes are also of interest for longer life, any format and less chance of leakage but they tend
not to have the best low temperature performance. The polymer matrix may be based on
poly(propylene), poly(vinylidene difluoride), poly(tetrafluoroethylene), poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO),
polyaniline (PANI) or poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). Covalent supercapacitor electrolyte
technology is based on a family of salts known as hydrophobic Ionic liquids IL. These materials
offer a unique set of physical, chemical and electrochemical properties that strongly favor their use
as electrolytes in supercapacitors. IL technology is based on the judicious pairing of delocalized
heterocyclic organic cations and charge stabilized organic and inorganic anions.
Properties of the ionic liquid are:
ion concentration from 4 M to 6 M
wide working temperature, from -90 oC to 400 oC
non-flammable with low toxicity
non-corrosive to electrode and packing components at elevated temperatures
isothermal stabilities approaching 300 oC with no measurable vapor pressure
The viscosities of IL are minimally two orders of magnitude greater than those of most common
molecular solvents. Thus the typically ionic conductivity is in the range from 4 to 14 mS/cm at 22oC.
This conductivity is insufficient for supercapacitors at room temperature and below, but are
suitable for high temperature applications according to Petr Dvořák as reported in his Doctoral
Degree Program, FEEC BUT .
The electrolytes used by the various manufacturers are as follows but this is subject to change, for
example as an increasing minority of manufacturers adopt several options. In many cases, we are
not clear what electrolyte is currently used as this is often kept secret. Both symmetric and
asymmetric designs can use either organic or inorganic electrolytes and development of both
families continues.
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Table 5.1 80 manufacturers, putative manufacturers and commercial companies developing
supercapacitors, supercabatteries and carbon-enhanced lead batteries for commercialisation
with country, website and device technology.
EDLC = Symmetric supercapacitor
LiC = Supercabattery based on lithium
PbC = Supercabattery or carbon-enhanced battery based on lead battery
AEDLCNi = Supercabattery based on nickel battery
PseudoC = Pseudocapacitor RuO2 part electrostatic, part electrochemical
TaHybrid = Tantalum electrolytic/ supercapacitor construction
CNT = carbon nanotube. Gp = Graphene.
Yellow = not yet trading
Company Country Website Technology
1. ABSL EnerSys UK http://www.abslspaceproducts.com http://www.enersys.com EDLC carbon
2. Ada
Technologies
USA http://www.adatech.com EDLC carbon
3. Advanced
Capacitor
Technologies
Japan http://www.act.jp/eng/ LiC
4. ApowerCap
Technologies
Ukraine http://www.apowercap.com EDLC carbon
5. Asahi Kasei –
FDK
Japan http://www.fdk.co.jp LiC
6. AVX USA
(Mexico)
http://www.avx.com EDLC carbon
7. Axion Power
International
USA www.axionpower.com PbC
8. Bainacap China www.bainacap.com EDLC carbon
9. Batscap
(Bollore)
France http://www.batscap.com/en EDLC carbon
10. Beijing HCC
Energy Tech
China www.hccenergy.com/en EDLC carbon
11. Cap-XX Australia http://www.cap-xx.com EDLC carbon
12. CDE Cornell
Dubilier
USA www.cde.com LiC
EDLC carbon
13. Cellergy
owned by PCB
technologies,
part of Prior
Tech Group
Israel www.cellergycap.com EDLC carbon
14. Chaoyang
Liyuan New
Energy (Liyuan
Company)
China www.cyliyuan.com EDLC carbon
LiC
15. Cooper
Bussmann
USA www.cooperindustries.com EDLC carbon
16. Daying Juneng
Technology
and
Development
China http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&Ca
tId=&SearchText=Daying+Juneng+Technology+and+Development
EDLC carbon
17. Dongguan
Amazing
Electronic
China http://amazing.en.alibaba.com/contactinfo.html
EDLC carbon
18. Dongguan
Fuhui
Electronics
Sales
China http://winwinsupercap.en.alibaba.com/contactinfo.html EDLC carbon
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Company Country Website Technology
19. Dongguan
Gonghe
Electronics
China http://worldghc.en.alibaba.com/contactinfo.html
Dongguan City GHC Electronic Co., Ltd (Domestic market)
http://www.kingep.com/
http://www.kingep.com/info/en/index.asp?page=30&id=95&Iss=3&pic=13
EDLC carbon
20. Dongguan WIN
WIN Supercap
Electronic
China http://www.diytrade.com/china/manufacturer/1160302/main/Dongguan_
WIN-WIN_Supercap_Electronic_Co_Ltd.html
EDLC carbon
21. East Penn
Manufacturing
Co.
USA www.dekabatteries.com PbC
22. Ecoult (East
Penn)
USA
(Australia)
www.ecoult.com EDLC carbon
23. Elbit Systems Israel www.elbitsystems.com EDLC carbon
PbC
PseudoC
24. ELIT Russia www.elit-cap.com EDLC carbon
25. Elna Japan www.elna.co.jp EDLC carbon
26. Elton Super
Capacitor
(ESMA)
Russia www.elton-cap.com
www.esma.com
EDLC carbon AEDLCNi
27. Evans
Capacitor
Company
USA www.evanscap.com TaHybrid
PseudoC
EDLC
28. Extreme
Capacitors X-
Caps
USA www.extremecapacitor.com EDLC carbon (Gp &
CNT)
29. FastCAP
Systems
USA www.fastcapsystems.com EDLC carbon CNT
30. FDK Japan www.fdk.com LiC
31. Furukawa
Battery Co
Japan www.furukawadenchi.co.jp PbC
32. Graphene
Energy Inc
USA www.grapheneenergy.net EDLC carbon Gp
33. Harbin Jurong
Newpower
China www.jurong-newpower.com.cn
http://www.iecyp.com/Heilongjiang/61601.html
EDLC carbon
34. Heter Battery/
Handong
Heter Battery
China www.heterbattery.com EDLC carbon
35. Honda Japan www.world.honda.com EDLC carbon
36. Hitachi
(Hitachi Maxell
and Hitachi
AIC)
Japan www.hitachi.com LiC
37. Hutchinson
(Total group)
France www.cdt.hutchinson.fr
EDLC carbon
38. Illinois
Capacitor
USA www.illcap.com EDLC carbon
39. Inmatech USA www.inmatech.com LiC based on early
transition metal
carbides and nitrides
40. Ioxus USA www.ioxus.com EDLC carbon
LiC
41. JM Energy
(JSR Micro)
Japan www.jmenergy.co.jp LiC
42. KAM China www.kam.co.uk EDLC carbon
43. Kankyu
Batteries
Japan No website LiC
44. Korchip Korea www.korchip.com EDLC carbon
45. LithChem
Energy
USA www.lithchemenergy.com/ EDLC carbon
46. LSMtron Korea www.ultracapacitor.co.kr
www.lsmtron.com/
EDLC carbon
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Company Country Website Technology
47. Maxwell
Technologies
USA www.maxwell.com EDLC carbon
Researching AEDLC
and CNT
48. MegaJoule
Storage
USA www.megajouleinc.com
PbC AEDLC
49. Meidensha/
Sumitomo
Electric
industries use
JM Energy LiC
Japan www.meidensha.co.jp EDLC carbon
LiC
50. Murata Japan www.murata.com EDLC carbon
51. Nanotune
Technologies
USA www.nanotune.com EDLC carbon Gp
52. NEC Tokin Japan www.nec-tokin.com EDLC carbon
LiC
53. Nesscap
Energy Inc
Canada
(Korea)
www.nesscap.com EDLC carbon
54. Nichicon Japan www.nichicon.co.jp EDLC carbon
55. Nippon
Chemi-con/
United
ChemiCon
Japan www.chemi-con.co.jp
www.chemi-con.com
EDLC carbon
56. Nisshinbo Japan www.nisshinbo.co.jp EDLCCarbon
57. Optixtal USA www.optixtal.com EDLC carbon
58. Panasonic Japan www.panasonic.net EDLC carbon
59. Paper Battery
Company
USA www.paperbatteryco.com EDLC carbon
60. PowerSystem
Co
Japan www.powersystems.co.jp EDLC carbon
61. Quantum
Wired
USA www.quantumwired.com EDLC carbon
62. Ryan
Technology
Taiwan www.ryan-technology.com EDLC carbon
63. SAFT France www.saftbatteries.com EDLC carbon
AEDLCNi
PseudoC
64. SAHZ Holdings
Sdn. Bhd
Malaysia www.nottingham.edu.my
EDLC
AEDLC
65. Shandong
Heter
Lampson
Electronic
China www.htlampson.com EDLC carbon
66. Shanghai
Aowei
Technology
Development
China www.aowei.com EDLC carbon
67. Shanghai
Green Tech
China www.greentechee.com EDLC carbon
68. Shanghai
Power Oriental
International
Trade
China www.poweroriental.cn EDLC carbon
69. Shenzhen
Forecon Super
Capacitor
Technology
China www.forecon.hk EDLC carbon
70. Sino Power
Star
China http://www.spscap.com EDLC carbon
71. Skeleton
Technologies
Estonia www.skeletontech.com EDLC carbon
72. SPL USA www.splusa.net EDLC carbon
73. Taiyo Yuden Japan www.t-yuden.com LiC
74. Tavrima Canada www.tavrima.com
EDLC carbon
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Company Country Website Technology
75. TDK inc
EPCOS
Japan www.tdk.com EDLC carbon
76. Tecate Group USA www.tecategroup.com EDLC carbon
Makes PowerburstTM
But also resells
Maxwell and Cap-XX
versions
77. Vina
Technology Co
Korea www.vina-technology-co-ltd.imexbb.com EDLC carbon
78. WIMA
Spezialvertrieb
Elektronischer
Bauelemente
Germany www.wima.com EDLC carbon
79. Yo-
Engineering
Russia www.yo-auto.ru EDLC carbon
80. Yunasko UK
(Ukraine)
www.yunasko.com EDLC carbon
LiC
Source IDTechEx
The geographical distribution of manufacturers of supercapacitors and their variants
The incidence of the different technologies is shown below.
Fig. 5.1 Incidence of the different technologies
USA 22 29%
Japan 21 27%
China 17 22%
Russia 3 4%
Korea 3 4%
UK 2 3%
Canada 2 3%
Israel 2 3%
Australia 1 1%Estonia 1 1%
Germany 1 1%
Malaysia 1 1%
Ukraine 1 1%
Source IDTechEx
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The numbers of manufacturers offering the various supercapacitor technologies including
derivatives, some companies having several options are shown below.
Fig. 5.2 Number of manufacturers offering the various supercapacitor technologies including derivatives,
some companies having several options
Symmetric supercapacitor EDLC
6574%
Supercabattery based on lithium LiC
1416%
Ionicliquid
6%
Supercabattery based on nickel battery
AEDLCNi 2
2%
Pseudocapacitor RuO2 part electrostatic, part
electrochemical2
2%
Tantalum electrolytic/ supercapacitor
TaHybrid 1
1%
Source IDTechEx
The number of manufacturers of supercapacitors and supercabatteries is rising rapidly as
estimated below, being a later stage technology, supercapacitors and supercabatteries will only
reach 150 manufacturers in 2020, this being approximately the number of manufacturers of
lithium-ion batteries today.
Trend in number of manufacturers
The number of manufacturers of supercapacitors and supercabatteries is rising rapidly as
estimated below, being a later stage technology, supercapacitors and supercabatteries will only
reach 150 manufacturers in 2020, this being approximately the number of manufacturers of
lithium-ion batteries today.
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Fig. 5.3 Estimate of the number of trading manufacturers of supercapacitors and supercabatteries globally
1993-2025 including timing of industry shakeout.
200 200 Industry shakeout – failures
and mergers
130
80
50
30 20
10 1993 1998 2003 2008 2013 2018 2023 2025
Source IDTechEx
Manufacturer successes and strategies by application are given in the following tables which are
based on our interviews and study of their patents, conference presentations, literature and press
comment. Inevitably it is subjective and subject to frequent changes but some general trends are
revealed.
Firstly, in summary of the later detailed figures, the main achievements and objectives with
supercapacitors by number of manufacturers seem to be as follows. This illustrates a move from
electronic and electric engineering applications in the past to almost entirely electrical engineering
priorities for the future.
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6. Achievements and
objectives by manufacturer Below we show our detailed analysis of the achievements and intention of the 78 manufacturers
and putative manufacturers of supercapacitors and their variants. Such information is, of course,
subjective and suspect in its detail because false claims occur and intentions and achievements
constantly change. However, we have covered such a large field that we consider the overall results
to be meaningful.
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Table 6.1 By application, for Automotive, Aerospace, Military and Oil & Gas, the successes by 78
supercapacitor/supercabattery manufacturers in grey green and their targets for extra
applications in the near term in yellow. Six sub categories are analysed
Automotive Aerospace Military
Company Conventional
on-road
vehicle
Hybrid and
pure EV on-
road
Hybrid and
pure EV off-
road
Train, trolleybus
and tram
Stop-start,
bus door
open,
boardnet
stabilisation,
heavy diesel
engine
starting,
power
steering,
Regen. brake.
Fast charge/
Discharge
(battery
protection and
enhancement).
Fuel cell
power
management
Includes
Material
Handling.
Regen. brake.
Fast charge/
discharge
(battery
protection
and
enhancement)
Capturing braking
energy trackside or
on vehicle, train
tilting, security door
opening, electro
magnetic valve
controls, hybrid
electric drive,
emergency power,
bridging power
between catenaries.
Trackside
harvesting and rail
system standby/
backup
Emergency door,
emergency slides,radar
etc
Door opening in
emergency, radar. Fast
charge/discharge(battery
protection and
enhancement and use
alone for traction)
ABSL EnerSys Satellites Vehicles
Ada
Technologies –
commercial
developer
Vehicles
Advanced
Capacitor
Technologies
APowerCap
Technologies
Asahi Kasei –
FDK
AVX
Axion Power
International
Bainacap–
Liaoning Baina
Electric Co has
Maxwell
Technologies
license
Batscap
(Bollore)
Cars/buses
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Automotive Aerospace Military
Company Conventional
on-road
vehicle
Hybrid and
pure EV on-
road
Hybrid and
pure EV off-
road
Train, trolleybus
and tram
Stop-start,
bus door
open,
boardnet
stabilisation,
heavy diesel
engine
starting,
power
steering,
Regen. brake.
Fast charge/
Discharge
(battery
protection and
enhancement).
Fuel cell
power
management
Includes
Material
Handling.
Regen. brake.
Fast charge/
discharge
(battery
protection
and
enhancement)
Capturing braking
energy trackside or
on vehicle, train
tilting, security door
opening, electro
magnetic valve
controls, hybrid
electric drive,
emergency power,
bridging power
between catenaries.
Trackside
harvesting and rail
system standby/
backup
Emergency door,
emergency slides,radar
etc
Door opening in
emergency, radar. Fast
charge/discharge(battery
protection and
enhancement and use
alone for traction)
Beijing HCC
Energy Tech
Cars,
e-bicycles
Cap-XX Stop start
CDE Cornell
Dubilier
Cellergy
Chaoyang
Liyuan New
Energy
Buses/
vehicles
Cooper
Bussmann
Daying Juneng
Technology
and
Development
Dongguan
Amazing
Electronic
Mechanical
equipment
Electric
vehicle
controller
Aviation, spacecraft
Dongguan
Fuhui
Electronics
Sales
E- bikes,
hybrid cars
Military equipment
Dongguan
Gonghe
Electronics
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
80
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Automotive Aerospace Military
Company Conventional
on-road
vehicle
Hybrid and
pure EV on-
road
Hybrid and
pure EV off-
road
Train, trolleybus
and tram
Stop-start,
bus door
open,
boardnet
stabilisation,
heavy diesel
engine
starting,
power
steering,
Regen. brake.
Fast charge/
Discharge
(battery
protection and
enhancement).
Fuel cell
power
management
Includes
Material
Handling.
Regen. brake.
Fast charge/
discharge
(battery
protection
and
enhancement)
Capturing braking
energy trackside or
on vehicle, train
tilting, security door
opening, electro
magnetic valve
controls, hybrid
electric drive,
emergency power,
bridging power
between catenaries.
Trackside
harvesting and rail
system standby/
backup
Emergency door,
emergency slides,radar
etc
Door opening in
emergency, radar. Fast
charge/discharge(battery
protection and
enhancement and use
alone for traction)
Dongguan WIN
WIN Supercap
Electronic
East Penn
Manufacturing
Co.
Ecoult
Elbit Systems Car, bus etc
ELIT Combustion
engines
Elna
Elton Super
Capacitor
(ESMA)
Large variety
of heavy
vehicles
Diesel starting
Evans
Capacitor
Company
Door, radar Missile fusing,
penetrating weapon apps
Extreme
Capacitors X-
Caps
Vehicle
traction and
charging
station power
balancing
Traction power
FastCAP
Systems
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
81
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Automotive Aerospace Military
Company Conventional
on-road
vehicle
Hybrid and
pure EV on-
road
Hybrid and
pure EV off-
road
Train, trolleybus
and tram
Stop-start,
bus door
open,
boardnet
stabilisation,
heavy diesel
engine
starting,
power
steering,
Regen. brake.
Fast charge/
Discharge
(battery
protection and
enhancement).
Fuel cell
power
management
Includes
Material
Handling.
Regen. brake.
Fast charge/
discharge
(battery
protection
and
enhancement)
Capturing braking
energy trackside or
on vehicle, train
tilting, security door
opening, electro
magnetic valve
controls, hybrid
electric drive,
emergency power,
bridging power
between catenaries.
Trackside
harvesting and rail
system standby/
backup
Emergency door,
emergency slides,radar
etc
Door opening in
emergency, radar. Fast
charge/discharge(battery
protection and
enhancement and use
alone for traction)
FDK
Furukawa
Battery Co
Graphene
Energy Inc
Hydraulic
and actuator
systems
Re-generative
braking
Harbin Jurong
Newpower
Electric buses
Heter Battery/
Handong
Heter Battery
Honda
Hitachi
(Hitachi Maxell
and Hitachi
AIC)
Illinois
Capacitor
Inmatech
Ioxus Buses,trucks,
cars stop
/start
Stop/start
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
82
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Automotive Aerospace Military
Company Conventional
on-road
vehicle
Hybrid and
pure EV on-
road
Hybrid and
pure EV off-
road
Train, trolleybus
and tram
Stop-start,
bus door
open,
boardnet
stabilisation,
heavy diesel
engine
starting,
power
steering,
Regen. brake.
Fast charge/
Discharge
(battery
protection and
enhancement).
Fuel cell
power
management
Includes
Material
Handling.
Regen. brake.
Fast charge/
discharge
(battery
protection
and
enhancement)
Capturing braking
energy trackside or
on vehicle, train
tilting, security door
opening, electro
magnetic valve
controls, hybrid
electric drive,
emergency power,
bridging power
between catenaries.
Trackside
harvesting and rail
system standby/
backup
Emergency door,
emergency slides,radar
etc
Door opening in
emergency, radar. Fast
charge/discharge(battery
protection and
enhancement and use
alone for traction)
JM Energy Construction
machinery
KAM
Kankyu
Battery
Korchip Heavy
engineering
LithChem
Energy
Cars
LSMtron
Maxwell
Technologies
In
Continental
stop start
system
installed in
PSA Peugeot
Citroen cars
Cars Forklifts and
cranes.
Bombardier
capturing
braking
energy in
trains and
trams.
Riversimple
car fuel cell
(battery
replacement)
Capturing braking
energy trackside or
on vehicle, train
tilting, security door
opening, electro
magnetic valve
controls, hybrid
electric drive
Buses, trains, trams
rail system standby/
backup Zhengzhou
Tutong Bus Co.
Door, radar Hybrid diesel electric
transport trucks (peak-
power assist and reliable
cold cranking to increase fuel efficiency and
decrease maintenance).
Door opening in
emergency, radar. Fast
charge/discharge
(battery protection and
enhancement and use
alone for traction) Door
opening in emergency,
radar. Fast
charge/discharge(battery
protection and
enhancement and use
alone for traction)
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
83
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Automotive Aerospace Military
Company Conventional
on-road
vehicle
Hybrid and
pure EV on-
road
Hybrid and
pure EV off-
road
Train, trolleybus
and tram
Stop-start,
bus door
open,
boardnet
stabilisation,
heavy diesel
engine
starting,
power
steering,
Regen. brake.
Fast charge/
Discharge
(battery
protection and
enhancement).
Fuel cell
power
management
Includes
Material
Handling.
Regen. brake.
Fast charge/
discharge
(battery
protection
and
enhancement)
Capturing braking
energy trackside or
on vehicle, train
tilting, security door
opening, electro
magnetic valve
controls, hybrid
electric drive,
emergency power,
bridging power
between catenaries.
Trackside
harvesting and rail
system standby/
backup
Emergency door,
emergency slides,radar
etc
Door opening in
emergency, radar. Fast
charge/discharge(battery
protection and
enhancement and use
alone for traction)
Meidensha
Murata
Nanotune
Technologies
NEC Tokin
Nesscap
Energy Inc
Engine start
e.g. truck,
fuel cell
vehicles by
wire
Micro mild and
full hybrid,
heavy duty and
transit
buses,trams,
trains
Heavy duty
vehicles
Hybrid
forklifts,
crane, hybrid
excavator
Military
Nichicon
Nippon
Chemi-Con/
United Chemi-
Con
Nisshinbo
Optixtal
Panasonic
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
84
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Automotive Aerospace Military
Company Conventional
on-road
vehicle
Hybrid and
pure EV on-
road
Hybrid and
pure EV off-
road
Train, trolleybus
and tram
Stop-start,
bus door
open,
boardnet
stabilisation,
heavy diesel
engine
starting,
power
steering,
Regen. brake.
Fast charge/
Discharge
(battery
protection and
enhancement).
Fuel cell
power
management
Includes
Material
Handling.
Regen. brake.
Fast charge/
discharge
(battery
protection
and
enhancement)
Capturing braking
energy trackside or
on vehicle, train
tilting, security door
opening, electro
magnetic valve
controls, hybrid
electric drive,
emergency power,
bridging power
between catenaries.
Trackside
harvesting and rail
system standby/
backup
Emergency door,
emergency slides,radar
etc
Door opening in
emergency, radar. Fast
charge/discharge(battery
protection and
enhancement and use
alone for traction)
Paper Battery
Company
PowerSystem
Co
Quantum
Wired
Ryan
Technology
Hybrid cars
SAFT Aircraft
SAHZ Holdings
Sdn. Bhd
Shandong
Heter
Lampson
Electronic
Diesel
locomotive
start up
systems,
automobile
low
temperature
start up
systems,
automobile
emergency
start up
systems
Energy
systems for
pure and
hybrid vehicles
Military
maintenance free power
systems, high power
pulse systems, ultra-
low start up power
systems
Shanghai
Aowei
Technology
Development
Electric buses
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
85
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Automotive Aerospace Military
Company Conventional
on-road
vehicle
Hybrid and
pure EV on-
road
Hybrid and
pure EV off-
road
Train, trolleybus
and tram
Stop-start,
bus door
open,
boardnet
stabilisation,
heavy diesel
engine
starting,
power
steering,
Regen. brake.
Fast charge/
Discharge
(battery
protection and
enhancement).
Fuel cell
power
management
Includes
Material
Handling.
Regen. brake.
Fast charge/
discharge
(battery
protection
and
enhancement)
Capturing braking
energy trackside or
on vehicle, train
tilting, security door
opening, electro
magnetic valve
controls, hybrid
electric drive,
emergency power,
bridging power
between catenaries.
Trackside
harvesting and rail
system standby/
backup
Emergency door,
emergency slides,radar
etc
Door opening in
emergency, radar. Fast
charge/discharge(battery
protection and
enhancement and use
alone for traction)
Shanghai
Green Tech
Shanghai
Power Oriental
International
Trade
Automotive
electronics
Cars
Shenzhen
Forecon Super
Capacitor
Technology
Sino Power
Star
Electric and
hybrid vehicles
Skeleton
Technologies
SPL
Taiyo Yuden
Tavrima Hybrid
vehicles
TDK
Tecate Group Aerospace industry Vehicles,
communication, radar
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
86
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Automotive Aerospace Military
Company Conventional
on-road
vehicle
Hybrid and
pure EV on-
road
Hybrid and
pure EV off-
road
Train, trolleybus
and tram
Stop-start,
bus door
open,
boardnet
stabilisation,
heavy diesel
engine
starting,
power
steering,
Regen. brake.
Fast charge/
Discharge
(battery
protection and
enhancement).
Fuel cell
power
management
Includes
Material
Handling.
Regen. brake.
Fast charge/
discharge
(battery
protection
and
enhancement)
Capturing braking
energy trackside or
on vehicle, train
tilting, security door
opening, electro
magnetic valve
controls, hybrid
electric drive,
emergency power,
bridging power
between catenaries.
Trackside
harvesting and rail
system standby/
backup
Emergency door,
emergency slides,radar
etc
Door opening in
emergency, radar. Fast
charge/discharge(battery
protection and
enhancement and use
alone for traction)
Vina
Technology Co
Hybrid
vehicles, low
current long
term back- up
WIMA
Spezialvertrieb
Elektronischer
Bauelemente
Yo-
Engineering
Hybrid car
Yunasko KERS Hybrid
vehicles
TOTAL
ACHIEVEMENT 20 25 9 11 8 12
TOTAL
INTENTIONS 11 17 17 9 3 9
Source IDTechEx
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
87
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Te
ch
Ex L
td
Table 6.2 The successes in six categories in the Utility sector by 78 supercapacitor/supercabattery
manufacturers in grey green and their targets for extra applications in the near term in yellow
Utilities
Renewable Energy Other
Company Wind turbines:
blade pitch
control or main
power
buffering
Photovoltaic PV Grid storage Remote control
utility meters
Power factor
correction/
frequency
control
Oil & Gas eg
drilling
ABSL EnerSys
Ada
Technologies
Advanced
Capacitor
Technologies
APowercap
Technologies
Asahi Kasei –
FDK
AVX
Axion Power
International
Bainacap –
Liaoning Baina
Electric Co has
Maxwell
Technologies
license
.
Batscap
(Bollore)
Beijing HCC
Energy Tech
Storage buffer
systems
Cap-XX
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
88
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Utilities
Renewable Energy Other
Company Wind turbines:
blade pitch
control or main
power
buffering
Photovoltaic PV Grid storage Remote control
utility meters
Power factor
correction/
frequency
control
Oil & Gas eg
drilling
CDE Cornell
Dubilier
Cellergy
Chaoyang
Liyuan New
Energy
Cooper
Bussmann
Wind turbines
Daying Juneng
Technology and
Development
Dongguan
Amazing
Electronic
Smart power
grid,STB
Dongguan
Fuhui
Electronics
Sales
Dongguan
Gonghe
Electronics
Dongguan WIN
WIN Supercap
Electronic
East Penn
Manufacturing
Co.
US DoE smart-
grid storage
demonstration
program
Ecoult
Elbit Systems
ELIT
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
89
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Utilities
Renewable Energy Other
Company Wind turbines:
blade pitch
control or main
power
buffering
Photovoltaic PV Grid storage Remote control
utility meters
Power factor
correction/
frequency
control
Oil & Gas eg
drilling
Elna
Elton Super
Capacitor
(ESMA)
Evans
Capacitor
Company
Extreme
Capacitors X-
Caps
FastCAP
Systems
FDK
Furukawa
Battery Co
Power
management
Graphene
Energy Inc
Harbin Jurong
Newpower
Heter Battery/
Handong Heter
Battery
Honda
Hitachi (Hitachi
Maxell and
Hitachi AIC)
Illinois
Capacitor
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
90
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Utilities
Renewable Energy Other
Company Wind turbines:
blade pitch
control or main
power
buffering
Photovoltaic PV Grid storage Remote control
utility meters
Power factor
correction/
frequency
control
Oil & Gas eg
drilling
Inmatech
Ioxus Large power
and offshore
wind turbines
JM Energy Power
management
KAM
Kankyu Battery
Korchip
LithChem
Energy
LSMtron
Maxwell
Technologies
Meidensha
Murata
Nanotune
Technologies
NEC Tokin
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
91
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Utilities
Renewable Energy Other
Company Wind turbines:
blade pitch
control or main
power
buffering
Photovoltaic PV Grid storage Remote control
utility meters
Power factor
correction/
frequency
control
Oil & Gas eg
drilling
Nesscap
Energy Inc
Pitch control
system
Nichicon
Nippon Chemi-
con
Nisshinbo
Optixtal
Panasonic
Paper Battery
Company
PowerSystem
Co
Quantum Wired Power
management
Ryan
Technology
Wind velocity
pitch control
SAFT
SAHZ Holdings
Sdn. Bhd
Shandong
Heter Lampson
Electronic
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
92
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Utilities
Renewable Energy Other
Company Wind turbines:
blade pitch
control or main
power
buffering
Photovoltaic PV Grid storage Remote control
utility meters
Power factor
correction/
frequency
control
Oil & Gas eg
drilling
Shanghai
Aowei
Technology
Development
Shanghai
Green Tech
Shanghai
Power Oriental
International
Trade
Power
management
Shenzhen
Forecon Super
Capacitor
Technology
Sino Power
Star
Skeleton
Technologies
SPL
Taiyo Yuden
Tavrima
TDK
Tecate Group
Vina
Technology Co
Pitch control
WIMA
Spezialvertrieb
Elektronischer
Bauelemente
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
93
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Utilities
Renewable Energy Other
Company Wind turbines:
blade pitch
control or main
power
buffering
Photovoltaic PV Grid storage Remote control
utility meters
Power factor
correction/
frequency
control
Oil & Gas eg
drilling
Yo-Engineering
Yunasko
TOTAL
ACHIEVEMENT 17 9 4 6 19 5 4
TOTAL
INTENTIONS 12 15 1 9 2 10 1
Source IDTechEx
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
94
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Table 6.3 The successes by 78 supercapacitor/supercabattery manufacturers in the Consumer and
Industrial & Commercial sectors in grey green and their targets for extra applications in the near
term in yellow. Eight sub-categories are analysed.
Consumer Industrial & Commercial
Company Mobile phones
and cameras
Audio Toys and
other
Standby
power/UPS
not on a grid
scale
Office
machines,
medical and
small devices
not in other
categories
eg copiers. AMR, DVR, real
time clock
battery, USB
powered
devices, energy
harvesting for
wireless sensor
networks, LED
battery -
operated active
RFID tags,
solenoid
products
Telecoms.
GSM/GPRS PC
cards
Gaming
machines
Heavy
pulse
power:
welding
machine,
robotic
systems,
metal
forming
ABSL EnerSys
Ada
Technologies
Advanced
Capacitor
Technologies
APowerCap
Technologies
Asahi Kasei –
FDK
AVX
Axion Power
International
Bainacap –
Liaoning Baina
Electric Co. has Maxwell
Technologies
license
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
95
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Consumer Industrial & Commercial
Company Mobile phones
and cameras
Audio Toys and
other
Standby
power/UPS
not on a grid
scale
Office
machines,
medical and
small devices
not in other
categories
eg copiers. AMR, DVR, real
time clock
battery, USB
powered
devices, energy
harvesting for
wireless sensor
networks, LED
battery -
operated active
RFID tags,
solenoid
products
Telecoms.
GSM/GPRS PC
cards
Gaming
machines
Heavy
pulse
power:
welding
machine,
robotic
systems,
metal
forming
Batscap
(Bollore)
Beijing HCC
Energy Tech
Cap-XX Camera/phone
CDE Cornell
Dubilier
Cellergy
Chaoyang
Liyuan New
Energy
Cooper
Bussmann
Daying Juneng
Technology
and
Development
Dongguan
Amazing
Electronic
Mobile phone
charger
Medical
equipment,
security
detective
equipment Instrument and
meters
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
96
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Consumer Industrial & Commercial
Company Mobile phones
and cameras
Audio Toys and
other
Standby
power/UPS
not on a grid
scale
Office
machines,
medical and
small devices
not in other
categories
eg copiers. AMR, DVR, real
time clock
battery, USB
powered
devices, energy
harvesting for
wireless sensor
networks, LED
battery -
operated active
RFID tags,
solenoid
products
Telecoms.
GSM/GPRS PC
cards
Gaming
machines
Heavy
pulse
power:
welding
machine,
robotic
systems,
metal
forming
Dongguan
Fuhui
Electronics
Sales
Intelligent
instruments,
car audio
systems
Alarms
,security
devices FOICs,
cash registers,
duplicators
rapid heating
Dongguan
Gonghe
Electronics
Dongguan WIN
WIN Supercap
Electronic
East Penn
Manufacturing
Co.
Ecoult
Elbit Systems
ELIT Car audio
systems
Elna
Elton Super
Capacitor
(ESMA)
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
97
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Consumer Industrial & Commercial
Company Mobile phones
and cameras
Audio Toys and
other
Standby
power/UPS
not on a grid
scale
Office
machines,
medical and
small devices
not in other
categories
eg copiers. AMR, DVR, real
time clock
battery, USB
powered
devices, energy
harvesting for
wireless sensor
networks, LED
battery -
operated active
RFID tags,
solenoid
products
Telecoms.
GSM/GPRS PC
cards
Gaming
machines
Heavy
pulse
power:
welding
machine,
robotic
systems,
metal
forming
Evans
Capacitor
Company
Extreme
Capacitors X-
Caps
FastCAP
Systems
Portable
storage
FDK
Furukawa
Battery Co
Graphene
Energy Inc
Harbin Jurong
Newpower
Heter Battery/
Handong
Heter Battery
Honda
Hitachi
(Hitachi Maxell
and Hitachi
AIC)
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
98
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Consumer Industrial & Commercial
Company Mobile phones
and cameras
Audio Toys and
other
Standby
power/UPS
not on a grid
scale
Office
machines,
medical and
small devices
not in other
categories
eg copiers. AMR, DVR, real
time clock
battery, USB
powered
devices, energy
harvesting for
wireless sensor
networks, LED
battery -
operated active
RFID tags,
solenoid
products
Telecoms.
GSM/GPRS PC
cards
Gaming
machines
Heavy
pulse
power:
welding
machine,
robotic
systems,
metal
forming
Illinois
Capacitor
Broad range of
electronic
devices and
power tools
Inmatech
Ioxus Power tools,
motor start,
actuation
systems and
medical led
apps
JM Energy Voltage sag
compensator,
emergency
shut off valve,
large
manufacture
equipment
AVG, LED
lighting and
medical
appliances
KAM
Kankyu
Battery
Korchip
LithChem
Energy
LSMtron
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
99
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Consumer Industrial & Commercial
Company Mobile phones
and cameras
Audio Toys and
other
Standby
power/UPS
not on a grid
scale
Office
machines,
medical and
small devices
not in other
categories
eg copiers. AMR, DVR, real
time clock
battery, USB
powered
devices, energy
harvesting for
wireless sensor
networks, LED
battery -
operated active
RFID tags,
solenoid
products
Telecoms.
GSM/GPRS PC
cards
Gaming
machines
Heavy
pulse
power:
welding
machine,
robotic
systems,
metal
forming
Maxwell
Technologies
Cord
less tools,
emergency kits,
toys, computers
etc
Meidensha
Murata Power
amp,audio
circuits
LED flash
Nanotune
Technologies
NEC Tokin
Nesscap
Energy Inc
Wireless
audio, car
audio;SSD
Nichicon
Nippon
Chemi-con
Nisshinbo
Optixtal
Supercapacitor/ Ultracapacitor Strategies 2013-2025
100
© ID
Te
ch
Ex L
td
Consumer Industrial & Commercial
Company Mobile phones
and cameras
Audio Toys and
other
Standby
power/UPS
not on a grid
scale
Office
machines,
medical and
small devices
not in other
categories
eg copiers. AMR, DVR, real
time clock
battery, USB
powered
devices, energy
harvesting for
wireless sensor
networks, LED
battery -
operated active
RFID tags,
solenoid
products
Telecoms.
GSM/GPRS PC
cards
Gaming
machines
Heavy
pulse
power:
welding
machine,
robotic
systems,
metal
forming
Panasonic
Paper Battery
Company
PowerSystem
Co
Quantum
Wired
Ryan
Technology
Car audio Motor drivers,
automatic
meter reading ,
Remote
controllers
duplicators, self
–electric
charging,
electric valves
SAFT
SAHZ Holdings
Sdn. Bhd
Shandong
Heter
Lampson
Electronic
Power supply
for smart
ammeters,
water and ,
backup power
for clock chip,
short time high
power, high
power energy-
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Consumer Industrial & Commercial
Company Mobile phones
and cameras
Audio Toys and
other
Standby
power/UPS
not on a grid
scale
Office
machines,
medical and
small devices
not in other
categories
eg copiers. AMR, DVR, real
time clock
battery, USB
powered
devices, energy
harvesting for
wireless sensor
networks, LED
battery -
operated active
RFID tags,
solenoid
products
Telecoms.
GSM/GPRS PC
cards
Gaming
machines
Heavy
pulse
power:
welding
machine,
robotic
systems,
metal
forming
storing systems
, backup power
for storage,
power –off
protection
power supply
for printers and
power off
protection
power supply
for tax control
machines,
Electric tools
LED lighting
and
identification
power for PV
systems
Shanghai
Aowei
Technology
Development
Shanghai
Green Tech
Shanghai
Power Oriental
International
Trade
Computers,
monitors,
digital cameras
, toys, energy
saving LED
lamps, DVD MP3,
Instrumentation
Telecommunication
equipment
telephones, radars,
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Consumer Industrial & Commercial
Company Mobile phones
and cameras
Audio Toys and
other
Standby
power/UPS
not on a grid
scale
Office
machines,
medical and
small devices
not in other
categories
eg copiers. AMR, DVR, real
time clock
battery, USB
powered
devices, energy
harvesting for
wireless sensor
networks, LED
battery -
operated active
RFID tags,
solenoid
products
Telecoms.
GSM/GPRS PC
cards
Gaming
machines
Heavy
pulse
power:
welding
machine,
robotic
systems,
metal
forming
Shenzhen
Forecon Super
Capacitor
Technology
Cell phone Audio
equipment
Intelligent
electrical
appliance,
electric cooker,
electric water
heater, DVD
Cordless
phone, digital
camera, super
flashlight,
printer,
intelligent door
lock, MP3,VTR,
PDA, GPS and
PLC
Sino Power
Star
Skeleton
Technologies/
Tartu
Technologies
SPL
Taiyo Yuden
Tavrima
TDK
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Consumer Industrial & Commercial
Company Mobile phones
and cameras
Audio Toys and
other
Standby
power/UPS
not on a grid
scale
Office
machines,
medical and
small devices
not in other
categories
eg copiers. AMR, DVR, real
time clock
battery, USB
powered
devices, energy
harvesting for
wireless sensor
networks, LED
battery -
operated active
RFID tags,
solenoid
products
Telecoms.
GSM/GPRS PC
cards
Gaming
machines
Heavy
pulse
power:
welding
machine,
robotic
systems,
metal
forming
Tecate Group
Vina
Technology Co
Car audio LED lighting
(solar road
stud, solar LED
brick
WIMA
Spezialvertrieb
Elektronischer
Bauelemente
Yo-
Engineering
Yunasko Welding
device
TOTAL
ACHIEVEMENT 6 13 18 7 21 6 3 2
TOTAL
INTENTION 4 2 1 7 5 0 0 1
Source IDTechEx
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7. Examples of non-
commercial development
programs Non-commercial supercapacitor developers with their country, website, industrial partner,
applications targeted are exemplified below showing a bias towards applications in vehicles.
Table 7.1 Non-commercial supercapacitor developers with their country, website, industrial partner,
applications targeted
Researcher Country Industrial and
academic
partners
Applications targetted
Bayerisches Zentrum fur
Angewandte
Energieforschung EV
Germany
Center for Solar Energy
and Hydrogen Research,
Baden Wurtetemburg
ZSW
Germany Photovoltaics power management
Fraunhofer-Institut für
Arbeitswirtschaft und
Organisation IAO,
Stuttgart working with
Institut für
Arbeitswissenschaft und
Technologiemanagement
IAT,
Universität Stuttgart
Germany Vehicles
Fraunhofer Institute for
ceramic technologies
and Systems IKTS
Germany
Fraunhofer Institutes Germany Inmatech,
University of
Michigan,
ALTe
Powertrain
Technologies
Automotive & Military
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Researcher Country Industrial and
academic
partners
Applications targetted
Harbin Institute of
Technology
China Bainacap –
Liaoning
Baina Electric
Co Ltd
Electric vehicles, voltage balancing, charge-discharge control, intelligent
management, solar photovoltaic, wind turbine pitch control, low
temperature vehicle start, military, automotive
ILHYPOS European
Commission
project in
2012
Ionic liquid based hybrid power capacitors - transportation
Imperial College London UK As smart skin on vehicles
Liaoning University China Bainacap –
Liaoning
Baina Electric
Co Ltd
Electric vehicles, voltage balancing, charge-discharge control, intelligent
management, solar photovoltaic, wind turbine pitch control, low
temperature vehicle start, military, automotive
Manchester University UK For energy management in future aircraft systems
Nottingham University UK SAHZ
Holdings
Malaysia
SEMYUNG
Ever Energy
Co. Ltd. of
South Korea
and 2M
Engineering
Ltd. of the
Netherlands.
The Sahz-Nottingham NANO Super-capacitor Pilot Plant was established
in 2007, with RM6.5 million Technofund grant by the Ministry of Science,
Technology & Innovation (MOSTI) to SAHZ Holdings Sdn. Bhd. To enable
Sahz to produce “home grown” super-capacitors for solar energy storage,
mobile and electric vehicle applications and to commercialise them under
the ENERSTORA brand name. The University of Nottingham Malaysia
Campus established the pilot plant and produces the super-capacitors for
the project needs.
Shanghai Jiaotong
University
China Bainacap –
Liaoning
Baina Electric
Co Ltd
Electric vehicles, voltage balancing, charge-discharge control, intelligent
management, solar photovoltaic, wind turbine pitch control, low
temperature vehicle start, military, automotive
Shanghai Tongji
University
China Bainacap –
Liaoning
Baina Electric
Co Ltd
Electric vehicles, voltage balancing, charge-discharge control, intelligent
management, solar photovoltaic, wind turbine pitch control, low
temperature vehicle start, military, automotive
Tsinghua University China Bainacap –
Liaoning
Baina Electric
Co Ltd
Electric vehicles, voltage balancing, charge-discharge control, intelligent
management, solar photovoltaic, wind turbine pitch control, low
temperature vehicle start, military, automotive
United States Council for
Automotive Research
USCAR
USA Versions for hybrid vehicle power trains
University of Michigan USA Inmatech,
University of
Michigan,
ALTe
Powertrain
Technologies
Automotive & Military
University of Stuttgart
Institut für
Arbeitswissenschaft und
Technologiemanagement
IAT, Universität Stuttgart
working with Fraunhofer-Institut für
Arbeitswirtschaft und
Organisation IAO,
Stuttgart
Germany Vehicles
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Researcher Country Industrial and
academic
partners
Applications targetted
University of West
Florida
USA Ultracapacitor that maintains a near steady voltage. The novel constant-
voltage design, which may one day help ultracapacitors find new uses in
low-voltage electric vehicle circuits and handheld electronics, is
described in the American Institute of Physics' Journal of Renewable and
Sustainable Energy.In both standard capacitors and ultracapacitors, the
voltage drops as the stored charge is released. Most electronic devices,
however, require constant voltage to operate. An electronic circuit called
a DC-DC converter can change the dropping voltage of the capacitor into
a constant voltage output, but the converters experience problems below
one volt."A significant portion of the energy of the ultracapacitor is held
below one volt," notes Ezzat Bakhoum, a professor of electrical
engineering at the University of West Florida."Operation in that region is
very difficult because the DC-DC converter cannot function at such low
voltage. Applications where the use of an ultracapacitor is precluded
because of this problem include low-voltage systems in electric vehicles,
hand-held power tools, toys, and cameras, just to name a few."
So Bakhoum has designed an ultracapacitor that maintains a near-
constant voltage without a DC-DC converter. The ultracapacitor is fitted
with an electromechanical system that can slowly lift the core of the
device out of the electrolyte solution as the stored charged is released.
As the electrolyte drains away, the device can hold less charge, thus
lowering, its capacitance. Since the voltage of the capacitor is related to
the ratio of the stored charge to the capacitance, the system maintains a
steady voltage as charge is siphoned off.Bakhoum built and tested a
prototype of the new ultracapacitor. After attaching a 35-watt load to the
device, he found he could successfully program the voltage to stay within
a 4.9 to 4.6 volt range. Testing also showed that the constant-voltage
mechanism operates with a 99 percent efficiency or higher. The lifetime of
the electromechanical motor is expected to be about the same as the
lifetime of the ultracapacitor's core, Bakhoum writes."The ultracapacitor
is a wonderful new energy storage device that has many advantages by
comparison with batteries," says Bakhoum. In addition to their near
limitless ability to be recharged, ultracapacitors can release a jolt of
energy much more quickly than batteries.One current disadvantage of
commercially available ultracapacitors, that they store only a fraction of
the energy per unit mass that batteries store, is a challenge that is still
being researched. Some groups have experimented, for example, with
changing the structure of the electrode to increase surface area, and thus
the amount of charge that can be stored.For Bakhoum, future research
steps include modifying the design of the constant-voltage ultracapacitor
system so that it can be installed at any angle. He may also explore
whether the same type of constant-voltage approach is suitable for new,
high-energy-density ultracapacitors.
Wright State University USA For voltage regulation in aircraft distributed power systems
Xi’an Jiaotong University China Bainacap –
Liaoning
Baina Electric
Co Ltd
Electric vehicles, voltage balancing, charge-discharge control, intelligent
management, solar photovoltaic, wind turbine pitch control, low
temperature vehicle start, military, automotive
Source IDTechEx
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8. Electrolytes by
manufacturer The electrolytes used in supercapacitors and supercabatteries are broadly divided into aqueous
and non- aqueous. The favourite non-aqueous electrolyte, acetonitrile has recently been found to
be more dangerous than previously estimated in that, in addition to being flammable, sometimes
creating toxic gases when burning and the liquid is a carcinogen, it is now maintained that the
liquid can cause birth defects. Maxwell Technologies gives the implications for this on its website.
Broadly speaking, small quantities in supercapacitors are of little concern but the larger devices
can contain quantities of acetonitrile that sometimes encounter restrictions on air transport,
disposal and so on. Because acetonitrile has given the higher cell voltages in the past at up to 2.75
V, this has led to relatively high energy density and, in particular, acetonitrile has conferred high
power density and competitive costs compared with aqueous alternatives. Low temperature of
operation has also been a benefit sometimes meaning -40C. However, this is changing with
improved aqueous electrolytes and here is a search for alternative organic electrolytes to
acetonitrile AN, some options for the non-aqueous solvent being as shown below.
Propylene carbonate PC
Dimethylsulfoxide
N, N dimethylformamide
Ethylene carbonate
Diethyl carbonate
Sulfolane γ-butyrolactone
The choice between aqueous and organic electrolyte depends on 4 parameters which are
contradictory, the resistance, the capacitance, the manufacturability and the potential window size
in which the system is electrochemically stable. It has been shown that above 25oC the
supercapacitor capacitance is 5 to 10% greater with AN in comparison to that obtained with PC. In
the same temperature conditions the series resistance with PC is 50% bigger. At lower
temperature the situation is even worse. At -30C for example, the capacitance is 50% bigger with
AN and the series resistance can be five times greater with PC. Nonetheless, developments are
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altering all these relationships, electrolytes being an important focus of improved performance,
green credentials and reduced or eliminated flammability.
Supercapacitor manufacturers often have a reluctance to reveal that they are using acetonitrile. On
the other hand, many of the aqueous electrolytes employ sulphuric acid or potassium hydroxide for
example, which, while being much more benign, are scarcely non-poisonous. Gel polymer
electrolytes are also of interest for longer life, any format and less chance of leakage but they tend
not to have the best low temperature performance. The polymer matrix may be based on
poly(propylene), poly(vinylidene difluoride), poly(tetrafluoroethylene), poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO),
polyaniline (PANI) or poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). Covalent supercapacitor electrolyte
technology is based on a family of salts known as hydrophobic Ionic liquids IL. These materials
offer a unique set of physical, chemical and electrochemical properties that strongly favor their use
as electrolytes in supercapacitors. IL technology is based on the judicious pairing of delocalized
heterocyclic organic cations and charge stabilized organic and inorganic anions.
Properties of the ionic liquid are:
ion concentration from 4 M to 6 M
wide working temperature, from -90 oC to 400 oC
non-flammable with low toxicity
non-corrosive to electrode and packing components at elevated temperatures
isothermal stabilities approaching 300 oC with no measurable vapor pressure
The viscosities of IL are minimally two orders of magnitude greater than those of most common
molecular solvents. Thus the typically ionic conductivity is in the range from 4 to 14 mS/cm at 22oC.
This conductivity is insufficient for supercapacitors at room temperature and below, but are
suitable for high temperature applications according to Petr Dvořák as reported in his Doctoral
Degree Program, FEEC BUT .
The electrolytes used by the various manufacturers are as follows but this is subject to change, for
example as an increasing minority of manufacturers adopt several options. In many cases, we are
not clear what electrolyte is currently used as this is often kept secret. Both symmetric and
asymmetric designs can use either organic or inorganic electrolytes and development of both
families continues.
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Table 8.1 Electrolytes used – acetonitrile solvent, other solvent or ionic liquid - by supercapacitor and
lithium supercabattery manufacturers and putative manufacturers.
Company Acetonitrile Other solvent Ionic liquid
ABSL EnerSys
Ada Technologies
Advanced Capacitor
Technologies
APowerCap Technologies
Asahi Kasei – FDK
AVX Sulfuric acid
Axion Power International
Bainacap – Liaoning Baina
Electric Co has Maxwell
Technologies license
Batscap (Bollore) Solid polymer electrolyte
Beijing HCC Energy Tech
Cap-XX USA Patent, US 7,341,514
B2. 208-01-01.
CDE Cornell Dubilier
Cellergy Sulfuric acid
Chaoyang Liyuan New Energy
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Company Acetonitrile Other solvent Ionic liquid
Cooper Bussmann
Daying Juneng Technology and
Development
Dongguan Amazing Electronic
Dongguan Fuhui Electronics
Sales
Dongguan Gonghe
GHCElectronics
Dongguan WIN WIN Supercap
Electronic
East Penn Manufacturing Co. Sulfuric acid
Ecoult (East Penn)
Elbit Systems
ELIT
Elna “Organic”
Elton Super Capacitor (ESMA)
Evans Capacitor Company
FDK
Graphene Energy Inc
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Company Acetonitrile Other solvent Ionic liquid
Harbin Jurong Newpower
Heter Battery/ Handong Heter
Battery
Honda
Hitachi (Hitachi Maxell and
Hitachi AIC)
Hutchinson (Total Group) Sulfuric acid
Illinois Capacitor
Inmatech
Ioxus Aqueous
JM Energy “A Li-ion battery electrolyte”
Kankyu Battery
Korchip
LithChem Energy Organic electrolyte that is self-
extinguishing and not
acetonitrile based
LSMtron
Maxwell Technologies
Meidensha
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Company Acetonitrile Other solvent Ionic liquid
Murata
Nanotune Technologies
NEC Tokin
Nesscap Energy Inc
Nichicon Proponyl carbonate
Nippon Chemi-con Proponyl carbonate
Nisshinbo
Optixtal
Panasonic
Paper Battery Company
PowerSystem Co
Ryan Technology
SAFT
Shandong
Heter Lampson Electronic
Shanghai Aowei Technology
Development
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Company Acetonitrile Other solvent Ionic liquid
Shanghai Green Tech
Shanghai Power Oriental
International Trade
Shenzhen Forecon Super
Capacitor Technology
Sino Power Star
Skeleton Technologies
Taiyo Yuden
Tavrima
TDK
Tecate Group
Vina Technology Co
WIMA Spezialvertrieb
Elektronischer Bauelemente
Yo-Engineering
Yunasko
TOTAL 39 (51%) 33 (43%) 5 (6%)
Source IDTechEx
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9. Interviews and
commentary on company
strategy for
supercapacitors
9.1. Interviews with suppliers
9.1.1. Cap-XX Australia
We were told in two interviews that flash in mobile phones and vehicle stop-start are among the top
priorities for this company. They use an organic electrolyte but would not identify it and they have
licensed their process to Murata.
Electronic Design also spoke to Cap-XX and learnt: “Supercapacitors are already replacing
batteries, such as in small-scale energy-harvesting applications, consumer, and
commercial/industrial devices, as well as large-scale installations like wind turbines,” says Peter
Buckle, vice president of sales and marketing at CAP-XX Limited.
“As environmental concerns increase, supercapacitors will continue to replace batteries.
Supercapacitors allow designers to reduce the size and number of batteries required to power an
application by handling the high-charge/discharge events in automotive apps and peak load
leveling in portable electronics. The supercapacitor handles high power, allowing greater battery
design and selection flexibility,” Buckle explains.
“The two major supercapacitor chemistries today use aqueous and organic electrolytes. Organic
electrolyte systems have the advantage in terms of power because of their higher cell voltage, up to
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2.75 V, and dominate the large-cell market due to their high power and high energy when used in
series configuration,” says Buckle.
“Aqueous, water-based systems have cheaper raw materials and often higher energy, but lower
power. Ionic liquids, which do not use any solvents, offer possibilities in supercapacitor chemistry,
but have yet to deliver in the mass market. And hybrid chemistries can be either water or organic,”
Buckle says.
“Both organic and water-based systems based on metal oxides offer great promise, with aqueous
lead-acid and nickel-hydroxide and organic lithium-ion systems being successfully
commercialized,” he says.
9.1.2. Cellergy Israel
Cellergy told us, in late 2012, that their electrolyte is aqueous sulfuric acid and the current
collector 3D conductive plastic because aluminium foil could not withstand the sulfuric acid. They
use advanced screen printing unlike the others who almost all use slot coating with a scraper.
9.1.3. East Penn Manufacturing USA
At the AABC event in Florida in 2012, Scott McCuskey of East Penn Manufacturing explained their
minority view that their lead-based AEDLCs should be used in hybrid electric vehicles to replace
NiMH batteries.
Fig. 9.1 UltrabatteryTM for medium hybrid vehicles
Source IDTechEx
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9.1.4. Elton Super Capacitor Russian Federation
Buses
In 2012, ESMA, later renamed Elton Super Capacitor, did the following as reported in EV World.
Referring to cold weather, the reporter wrote, “So when ESMA and its partners approached
Moscow City Government with a proposal to develop an electric shuttle bus for use in the city's
many parks, they had no intention of operating it using conventional electrochemical secondary
batteries. Instead, their bus would be powered solely by 950 kg (2,094 lbs.) of energy stored in
8.6kW of super or ultracapacitors, possibly the first application ever of capacitors to power a
vehicle this size.
The bus was developed by jointly by ESMA, a Moscow-based super capacitor manufacturer, and
several other Russian companies, weighs 9,500 kg (20,994 lbs.) and has a top speed of 20km/hr, not
overly fast, but quite suitable for use in its public park environment.
Not only are supercapacitors less subject to the detrimental effect of extreme cold weather than
conventional storage batteries, but they offer very fast recharge times and significantly longer cycle
lives. The 300 supercapacitors, grouped in modules of 25 each, can be recharged in a mere 12-15
minutes provided an estimated cycle life of more than 10,000 cycles or the equivalent of some
100,000 kilometers. ESMA states that its supercapacitors can operate from ¬-50 to +50 degrees
centigrade, clearly superior to just about any battery in existence other than "heat" batteries like
the ZEBRA battery from Switzerland.
The supercapacitor power bank is used to power both the DC motor and a DC-to-DC converter for
running the buses low voltage equipment at 24-volts. A pulse current controller regulates the
amount of energy used by the 40kW (maximum power) direct current engine (DCE). Nominal power
output is 20kW at 2700 rpm.
During preliminary tests in one of Moscow's city parks, the bus traveled 9.5 km before being
recharged. While this is substantially less than what a comparable bank of lead-acid batteries
might provide, bus developers found it an acceptable compromise since the bus makes frequent
stops and can be quickly recharged. Where a comparable lead-acid bus might travel 30 miles
before needing a recharge, it could take 4-6 hours to recharge. By comparison, a supercapacitor
bus could travel the same 30 miles with just 30 minutes of recharge time, effectively offering 4 to 6
times the range of the lead-acid powered bus. Recharge is accomplished at 220-volts at 360 A. “
As the authors of the article put it, "It should be noted beforehand, that [from] the authors'
standpoint, these capacitors with energy density delivered of 8-10 Wh/kg and charge time of 12-15
minutes, provides [an] acceptable compromise solution for certain specific applications."
Since the bus was designed to operate on a course that was 6.5 km in length, supercapacitors
proved the ideal solution for this application. The bus can be recharged while it is loading people.
The developers also built a city delivery van based on a GAZ-33021 ("Gazel") chassis with a max
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gross weight of 4,000 kg (8,818 lbs.) and a cargo capacity of 1,000 kg (2,204 lbs.). This vehicle, also
supercapacitor-powered has a top speed of 70 km/hr and an average range of 33km at 30-35km/hr
before needing to be recharged. Again recharge is a relatively rapid 1-2-15 minutes. The truck uses
regenerative braking to help recharge the supercapacitor bank. During tests it recaptured as much
as 40% of the energy expended.”
Sinautec had similar buses in the USA and China and in China other firms are involved in this
concept. In late 2012, we asked Mikhail Rodkyonov of ELTON what is the situation today and he was
not aware of purely supercapacitor buses in operation but drew our attention to the Elton
supercapacitor hybrid bus that is used commercially today. Marchmont Innovation News reported
that,
“Moscow regional company Elton is developing new asymmetrical energy-storage supercapacitor
technology that the firm says will triple service life to an estimated 15 years. Elton says its product
will endure more than a million discharge-recharge cycles, and changing it will take less than a
minute. The amounts of energy the new capacitor stores purportedly surpass those of conventional
components “by a factor of ten.”
The benchmark used to determine a capacitor price is $5/kJ. Elton is said to be shooting for a
maximum of just over $4. The supercapacitor’s immediate use is in engine starter systems—
especially for new hybrid vehicles. Another key market is the energy sector, including renewable
energy, which Elton says will benefit through its next gen buffer power storage.
Set up in 1993-1995 in the Moscow region’s town of Troitsk, Elton rapidly expanded from R&D and
small run production, selling capacitors domestically, to becoming an international player. In North
America, its products are marketed under the KAPower brand. It took Elton another nine years to
establish itself as a major producer of electrochemical capacitors in Russia. In November 2010 the
company joined the Skolkovo national innovation program outside Moscow and earlier this year
received an $8.7m grant from the Skolkovo Foundation to further develop its current asymmetrical
supercapacitor project.
Its new supercapacitor is an acid-free ‘clean tech’ product that is based on aqueous electrolytes.
This technology not only makes it environmentally safe but also minimizes the hazard of explosion,
a recurrent problem with today’s commonly used acid cells. Unlike conventional capacitors that
are hermetically sealed and therefore not designed to bleed off internal gases, Elton says its
development has a special valve that eliminates gas build-up, but prevents discharge of any
harmful substance. This and other features, the company says, allow the new supercapacitor to
operate at “extreme” temperatures and “without maintenance.”
According to Elton, next gen capacitors are particularly well-suited for start-stop systems in urban
transport. Buses, vans and other vehicles that spend a lot of time waiting at traffic lights or in
traffic jams waste fuel and are heavy polluters. By decreasing idle engine speed, Elton’s new
capacitors will save fuel and reduce harmful emissions. The company is already working with the
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new Yo-mobile and this past summer, completed a series of tests on Russia’s innovative hybrid bus,
‘Ecobus’—a vehicle that uses methane to power its electric motor and charge an energy-storage
system. According to Elton, using supercapacitors on the Ecobus resulted in a 40% drop in fuel
consumption compared to a conventional gas-driven bus. The tests also validated near-zero
greenhouse gas emissions—a result that surpasses the Euro-6 eco-standard—as well as improved
consumer characteristics like low noise and vibration. The capacitor company wants to go beyond
buses and is reportedly eyeing manufacturers of subway cars, trams, trolleybuses and even diesel
locomotives.
Another potential market for the new supercapacitors is the energy sector. Elton has plans to build
industrial-sized supercapacitors for buffer power storage at all stages of electricity production
from generation to transmission. It believes its new devices will be able to vary consumption at will
and cut losses to a minimum. The Troitsk firm might even develop an energy cost-saving solution
for millions of households by allowing people to use its capacitors to take advantage of differing
electrical rates. When rates drop at night and on weekends, consumers can store this cheaper
energy and then use it during the day when rates are more expensive.
Marchmont noted that the global market for supercapacitors is still small, just $500m. “But fueled
by a sharp rise in hybrid car design and development, experts forecast growth rates to jump by at
least 30% a year. Elton is one of Russia’s five firms developing supercapacitors; the others are
reported to be primarily export-focused, leaving the tiny $50m national market largely unexplored.
Analyzing prospects for tapping Russia’s automotive and energy sectors, experts are divided in
their assessment of Elton. The former, by far the faster-growing of the two, is Elton’s best bet. The
sector is once again profitable and sales will be immediate; but competing with international
majors like the U.S.’ Maxwell, Japan’s Panasonic, S. Korea’s Nesscap or France’s Batscap
presents a serious challenge, especially after the RF joins the WTO this coming December with a
pledge to lower barriers for overseas companies.”
Diesel engine starting
Most recently, ELTON has had success with diesel engine starting, reporting as follows: The annual
saving of 420 million Rubles – that was a conclusion made by the experts who saw the results of
the testing of the railroad locomotive’s diesel engine starting capacitor system. For five months at
the Insk station (Novosibirsk) of the West Siberian Railway, three diesel locomotives equipped with
a diesel engine capacitor starting system were in operation in the mode typical for the depot. Over
that period of time the designers – experts of JSC ELTON were taking into account the observations
made by the depot’s operative personnel, repair and service technicians and made improvements
in the system. In the engine driver’s cab a control console was set up to monitor the voltage of the
standard battery and capacitor modules. The console showed the voltage before the diesel engine’s
starting. The design of the commutation unit matching the operation of the storage battery and the
electrochemical capacitor was improved.
The results of the experiments were obtained in May 2011 and here is the summary. Stable and
steady starting of the diesel engine was validated. The events of starting at first try were recorded
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when the battery was heavily discharged and when it was incapable of providing for the needed
voltage. Just these facts only excited great interest of the railwaymen to the product developed by
JSC ELTON.
The electrochemical capacitors on which the locomotive engine’s starting capacitor system is
based are commonly tagged supercapacitors. The supercapacitors have high stored energy, they
operate in a wide range of temperatures – from minus 50 to +70C°, their cycle life amounts to 1
million charge-discharge cycles (which has been recurrently confirmed by testing). Here are some
comments of the experts of the Insk station’s depot on the operation of the supercapacitors:
“The testing of the capacitor starting systems based on the capacitor modules manufactured by
JSC ELTON and installed in TEM18DM diesel locomotives has produced positive results – during
the operation in the winter time there was not even a single failure of the starting of the diesel
locomotive’s engines, due to the fact that the starting system is incapable of ensuring the needed
parameters. In particular, it should be noted that in the test starting system the required starting
currents of the starter are provided by the capacitor modules only”.
“A steadier starting has been noted (cranking of the diesel engine with higher rotations). A two-fold
reduction of the starting current drawn from the battery shall have a positive effect on the battery’s
cycle life – its approximately two-fold growth may be expected. The employed modules based on
capacitors of EC402 series allowing for a short-time discharge of the capacitor assembly to 15 -20
V shall protect the system from its failure during accidental discharges which are lower than the
rated level”.
When the results of the conducted experiment were obtained, the experts of the operation and
maintenance services of the depot came to quite interesting conclusions. The tested starting
capacitor system makes it possible to turn off the diesel engine during idling in warmer seasons of
the year when there is no need in the engine’s warming-up. According to some preliminary
estimates, over the period of 140 days of operation at the air temperature above +10C°, the saving
of the fuel due to the diesel engine’s cut-off during process down-time shall be 3.5 t and higher.
Furthermore, the engine oil’s consumption is reduced, service life of the diesel engine is increased,
and the regular battery’s maintenance costs are cut while the battery’s service life grows twice as
much.
The introduction of the capacitor starting system as a standard packaging in the electric power
supply in the diesel locomotive shall require some additional investments. At the same time, such
move shall be considered as a real action to enhance energy efficiency and shall help achieve the
objectives set forth in the Federal Law of November 23rd, 2009 # 261-FL “On energy saving and on
increasing energy efficiency and on introducing amendments in certain legal acts of the Russian
Federation”. The similar objectives are set forth in the Government Program of the Russian
Federation “Energy saving and increasing energy efficiency in the period up to 2020”, approved by
the Directive of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 27th , 2010 #2446-r.
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The experts have made the following calculations: annual economic effect from the use of the
starting capacitor system in one shunting locomotive shall produce a tangible result. The payback
period of the capacitor starting system (CSS) for the serial manufacture shall be a bit more than
two years. And the economic effect from the introduction of each starting capacitor system for the
entire service life of the diesel locomotive shall be over 1.7 million Rubles. Taking into account the
fact that OAO Russian Railways has a fleet of about 6000 shunting diesel locomotives, the annual
economic effect only for the railwaymen may amount to over 420 million Rubles due to the mass
introduction of CSS. The environmental aspects have not been disregarded either. The starting
capacitor system shall provide for a significant reduction of greenhouse gases’ emissions.
9.1.5. Inmatech USA
Inmatech was established by Fraunhofer and the University of Michigan to commercialize next
generation suspercapacitors and systems based on nanostructured materials developed and
patented by the University of Michigan. Dr. Stefan Heinemann, Chief Executive Officer and Co-
Founder says,
“Our supercapacitors based on early transition metal carbides and nitrides are technologically
superior, highly cost competitive and safe (non-flammable). Our power and energy management
solutions will enable the transition from our current hydrocarbon economy to the imminent
hydrogen/electron economy. Our goal is to become the leading provider of power and energy
management solutions with next generation supercapacitors with 15Wh/kg at 0.1 cent per Farad.”
In 2010 it was reported that: “Inmatech is three years old, but the Plymouth-based start-up really
got going when it reorganized about six months ago. That move allowed the four-person firm to
focus its business plan and goals.
"We're getting a lot of good feedback, especially over the last few weeks," says Stefan Heinemann,
CEO of Inmatech. "We're in the middle of fundraising and it's going well."
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Fig. 9.2 Inmatech Innovations
Source Inmatech
Fig. 9.3 Supercapacitor market and Inmatech
Source Inmatech
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Inmatech makes advanced, customized supercapacitors for the automotive and defense markets.
These supercapacitors allow for longer operational time of mobile electronics, improved power
delivery and many thousands of load cycles. These lead to significantly lower cost and three times
higher energy density than state-of-the-art devices at uncompromised power capabilities.Inmatech
plans to finish developing this product in 2014. At that time, it expects to employ about 20 people
and become profitable.”
The following press release was issued in 2011:
Auburn Hills, MI – April 21, 2011 – ALTe Powertrain Technologies, the Michigan developer of a
range extended electric powertrain, has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to form a joint venture with
Inmatech, Inc., a leading developer of advanced supercapacitors, to produce and sell hybrid electric
storage (HES) devices composed of batteries, supercapacitors and control electronics. The blend of
supercapacitors with lithium ion battery cells will enable longer life for the battery cells while
reducing cost by as much as 40% for an equivalent size battery composed exclusively of lithium ion
cells. The applications will range from automotive batteries to stationary grid power leveling
devices.
By combining key competencies of both companies, the joint venture will enable quick market
penetration with a leading performance product at significantly reduced cost, providing robust
technology in ALTe’s plug-in hybrid electric powertrain kits while allowing the joint venture to
provide HES devices to the automotive and grid infrastructure markets.
To assist in bringing the HEV devices to market, ALTe and Inmatech have submitted grant
applications through various federal funding agencies including the Department of Energy. Initial
feedback has been very positive and the projects are now being evaluated by government technical
specialist teams. Should the grants receive final approval, the JV will be able to accelerate product
development and production operations to facilitate sales in early 2014.
“We are very pleased to be entering into a relationship with Inmatech, as we will be able to provide
the best battery solution for our customers while opening new opportunities to expand our
business to further supply the automotive industry’s growing need for advanced electric powertrain
equipment,” said ALTe Founder, Chairman and CEO, John D. Thomas. “We view this initial
response from the Department of Energy as an important testament to the potential of this
relationship and the value of the technology we are developing,” he said.
Stefan Heinemann, President & CEO of Inmatech, declared “ I am thrilled to launch into the JV with
ALTe as it will accelerate our plans to bring this novel material based supercapacitor to market,
offering dramatic cost savings to the industry with very high energy density.”
ALTe’s Range Extended Electric Powertrain will replace standard V-8 engines, retrofitting into
existing fleet vehicles as well as in “glider” applications of new vehicles to increase their fuel
economy by up to 200% and lower emissions. Most recently, ALTe announced a partnership with
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Manheim, the world’s leading automotive reselling service, to create installation centers for fleet
conversions across the country.
The company will be announcing its first fleet customers in the coming months, and ALTe’s electric
powertrain system will be installed in commercial and government fleets beginning next year.
About ALTe:
ALTe is the developer of a Range Extended Electric Powertrain used to repower light commercial
vehicles up to 26,000 GVW. The system will retrofit into existing fleet vehicles as well as in “glider”
applications of new vehicles to dramatically increase their fuel economy and lower emissions.
Designed to replace a base V-8 internal combustion engine powertrain, the system’s patented
technology improves fuel economy from 80% to 200%. Based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, the
company is headquartered in an 185,000 square foot facility where it will assemble its powertrain
kit that will be shipped to installation locations across North America. To learn more, visit the ALTe
website at www.altellc.com
ALTe Powertrain Technologies Signs Joint Venture Agreement in China
Company to open four factories in China while receiving a $70 million USD engineering services
contract
ALTe Powertrain Technologies Pledges Clinton Global Initiative
CHICAGO, IL, – June 7, 2012 – ALTe Powertrain Technologies, developer of the first range-extended
plug-in electric hybrid powertrain for light commercial fleet vehicle applications, today announced
that it has created a Commitment to Action as part of the Clinton Global Initiative America (CGI
America) meeting. ALTe has committed to spur adoption of hybrid electric technology in the
worldwide fleet industry and bolster clean technology jobs in America.
Translogic examines the power of plug-in hybrids for commercial fleets
May 16, 2012 – The crew at Translogic took the time to stop by and see the the team at ALTe
Powertrain Technologies. Founded by a group of former Tesla Motors executives, the company
focuses on building plug-in hybrid conversions for fleet vehicles.
ALTe Powertrain Technologies and Club Assist Announce Development Project on Plug-In
Electric Hybrid Powertrain for Fleets
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., – April 16, 2012 – ALTe Powertrain Technologies and Club Assist today
announced a joint development project to study ALTe’s powertrain technology in Club Assist’s fleet.
Project will be a first for Club Assist, a company committed to electrification of fleets.
ALTe Powertrain Technologies Launches Second Vehicle Line for Plug-in Electric Hybrid
Powertrain Systems
ALTe more than doubles miles per gallon for the popular E350 full-size fleet van.
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Update on ALTe; EREV powertrain company tracking for production-caliber units by December,
production ramp in 1Q 2013
February 29, 2012 – Extended range electric vehicle powertrain company ALTe (earlier post) is
tracking to produce a limited number of production-caliber vehicle powertrains by December, and
plans to ramp up production in the first quarter of 2013.
January 11, 2012 – Alternative-fuel and fuel-efficient vehicles are increasingly becoming fleet
mainstays — electric vehicles and hybrids are a common sight in a growing number of fleets
Forbes lists two EV firms among America’s Most Promising Companies
December 3, 2011 – ALTe Powertrain Technologies and Coda Automotive are two of America’s Most
Promising Companies, according to Forbes. The conservative business mag’s annual list spotlights
100 privately-held companies with compelling business models, strong management teams, plenty
of capital, and notable customers and strategic partners.
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., – December 1, 2011 – Forbes Magazine has named ALTe Powertrain
Technologies (ALTe), developer of the first range-extended plug-in hybrid electric vehicle
powertrain for light commercial fleet vehicle applications, as one of America’s Most Promising
Companies.
9.1.6. Ioxus USA
As reported in the press: “In most instances, ultracapacitors are not inherently designed to replace
batteries because they have lower energy densities than batteries. However, there are applications
where a fast recharge and a higher current demand require an ultracapacitor over a battery,” says
Chad Hall, vice president of sales and cofounder at Ioxus.
“Rather than replace batteries, designers are opting to pair them with an ultracapacitor for fast
charges in higher numbers, which allows users to recharge quickly. Due to the high cycle life of an
ultracap, users don’t need to replace the energy storage source for the life of the product. LED
lights are a good representation of this,” Hall says.
9.1.7. JR Micro Japan
Geoff Myron told us, in late 2012, that they choose to compete with symmetrical EDLCs. He
maintained that their technology does not have the disadvantages of batteries although it is a
supercabattery – a lithium-ion capacitor. He claimed that its action is entirely electrostatic. He said
this is because the anode not the cathode is battery-like. It results in self leakage that is two to
three times less than EDLC and 12 Wh/kg which he sees as more than double that for a typical
EDLC. The applications currently addressed are UPS and voltage sag compensation through sale
via Meidensha in Japan.
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9.1.8. Maxwell Technologies USA
We look particularly closely into Maxwell Technologies, where we have conducted many interviews,
because it is currently the largest supercapacitor manufacturer. Their Simona Vrabiescu and
various sales staff at their exhibition stands have confirmed this to us, in one example citing
Nesscap and LSMtron as second and third in the world, respectively. We agree with David
Schramm CEO that Maxwell Technologies has done almost all the innovation in the industry
concerned with identifying and opening up new applications with dedicated products though it is
Batscap, Kleenspeed and Nippon Chemi-Con that have opened up sales of relatively large
supercapacitors for fast charge / discharge across pure electric car batteries in 2012. Nonetheless,
we agree with David Schramm’s expressed opinion to us that, for the foreseeable future, pure
electric cars are not the major opportunity, their sales being hugely exceeded by sales of hybrid
electric vehicles (at least a factor of four) that already fit Maxwell Technologies supercapacitors for
such things as regen. and braking back-up.
In our interviews, it was clear that Maxwell Technologies is sticking with acetonitrile electrolyte and
opening up a new unique of sharply reducing production cost. Its market approach is to remain
exceptionally broad. For example, it competes with Cap-XX and Murata into the opportunity to
extend the range of mobile phone camera flash by using a flat, postage stamp-sized supercap with
an LED instead of the electrolytic capacitor with halogen bulb.
Fig. 9.4 Maxwell Technologies flat supercapacitor for mobile phones etc. exhibited at EVS26 Los Angeles
Source IDTechEx
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We interviewed Michael Sund who noted that their Business Model clearly is to grow the ultracap
business. The key to that has been cost reduction and educate users. “They used to be exotic
products. Today in universities books you see reference to capacitors of fractions of 1 Farad,
Maxwell has achieved manufacturing 3000 Farads supercapacitors, and this is still being digested
by the design community.”
At the same time, they “pursued a tremendous cost out effort”. In 1999 their 2500 Farad
ultracapacitor cell price was $400 and they were losing money at that price while they were trying
to see some markets clearly. Now the same product in volume sells under $40.The solvent free
process has been a key element to achieve this cost reduction and performance improvement. They
see this achievement a key part in their process of becoming and industry leader. In 2011
supercapacitors segment was 97 million revenue of a total of 157 million. Number one revenue
driver is hybrid transit buses, the majority of those are today being sold in China, where
hybridization of urban transit buses has been subsidized by the Chinesse government to improve
air quality which is a real problem in cities. The Chinese government subsidizes hybrid transit bus
vs diesel transit buses.
They estimate that by the end of this year they will have more than 7000 transit buses on the road
with hybrid drive systems using ultracap for energy storage, they call torque assist for electrical
acceleration using stored electrical energy. This is the biggest driver today. Last year was the
number one revenue producing vertical for Maxwell. Majority of purchases came from China.
Europe number two market for hybrid buses – driven by the Euro 6 regulation for reducing CO2
emissions (http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/environment/air_pollution/l28186_en.htm).
However with the economic situation, particularly in southern Europe, they have seen some funding
withdrawn for some of those procurements. This has been one reason of slow down.
He noticed that in a previous report there is a description about how hybrid drive systems work,
there was apparently the notion that supercapacitors are used in conjunction with lithium ion
batteries in these hybrid drive systems, that is not the case… perhaps in a tiny fraction in these
hybrid transit buses . The predominant configuration is the standard lead acid starting battery and
a very large bank of ultracapacitors providing typically 750 volts of electrical energy in 300
ultracapacitor cells. In China, they are integrated in multicell modules and each bus will carry 16
ultracapacitor modules of 48 volts each (each module having 18 ultracapacitors). Those banks are
responsible of recovering braking energy storing and making it available to electric motors for all
electric take off. Operators of these buses say that being able to take of all electric without any
diesel at all, helps them to reduce particulate emissions by 90%. Improving air quality is the
objective number one of the Chinese subsidies. In addition this represents improvements in fuel
economy of around 25-30%, since the diesel propulsion is activated only when the bus reaches a
speed of around 10 miles per hour.
Chinese government subsidies for carbon reduction emissions, the main driver of growth in hybrid
buses (and hence Maxwell’s sales growth)
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The largest bus producer in the world, the Chinese company Yutong, is using this technology, and
they are Maxwell largest customer today. Another client is the company Golden Dragon , also a
major producer of hybrid transit buses. In addition to this they have other clients using this
technology, but they have not been identified publicly.
In Europe they work mainly with hybrid drive system integrators like Vossloh Kappe a prominent
drive system integrator. Systems integrators as Vossloh Kappe develop the drive system that a bus
manufacturer will integrate in the hybrid bus. Another drive system integrator that they work with
is Voith Turbo.
Last year perhaps two, they talked about a relationship with Flextronics automotive, a tier 1 auto
part supplier, they have introduced a supercapacitor base system for buses in Europe.
It is relevant to mention that 25 Cities in China where part of the subsidy program, based on the
success of this program the government revealed in the last couple of months this will be available
to more cities across the country. There is a regime change in China, so there is a wait and a see in
relation of how policies will evolve. There is some discussion that the subsidy could be lower but
available to more cities.
In the transport sector what percentage do you think that is focused on torque augmentation and
brake energy recovery?
In 2011 of the 97 million in sales, 37 million was for hybrid transit buses and 14 million stop-start
idle elimination systems in automobiles in Europe, more than half of the total supercapacitor sales
together. The driver in Europe is the carbon emissions reduction regulation that started in 2012,
this was the first year of more stringent carbon emission reduction thresholds in Europe,
accordingly most automakers are manufacturing with stop start idle systems. In the US regulations
will be enforced in the following years. European and Japanese cars with stop start idle systems
are being imported into the US.
Today the worldwide automotive production is 70 million taking in China and other places
producing regions. So clearly the opportunity in automotive is enormous.
Stop Start Idle Systems are kind of a new phenomenon, Prius and other hybrid cars and some
electric vehicles have them, so the supercapacitor market value potential in automobiles is higher
than in buses, although the supercapacitor content per bus is higher.
So today we have 37 million supercapacitor revenue in buses and 14 million in cars, following the
trends in the future the supercapacitor sales in cars will surpass sales in buses.
Yutong, the biggest bus manufacturer in the world, is really eager to be an exporter highly efficient
hybrid transit buses, following the trend in carbon reduction emissions globally.
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The Bus segment was 37 million in 2011 and they expect revenues higher than 55 million this year,
approaching a 50% increase, year by year for hybrid transit buses. They don’t think 50% increase
year over year will be sustained in the following years since one reason of this growth 2011 is
because they got Yutong as a client. Higher market share has driven Maxwell growth rather than
market growth. Yutong shares with them their sales projections and they see growth but not at 50%
increase in the years after 2013.
Another client is the French automotive company PSA with stop start idle elimination system in
some of their diesel automobiles. PSA sales have been soft this year.
What about the vehicle power network smoothing and stabilisation application (mentioned in their
annual report)?
PSA uses supercapacitors not only for starting the engine when the brake is released where the UC
delivers the burst power for restarting the engine. UC are used as reservoir of standby power when
too many electrical loads are competing for the power available from the 14 V electrical system so
the incorporate voltage stabilisation feature that relies on the supercapacitor module.
They also see automakers working on systems that are not necessarily for stop start applications.
They use them for another application that in Europe is called board net stabilisation –this
application uses Maxwell supercapacitors. This has only been used by the PSA system. The auto
industry better understands where supercapacitors could be useful and why. Maxwell won their
recognition as supplier in the auto industry after going through a very rigorous qualification
process. This is the TS16949 Quality Standard specific for the auto industry. They implemented this
standard in their own facilities as well as their assembly partners offshore.
They took a couple of years , increase quality staff, as they established off shore places as well,
they got quality audits from the automotive customers. Their key customers today is the German
tier 1 auto parts company, Continental AG, supplies the integrated system that PSA uses in their
start stop cars. Continental has audited their electrode manufacturing operations in California as
well as supercapacitor assembly offshore. This is a must for the auto industry, this is an expensive
process. Hired quality staff and implemented practices, yes there has been expense in that, they
have been investing in this process. How much? In the range of million of dollars.
Investment in RD - Last year this was 20 million and a high percentage of this has been focused for
supercapacitor. In excess of 15 million would be for supercapacitors, this includes both product
development and basic research in improving material science.
Besides transport, what would be the second application?
Renewable Energy
Wind Turbine blade pitch systems – second generator of revenue for Maxwell.
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From the total 97 million revenue in 2011 of the supercapacitor segment, 22 million came from
renewable energy applications, over 20% of sales. It will be little greater in absolute terms this year,
but still be roughly 20% sales in 2012. Enercon was their original customer. They have been
supplying to other OEM and prominently in China.
Are you developing more clients in this segments?
Yes a couple. Enercon has been customer since 2004 when they had their first supply agreement,
they are a technology leader, they have fought for and received patents in the use of
supercapacitors in wind turbines. This restricted Maxwell’s ability to sell to other wind turbine
producers. But they got a license 3 years ago from Enercon, that allowed them to sell to other
producers. So their business has grown substantially.
Which other companies are using them? A number in China, publicly identified is Gold Wind and
Sinovel, both of them use their supercapacitors but this has not been officially announced.
Are you looking at the consumer electronics segment?
They are exploring how they can penetrate the consumer electronics segment. It requires very
small form factors. Their Asian competitors in Japan, Korea and China are very strong in that
space already. They believe they have some opportunities, Maxwell has some product
developments. But this is not the focus now, but it will be in the future. They have been approached
by some tech companies that make consumer electronics that have encouraged them to develop
products that fit the technical dimensions for their products.
Applications in Consumer electronics: Mobile Devices – if they are transmitting they consume more
energy than in stand by state. Smartphone with flashes. For operations that require a burst of high
current supercaps are ideal . They believe that in the future they will see more integration of
battery and supercaps will increasingly used.
What about Solid State Disk Drives?
They have seen their products again having traction in providing back up power at enterprise level
solid state drive. Drive marketing –“Powerloss protection”, the drive would have a small
Uninterruptible Power Supply using supercapacitors on the circuit board, the data can be stored to
non volatile memory and recoverable. They have not seen their products in the consumer
electronics segment yet. Although SSD are beginning to penetrate. Hey have seen only in the SSD
level at enterprise level. They sold 8 million usd in 2011. They think they can further penetrate with
some of the new product development initiatives that they are making.
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Which is the company using your SC in SSD?
Aa large Korean company of SSD. They can’t share the name of the company. This product is size of
a postage stamps couple mm thick, thin prismatic form factor. “We take SSD as part of a power
back up vertical.” They also make an UC capacitor module using a large cell products modules.
Power Back up?
Large cell products as an element of UpS used in the basement of a hospital data center or
telecommunications facility. This UPS module is much larger uses 20 of their large soda can size
UC. Stationary systems often have a diesel generator batteries or fuel cell all installed in
equipment racks. Whereas being able to fit the back power device into a SSD is small in
comparison.
Lifting Applications? People speak about forklifts, is this another segment for you?
They have sales in this segment but they don’t see any growth. In another lifting applications like
harbour cranes they are seeing traction. In these applications as the load is being lowered a break
system has to be applied, if the load is lifted with an electric motor then you can use it to recover
energy using the electric motor for braking and store it in ultracapacitor to assist in the lift later on.
In the case of Harbor cranes often use diesel power so they can reduce the size of the diesel engine
while using supercapacitors and reduce fuel consumption and hence reduce emissions in the
shipping ports. Port facilities are experiencing the problems that we have seen in cities, in terms of
particulate emissions. A lot of ports around the world have emission driven hybridization programs
under way so they are seeing a lot of activities.
Off Road Vehicles?
Uptake in off road vehicles as mining equipment and construction equipment and other off road
vehicles
Is this a big segment?
You don’t have the volume as hybrid buses. The content per vehicle is substantial. So they are
working with the OEM to deliver the approapiate solution.
Is this already implemented?
They have delivered the first vehicles, but they are in an early introduction of products. Caterpillar
is producing this mining equipment, Kamatsu in Japan has been using ultracapacitors from a
Japanesse supplier.
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Engine starting for trucks.
Heavy diesel trucks are having more starting issues not only because of cold weather but because
in the US at least there are anti-idling laws. They don’t allow the trucks to idle during deliveries.
They use to leave the truck running. Even the heating cabs for the drivers, they have heating and air
conditioner and entertaining, the practice is to leave the engine on sometime in the middle of the
night, to keep the batteries charged and keep all those driving comfort features on. Many states in
the US are instituted anti idling laws, so they are trying to run those so call hotel loads off of the
batteries. Batteries are sometimes low state of charge particularly if temperature is low. And
batteries starting failures are becoming an issue in the truck industry. Maxwell last year introduced
an UC module specifically for assisting starting heavy trucks. These products are now being tested
and evaluated by more than 10 large fleets. They have a development products for the European
market, the first product 10V is for a America, and the 24V is designed for the European market. In
the heavy trucks they carry four lead acid batteries, the product is the same size of a battery would
substitute one battery from the four the batteries.
It will literally relieve the batteries for starting the vehicule. This will expend the battery life
substantially.
Will this segment overcome the other application segments (KERS and torque augmentation)?
It can be because this is an aftermarket product, and they are being sampled by the truck OEM and
they expect them to embrace the product at least as an option if not standard equipment on new
trucks. At the same time they have the SC installed in large fleets of trucks in the aftermarket
where the users have records of failures (statistics) so they are sophisticated users. They are
seeing the first fleets that have tested the products having increased interests in the product, and
looking to implement the product across their fleets next year. So this product will be a big
contributor to sales next year. 10 million of sales next year in the US. They have seen a lot of
interest in this product from the marine industry (boats of all types) and the military vehicle market
will be receptive of this product, construction and mining equipment, diesel generators for back up
power. All the places where you have a diesel engine expected to start many times. This engine
starting module is designed to guarantee reliable start in all conditions.
Asymmetric Supercapacitors?
They have looked at it, they don’t produce such product today. They are more battery like than their
products. They have some limitations in terms of cold weather conditions and higher internal
resistance. They are working in what they think will be the next generation of ultracapacitor
technology that will provide increased energy density but is a different path different from an
asymmetric technology.
They announced a funding grant from Advanced Battery Energy Consortium, Higher Energy Density
UC, they are pursuing this technology. This tech would allow products with higher energy density
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than their current products. Would this have a similar energy density as a lithium battery? They
can’t say it will have the same energy density but same substantial more energy density than their
current technology portfolio.
Current products operate just below 2.7 Volts and they expect than in the future they expect 3 Volts
with current activated carbon technologies. There are things in development, could contribute to
energy density Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene, they are interested and working on them, but they
don’t find them to be commercially feasible today. Their goal would be to have a product that
approaches 4 Volts some time in the future.
A timeline?
They can’t provide a timeline, but they have been working on this more than a year. They joined RD
collaborations a program in Europe, the Fraunhofer Institute, funded by the EU. And they joined a
group funded by the state in Ohio US: there is a graphene producer in there. Maxwell was invited to
join the groups, based on their manufacturing and industry capabilities. These products are novel
and the producers are not experienced in producing UC products. They look to them to give them
feedback and direction to bring these novel materials to the place where they are manufacturable
and where they can be integrated to UC. Secondly what is the cost, there are very exciting things
happening in the lab but in some cases the cost are very high. As mentioned before they are
looking to reduce their costs dramatically because in many cases they are competing with
inexpensive technologies as lead acid batteries, so anything that raises the cost is going to limit the
range of applications they can address.
There are certainly some applications that can tolerate higher costs, but the major of applications
are very cost sensitivies.
Do you see any niche market for higher costs?
The reason of the collaboration is to look closely, with then intention to build their business when it
make sense, but they have concluded that they have not yet identified a market to integrate these
materials.
What would be the capacity expansion?
In dollar terms, today in San Diego, $130 million revenue capacity. To a new generation of
fabrication equipment that will match the current output in San Diego. They have 4 lines in San
Diego, in Arizona it will be one. So they would double capacity to $260 million revenue capacity.
When will this plan will be producing, likely by mid year 2013 based on demand, equipment has
been required. They thought originally that it would be online at Q4 2012, but based on reduced
demand they pushed it to mid 2013.
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Press interviews
Reporting to the press in 2012, company president and CEO David Schramm said, “Continued
demand for ultracapacitor-based energy storage systems to power hybrid electric transit buses
helped to offset softness in other applications.”
In 2012, we asked for his views by email and he wrote unenthusiastically about the potential for
supercapacitors in pure electric cars.
In his review in August 2012 of the second quarter 2012 results, David Schramm said to the press,
“We’re pleased to report that Maxwell recorded total revenue of $40.9 million of the second quarter
into June 30th, 2012. Well, that’s 12% sequentially from the first quarter and up 6% from the same
quarter a year ago.
Ultracapacitor sales totaled $24.2 million, up 10% sequentially from the first quarter, but down
slightly from the second quarter of 2011 due mainly to continuing soft demand in Europe. Second
quarter sales of microelectronics and high voltage capacitor products came in at $16.7 million,
down a bit from the unusually high sales posted in the first quarter, but up 19% from last year’s
second quarter.
A particular note is that despite the challenging global economic environment, a favorable revenue
mix and careful expense control enable the company to post net income of $2.7 million or $0.09 per
share for the quarter. That compares with the loss of $0.04 per share in the same period last year.
On a non-GAAP basis, net profit for Q2 was $3.5 million or $0.12 per share compared with $0.06
per share in Q2 last year.
Now, this was the ninth consecutive quarter the company has been profitable on a non-GAAP basis.
As noted in our press release, ultracap sales continue to be impacted by economic conditions in
Europe and elsewhere. But that softness is being offset by growing demand in China driven mainly
by ongoing infrastructure investments in both public transit and wind energy.
Wind turbine deployments in China continue to rebound from the government post slow down, we
experience in the second half of last year. In fact, wind-related sales in the first quarter totaled
more than the two previous quarter combined and increased further sequentially in Q2.
Looking ahead, China’s five-year plan calls for wind energy to account for 3% to 5% of the country’s
total power generation by 2020. So we anticipate same demand for our products. Ultracapacitor
sales for hybrid bus drive systems haven’t missed a beat as the Chinese central government and
many regional and local governments continue to provide subsidies and policy support for
hybridization of public transit vehicles to both improve fuel efficiency and to reduce urban air
pollution.
We’re well aware that headlines predicting slower growth for the Chinese economy and the
upcoming change in leadership raise questions about the sustainability of Maxwell sales into China.
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But there’s every indication that these infrastructure investments will continue to be a high priority.
Information we received recently indicates that the subsidized transit bus privatization program for
25 major cities, has been so successful that the government intends to extend it to a number of
additional cities.
And with the experience that they have gained through policies supported programs and their
advantageous cost position versus competing OEMs in Asia, Europe, and North America, our
Chinese wind and bus customers are beginning to win on substantial export business around the
world.
There was a report a couple of months ago that one of our contract manufacturers, was selling its
own branded ultracapacitor products to Maxwell customers directly. And the implication was that
this was being done without our knowledge. Maxwell sells electrode to all of our contract
manufacturers, and then purchases the completed cells for our own consumption.
We have an agreement with the contract manufacturer, referenced in this report. It’s a private label,
and sell the product locally, to customers that Maxwell may not be able to gain. This agreement
dates back to 2009, and has proven successful in increasing our sales for our proprietary electrode
which was produced only within the secure facilities located in the US. Further, Maxwell sells
electrode on a global basis to competitors, and our electrode is recognized as a premium product.
Moving on to Europe, although soft automobile sales across the board have tampered our near
term expectations for sales growth with the ultracapacitor base stop, start, idle elimination system,
Continental has developed for PSAs, Fuzio and Zitron cars.
That program continues to account for a meaningful share of ongoing ultracapacitor sales. With
about half million of PSAs ultracapacitor equipped micro hybrids now in the road, questions about
ultracapacitor’s reliability in performance, and Maxwell’s capabilities as a supplier have been
answered in the affirmative.
We have nothing new to report on the long awaited next automotive program wind, but additional
OEMs, including one in Detroit are evaluating the Continental system. In addition, other Tier One
automotive suppliers and automakers are working on their own designs employing ultracapacitors.
So we remain confident that it’s not whether, but when, for the penetration of the auto market will
happen.
As reported earlier, the BARTA transportation is a leader producer of rail vehicles, and rail
transportation equipment, systems and services, has designed Maxwell ultracapacitors into its
energy store, braking energy recuperation system for light rail vehicles. These are stationary
energy storage units that capture and store energy that otherwise would be wasted in conventional
friction based braking systems.
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In network on these units, can enable rail system operators to reduce grid power consumption, by
20% to 30%. They also serve as a backup energy source to provide enough power to get trains to
the next station in event of a power outage.
The BARTA and other rail vehicle OEMs also produce on-vehicle systems. They use ultracaps for
energy storage. So we expect to have some good news on electric rail design. A number of other
applications have begun driving meaningful volumes that are helping us grow ultracapacitor sales.
These include postage stamp size, PC-10 cells, they go into data storage devices, called solid state
disk drives, or SSDs. Our products are used in SSDs for enterprise level computing installations
such as data centers.
The ultracaps are mounted right on the circuit board where they stand ready to provide a few
seconds of instantly available back up power to allow work in process to be saved in the event of a
power interruption. PC-10s also provide power for wireless transmitters that allow smart utility
meters to transmit data, and to be read remotely.
Last year, we launched an ultracapacitor module designed specifically to handle brief power
disturbances, and provide short term bridge power to hold voltage constant until primary backup
power source within an integrated uninterruptible power supply system takes over. This UPS
module has been designed in the systems going into hospitals and other new installations that will
come online in the next few months.
Another new ultracapacitor product, an engine start module that asists an onboard jumpstart
power source for hard to start diesel trucks is in field trials with several large truck fleets. The
feedback has been uniformly positive, and some of the fleet operators have taken additional units
to expand their trials.
We also entered into a distribution agreement with Pana-Pacific which specializes in truck
products. Pana has relationships with more than 2,000 truck dealers, OEMs, and OE part
distribution centers in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. This module is the same size and
shape as the Group 31 batteries that heavy trucks carry. So it’s an easy to install, drop-in
replacement for one of the trucks four existing batteries.
It addresses a growing problem with trucks’ starting failures due to cold weather and overworked
batteries as a result of anti-idling laws in more than 30 states. With more than 2 million heavy
trucks currently on the road in North America we are focusing initially on the aftermarket, while
simultaneously working with the truck OEMs to get our engine start module qualified and designed
in as a standard for new trucks.
Engine starting is also an issue for delivery vans, military vehicles, boats, backup power generators
and construction and mining equipment. So we’re in the process of developed variance of this initial
product to address what we think can become a much broader global engine starting module.
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Ultracapacitor sales accounted for about 59% of total sales in the second quarter. As we reported
earlier, we have double ultracapacitor production capacity over the past couple of years and we’re
moving ahead with additional investments in capacity expansion in research and development and
other resources to support further growth.
Last year, we moved into a new expanded technology center here in San Diego and we are in the
process of outbidding a second electrode production facility in the Phoenix, Arizona area. When we
bring it online next spring, it will double electrode production capacity in 123,000 square foot
building we have leased there provides ample growth space for further capacity expansion and
other engineering and manufacturing activities going forward.
Educating the market on ultracapacitor technology has been a strategic thrust for Maxwell for the
last several years. And we are seeing significant interest in our ESN and UPS systems, both of
which are aimed at the US market.
Coupled with the other systems already launched, we are prepared for the economic turnaround in
the US and in Europe but will not take our eye off at China.
As we stated in our press release, we expect sales in the third quarter to increase by 7% to 10%
sequentially compared with the second quarter. For the full year, we are maintaining our total
topline growth forecast of 15% and still seek potential for up to 20%. That should enable us to
generate cash from operations and be solidly profitable.
Now, despite those healthy and improving vital signs, our tapered growth expectations and
uncertainty about how global economic turmoil and government policy may affect our business
have driven Maxwell stock price down the level not seen since 2009.
Every Maxwell employee from the corner office to the factory floor is a stockholder, so this has
been a painful experience we’re all concerned. You may have noticed that I and several members of
our board of directors have been buying stocks through this downturn as have many other
employees whose purchases aren’t reported in SEC filing. We are believers, this is a growing
profitable company, and a world leader in energy storage products and technology.
Maxwell’s best days lie ahead, so we’re going to keep our heads down, keep our spirits up, and
continue executing and the tremendous opportunities are people and our products are creating.
The above partly contains Transcript by Seeking Alpha, edited and shortened by IDTechEx.
David Schramm’ report on Q2 2011 had been equally informative. We show extracts below, edited
and adapted from transcript by Seeking Alpha.
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Question-and-Answer Session
Ben Schuman - Pacific Crest Securities
Hi, thanks. So just to be clear, you guys soften the language a little bit around the top end of the
guidance range, and didn’t mention non-GAAP profitability at least in the press release although
you just alluded to it a minute ago. I mean are these subtle changes to guidance language a
function of lower conviction, or am I just reading too much into that, and kind of what end market
will be driving that lower conviction?
David Schramm
Yes, so I think the change – in the language related to the guidance is softening the top end as you
can see from our results for this quarter, we have a little bit more deterioration in Europe than we
anticipated, and we came in below into the guidance of 4%.
As far as non-GAAP profitability, at this point, our forecast has us continuing the profitability that
we had this quarter, I should say increasing it, and we would be profitable not only on a non-GAAP
basis, but a GAAP basis as well for each of the third and fourth quarters and for the full year.
Ben Schuman - Pacific Crest Securities
Okay, great. And then it looks like PSA just looking through some of its filings has almost double
the amount of cars available with the EHDI, start stop system which I would think would help offset
some of the declining overall sales that they’re seeing. Do you have a sense of what the uptick is, of
that system kind of within PSA, and how can we think about that just relative to the overall macro
weakness that those guys are seeing?
David Schramm
All the feedback, Ben, that we’ve gotten so far from PSA, they’ve been very satisfied with the
Continental VSS system. And you’re right, they have expanded the number of vehicles that they put
it into, at the same time, their sales, as you’ve seen in the paper have soften. So the whole effect of
Europe right now, is impacting our business. The automobile business as long as PSA is adding
models, it kind of keeps us flat.
What we’re looking forward to is when the second, third, fourth, and fifth car customer sign on to
buy the Continental system.
Ben Schuman - Pacific Crest Securities
Do you know anything with regards to their timeline in terms of when they would want to update
that technology or re-evaluate suppliers or anything like that?
David Schramm
I’m not aware. All I can tell you is my experience of work in the automobile industry, it’s typically
when you put into a model, it lasts at least five years before you’d have a significant model change.
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Chris Godby - Stephens
First of all, can you give us a little bit more color on the improvement in the wind market? Are the
improvements you are seeing their broad base or are you seeing any pockets of weakness, still?
David Schramm
What we’ve seen there, is we’ve increased the number of customers that we have. And again, the
wind market uptick we’ve seen is specific to China. So we’ve seen the number of customers
increase, and again, the business got so soft in the last half of 2011.
And as I commented, Q1 was bigger than the last two quarters last year, and Q2 is bigger than Q1.
So we’re seeing a comeback. We don’t think it’s going to come back at the growth that we saw the
first half of 2011, but at least it’s starting to stabilize. And as we add more customers, we should be
able to show some growth in that field.
Chris Godby - Stephens
Okay, great. Thanks a lot. And then also, looking at SG&A, it’s down quite a bit both looking at last
quarter and looking at the prior year, can you maybe talk a little bit more about your cost reduction
efforts?
Kevin Royal
Sure. We were very selective with our hiring, and basically focused on areas that would drive future
growth such as R&D. We also had during the quarter lower bonus expense as we reduce the
accrual rate in light of the lower outlook from the previous quarter. And then on a positive note, we
had lower administrative fees associated with legal and audit and tax fees that accounted for about
$600,000 to $700,000 of that decline.
Michael Lew - Needham
Okay. And you also mentioned an opportunity with the electric grid. Do you have anything on, any
ongoing initiatives in India?
David Schramm
We’ve been talking to global players on the smart grid and the answer is, yes, we’re going to be
everywhere. And again, when you take a look at where the most opportunity is for us, it’s Brazil,
Russia, India and China. It’s where they’re developing a grid, because the sense we see from the
people we work with is putting in a new grid is probably going to be a lot faster than trying to
retrofit the ones that already exist. So we think the uptick is going to be a little quicker there.
Michael Lew - Needham
Yes. Have you sized that opportunity in India currently or how large you could be just given the
recent issues they’ve had?
David Schramm
That’s a good question. Timing is everything, but we have not sized that opportunity
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Michael Lew - Needham
Okay. And can you provide like a geographic mix by region for the ultracap hybrid bus business and
like what comment on what the growth rates were or declines during the past quarter?
David Schramm
It’s been China-driven, Michael. We don’t see a gain with the European softness. That softness is
about every sector that we’re in and, of course, the hybrid bus has not really taken off in North
America. So there’s both opportunities for us in the near future with North America as well as
Europe and we want to maintain our significant presence we have in China.
Michael Lew - Needham
That’s pretty much all China, you’d say?
David Schramm
China predominates the market for us, yes.
Michael Lew - Needham
Okay. And as you mentioned before, the government has announced intentions to support EV type
of growth. Since that’s been announced, have you see an acceleration in quotation activity? And the
same for the French government, which recently announced plans too.
David Schramm
Yes. The Chinese government, we read – it was online article thought up by the Chinese State
Department that says that the hybrid buses have been so successful that they’re going to expand
that program past the initial 25 cities that they originally announced. We don’t have a firm number
what that is. But right now, the bus companies we work with are very, very aggressive, if you will, on
what they see coming for the rest of this year. In Europe, we see that just not catching on just yet.
And like I said, the US market really hasn’t embraced hybrid buses.
Matt Phil - Roth Capital
First of all, nice job in the quarter. And just had a couple of questions. First, we wanted to get a
sense for the progress that you guys had in the truck ESN business. How is it ramping relative to
what you guys had expected?
David Schramm
The way it’s ramping, Matt, is we have got fleets now taking their second tranche of doing more and
more depot work. So we’ve been working with some major truck fleets. And as we’ve had success
with two or three other depots, they’ve now ordered extra parts to go into several more other
depots. And we’re highly confident that there had such good success that we’re going to end up
having some good news here within the next couple of quarters
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Matt Phil - Roth Capital
Okay, great. And I think it might have been touched on before, but can you guys comment a little bit
on – last quarter, you said you’re seeing some daylight in the sales efforts in the wind market in
China. I just wanted to see sort of how your H2 is tracking. Is it looking more Q4 weighted? I mean,
is there going to be some volume in Q3 as well?
David Schramm
I think as I said in the comments, Q1 was bigger than Q3 and Q4 last year and Q2 was bigger than
Q1 of this year. So we’re starting to see that market come back.
Josh Baribeau - Canaccord
Hi. Thanks. It’s Josh Baribeau for Jed. Just a couple for me. Just doing the math on your guidance
of 15%, maybe 20%, for the full year and then I think 7% to 10% for Q3. That indicates a pretty large
ramp in Q4. So can you provide a little bit more – oh, I know I guess it’s China wind and China
hybrid that we drive at. But if you could provide a little bit more comfort, I guess, around why you
think Q4 is going to be so large or maybe the answer is, are you just being more conservative with
Q3?
David Schramm
I think the answer lies in the State Department. The one we saw from China that says they’re
expanding the bus market and we’re starting to see more and more activity in our hybrid bus
business.
So, Q3 was a great quarter for us on buses, our Q2, excuse me. And we look at Q3 as continuing
that effort and Q4 to finish out really strong. So, right now we’re pretty optimistic that the hybrid
bus business is going to be a growing business, specifically in China for the rest of this year.
Josh Baribeau - Canaccord
Okay. And I understand that a lot of these new markets are a bit of a missionary sale whereas your
product is a little bit higher upfront but leads to longer life and all the other benefits. So, it’s really
a cost of ownership story.
What are some of the things that you can do to take that cost out of the ultracap to make it more
competitive on an apples-to-apples basis? Or if you kind of reach the limit there and you really have
to sell the cost ownership story.
David Schramm
Yes. Well, and again when you say apples to apples, it’s what’s the other apple you want to look at
because –
Josh Baribeau - Canaccord
Well, say, batteries.
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David Schramm
Okay. And a battery is an energy generator. We’re an energy storage device. And the only way we
could look at this is through a value proposition. And a value proposition is through the warranty or
the lifetime of the application. We’ve got a lot of data that suggest that the ultracap really can do a
better job.
As we stated in the past, we’ve got an awful lot of data that shows that if you put a battery in
conjunction with the ultracap, you can generate a better systems that lowers your overall system
cost. The data we’re working on, we’re looking at what happens to battery life if you don’t cycle the
battery and you let the ultracap do the cycling and the battery do the energy.
And we believe you’re going to extend the battery life as well as have a more effective power system.
And that’s exactly what’s happening with the PSA system that they’re using with the Continental.
The VSS system, the voltage stabilization system. It’s using two ultracap to supplement the battery.
And they’re seeing great improvements in lifetime and the affectivity of the system.
Josh Baribeau - Canaccord
Okay. And then finally, have you changed the acceleration or the rate of the expansion and the new
electrode facility as a result of either just access the capital or the slowdown in Europe? Or is that
still going ahead of plan?
David Schramm
It’s not an access to capital issue at this point. It’s strictly the European has – the European
economic situation has slowed down the overall market force, which is why we changed the
guidance last quarter. Europe is just not doing what we thought two years ago we’d be enjoying in
Europe.
We also didn’t think it would be in $1.20 range on the euro a year and a half ago.
So, a lot has changed. So what we’ve been doing is fostering ourselves so that when Europe finally
does turnaround, we’re going to be prepared for it.
So, Phoenix right now, we’re probably a quarter away from what we thought a year and a half ago.
But the equipment is still coming in. Financing is not an issue. And we will be completing the
building and installing the equipment and going early next year.
Tom Daniels - Stifel Nicolaus
Just in regards to the HP capacitor business in the Russian grid project, do you guys think this
could sequentially grow throughout the year?
David Schramm
Actually, it’s a project as you said there, Tom. We work with major contractors, and as they put in
the new grid systems and they put in the infrastructure, we are basically with them.
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So, as they put in more systems throughout the world, and again, it’s the Brit nations that we see
this. But it’s a pretty steady business. It seems like as they put in one grid, another one pops in.
So, we still see that as a high-single digit growth business for Maxwell for the next year.
Tom Daniels - Stifel Nicolaus
Okay. Do you think that can last in the 2013, from what you can tell right now?
David Schramm
I don’t see any reason why it won’t continue to be a single digit type growth business.
Tom Daniels - Stifel Nicolaus
Okay. Great. And then the pricing on your truck starters, I believe maybe at 1.8. You said it was
$1,300. How do you expect that pricing to trend kind of as we go forward and as that product
matures? Do you think they can stay around there? Is it going to get priced down pretty
aggressively?
David Schramm
Well, the thing that I was working on is we’ve got to get the cost down before you get the price down.
And we are taking the cost down. We are reducing the cost of our electrode. We’re reducing the
cost of our assembly. We’re reducing the cost of how we put modules together and all the parts to
go into the module.
It’s probably the biggest driver, of course, like in any business is volume is a great contributor. So
as the volume goes up, our cost goes down. And as our cost goes down, those are – I call them very
elastic markets which means that we have got to match the pricing with the volume. So the lower
the price, the more volume to get, the more cost we drive out, and that’s the Utopian answer for us
on that product line.
Tom Daniels - Stifel Nicolaus
Okay. Can that really grow by fourth quarter this year? Or do you think that’s more of a 2013
opportunity?
David Schramm
I think with both the evaluations going on right now, it’s definitely a 2013 operation, and I think we’ll
see a little bit of an uptick in the latter half of this year, but the significant growth can start next
year.
Chris Kovacs - Robert Baird
Hi guys, thanks for taking my question. So obviously now we’re in Q3, and I’m sure you have pretty
good visibility into the upcoming quarter with the guidance you gave, but do guess it’s more
comfortable with Q4 – can you give us a sense of what amount of that potential revenue you need to
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achieve in the fourth quarter that you already have some sort of visibility into your – essentially have
contacted to be delivered?
David Schramm
I guess the best way to look at that is the confidence we have in what’s going on the hybrid bus and
the wind business. The assumption we’re making right now is that there probably won’t be a whole
lot of growth in Europe for the rest of this year.
And our North American presence has never been as high as we think it’s going to be here in the
next year. So it’s how well China is going to grow. And right now, everything we see, says it’s going
to continue the growth cycle through the rest of this year.
So we’re going with what our customers are telling us, and what they’re seeing, and everything
we’re reading. So our confidence is with that announced in the press release today.
Chris Kovacs - Robert Baird
Okay. And can you give a commentary about how wind has trended the last couple of quarters.
You’re saying Q1 was better than Q3 and Q4 of last year combined. How has the hybrid bus been
trying to trend over that same period?
David Schramm
It’s been going up steadily.
David Schramm
The beauty of that is we’ve been adding more and more customers. And as the state has gotten
more and more comfortable, they’ve added more cities that require these buses.
So we’re seeing – we’re enjoying a very nice growth cycle right now on hybrid buses.
Chris Kovacs - Robert Baird
Can you kind of quantify for us the average of the CAGR on that or quarterly growth rate? Or
ballpark even?
David Schramm
That’s really difficult to do it this time. All I can tell you is on a macro level, it’s going to continue to
grow throughout the year. Part of the problem is, this is a pretty lumpy business. It’s actually easier
to predict what’s going to happen on a year basis, not a quarterly basis.
But again, right now, as we reiterated in the press release, 15% for the year, and there’s still a
potential to get that up to 20%.
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Chris Kovacs - Robert Baird
Okay. And just a last question. Did you expect the somewhat elevated levels of HBC in
microelectronics revenue to continue the rest of the year? Or should that kind of normally sort of
go away this quarter?
David Schramm
Well, those are both – the microelectronics business is historically lumpy. And what we’ve said is,
that year over year, it’s going to be single digit growth. And the high voltage looks, year over year,
it’s going to be a high single digit growth.So I think we’ll see a little bit more throughout the rest of
the year, but the real growth engine is going to be the ultracapacitors.
Colin Rusch - ThinkEquity
Good afternoon gentlemen. The cost of engineering here is actually pretty impressive. Can you talk
a little bit of what’s going on in the manufacturing portion of your business, and then also the SG&A
segment, and a little bit more detail on how we should think about that going forward?
David Schramm
Yes, we’ll take that in two parts here. On the cost reduction side, I tell you, I get a lot of applause to
our engineering groups. The engineers have figured out how we get cost out, and as we get more
volume up, we see more opportunities as you how you get cost out.
Material sourcing is one that gives us a little cost volume, gives us a lot of cost, in designing the
product with better component has given us a lot of cost. So we’re on track to continue our cost
reduction. I tell you, five years ago, it was easy to take a $10 bill out of a product, and now it’s
looking like the nickels, dimes and quarters are where we got to aim.But we still see some cost
reduction, we got to look at redesign efforts. At some point in time, you reach your volume level
that you can afford to take a look and redesign your complete product line. And that will get us to
the next layer of cost reduction. At this point, I don’t see an end in sight as to where we run out of
cost to take out a product.
Colin Rusch - ThinkEquity
Great. And then can you just talk about the number of engine start customers you have at this point
and then what the sales vol looks like on that product?
David Schramm
It’s several fleets at this point. I would dare say if add them all up, it’s at least seven of them and
we’ve got quite a few different depots. So one customer may have four or five different depots
they’re evaluating. And so, pretty pleased right now that we’re getting good footprint on the start of
the CSM.
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Supercapacitors and lead-acid batteries
MILTON, Ga., & SAN DIEGO, Calif. – November 13, 2012 – Exide Technologies (NASDAQ: XIDE), a
global leader in stored electrical energy solutions, and Maxwell Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:
MXWL), a leading developer and manufacturer of ultracapacitor products, today announced the
formation of a strategic alliance. The two companies will work together in the development and
marketing of advanced, integrated, battery-ultracapacitor energy storage solutions to be used in a
wide array of transportation and industrial applications.
Principal elements of the strategic alliance include:
Joint identification and evaluation of market opportunities for integrated products;
Collaborative product development and testing; and
Joint calls on prospective customers to establish demonstration projects.
“The integrated products developed through our alliance with Maxwell Technologies will provide a
wide range of benefits for users who require the most that today’s battery technology has to offer,”
said Paul Cheeseman, Exide’s Vice President, Global Engineering and Research. “These benefits
will include high energy density, rapid charging and discharging, extended operational life and
superior performance in extreme temperatures.”
Exide is the only battery company to provide product offerings across a range of applications in
both the transportation and industrial markets. With its AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat) technology that
allows for deep cycling combined with high charge acceptance, Exide supports Start-Stop vehicles,
energy recuperation, intelligent charging and other advanced power train features to reduce CO2
emissions and fuel consumption.
“Exide’s battery technology leadership, extensive manufacturing capabilities, established global
distribution channels and strong existing industrial and transportation customer relationships
make it an ideal alliance partner,” said David Schramm, Maxwell’s president and chief executive
officer. “We have always believed in the synergistic nature of ultracapacitors and batteries, and this
relationship will enable us to significantly accelerate development of products embodying the
benefits of both technologies.”
Maxwell’s ultracapacitor products store energy in an electric field, which is unlike batteries that
produce and store energy by means of a chemical reaction, This electrostatic energy storage
mechanism enables ultracapacitors to charge and discharge in as little as fractions of a second,
perform normally over a broad temperature range (-40 to +65C), and operate reliably for one
million or more charge/discharge cycles. Maxwell offers ultracapacitor cells ranging in
capacitance from one to 3,000 farads and multi-cell modules ranging from 16 to 125 volts.
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Maxwell Technologies Supplies Ultracapacitors To Power Multimedia And Passenger Comfort
Systems In London Cable Cars
Light Weight, Rapid Charging and Long Operating Life Enable High Tech Features
SAN DIEGO, Nov. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Maxwell Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: MXWL)
announced today that it is supplying ultracapacitors for a high-efficiency energy management
system that powers multimedia entertainment, lighting and air ventilation systems in the Emirates
Air Line, the UK's first urban cable car, carrying passengers across London's River Thames. The
new Emirates Air Line cable car system, operated by Transport for London, consists of 34 10-
passenger cabins manufactured by CWA Constructions SA of Switzerland. The Emirates Air Line
can carry up to 2,500 passengers per hour in each direction. It transported an estimated 20,000
passengers a day during the London 2012 Games for the trip connecting North and South London
from terminals located at the Greenwich Peninsula and Royal Docks. The roof-mounted
ultracapacitor modules are recharged by charging systems located in stations at each end of the
Emirates Air Line. Unlike batteries, which produce and store electrical energy by means of a
chemical reaction, Maxwell's ultracapacitors store energy in an electrical field within the
ultracapacitor cells. This electrostatic energy storage mechanism enables ultracapacitors to
charge and discharge in as little as fractions of a second, perform normally over a broad
temperature range (-40 degrees C to +65 degrees C) and operate reliably for up to one million or
more charge/discharge cycles.
"A battery-based system to power all of the entertainment and passenger comfort features the
operator wanted for these cabins would have been much too heavy to be practical," said Tobias
Haarmann, CWA's Head of Marketing. "Ultracapacitors also require little or no maintenance and
can be expected to last for a decade or more before needing to be replaced, making them a very
cost-effective solution for the operator."
"This is yet another example of how innovative companies such as CWA are finding new ways to
take advantage of ultracapacitors' efficiency, durability, light weight and other differentiating
characteristics," said David Schramm, Maxwell's president and chief executive officer.
About CWA: CWA Constructions SA/Corp. is the worldwide leader in the design, engineering and
manufacturing of vehicles for people mover systems, such as gondola cabins, aerial tramway cars,
funicular coaches, shuttles and monorails. CWA Constructions, a traditional Swiss company,
provides top services – everywhere and at all times. With cableway and rail vehicles, as well as
special construction in aluminum, we surpass the market standards as the accepted leader of the
global industry, through continual further development of state-of-the-art designs, forward-looking
construction solutions and comprehensive services.
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9.1.9. Nanotune Technologies USA
In May 2011, it was reported that, using a more expensive ionic-liquid electrolyte, it has made
ultracapacitors that store 35 watt-hours per kilogram. By the end of2011, the company hoped to
approximately double this storage capacity, said Nanotune CEO Kuan-Tsae Huang. At 40 Wh/kg ,
the ultracapacitors would be an improvement over the batteries used in some hybrid vehicles, it
was alleged. Eventually, Huang says, it may be possible to make ultracapacitors that store 500
kilowatt-hours per kilogram—about three to four times more than the lithium-ion batteries used in
cars today. The practical benefit could be even greater. Cars are often engineered to use only half
the storage capacity of their batteries, to keep them from degrading. But almost all of an
ultracapacitor's storage capacity can be used.
According to Next Future, Nanotune's technology is very expensive now—between $2,400 and
$6,000 per kilowatt-hour. (The Department of Energy has proposed a goal of $250 per kilowatt-
hour to make electric vehicles competitive with conventional ones.) Nanotune says, however, that
its costs could come down to less than $150 per kilowatt-hour if the prices of some key materials,
such as electrolytes, continue to fall, and as manufacturing is scaled up.
The company's energy-storage projections are based on several advances it is working on.
Nanotune is currently making electrodes with pores that are about 4 to 5 nanometers across, but it
says it can make them smaller (high porosity leads to high surface area, which makes it possible to
store a large amount of charge) and tune them to match the needs of different electrolytes—the
ion-conducting materials the electrodes are immersed in.
The company is also looking into using ionic liquids rather than conventional organic electrolytes.
These increase the voltage of the system, greatly increasing energy storage, but typically they
aren't compatible with conventional ultracapacitor electrodes. Finally, the company hopes to make
use of recent academic findings that suggests that adding small amounts of ruthenium to the
ultracapacitors can increase energy storage.
9.1.10. Nesscap Energy Inc Canada/Korea
Since its inception in 1999, Nesscap Inc., has become an award winning global leader in technology
innovation and product development of ultracapacitors. Attributes of the ultracapacitor allow for
the technology to be used in applications where power, life cycle requirements or environmental
conditions limit the suitability of batteries. Uniquely structured, Nesscap products are used to
replace or enhance the performance of energy and power needs for modern applications ranging
from portable electronic devices to high-tech 'green' cars and are available in both cells and
modules. Nesscap features the widest array of standard commercial products in the market from 3
farads to 6,200 farads with industry recognized alternative organic electrolytes. Customers of the
Company include transportation, power, industrial and consumer markets. Technical and sales
information can be found at www.nesscap.com.
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Apr. 19, 2011 (Marketwire Canada) -
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - Nesscap Energy Inc. ("Nesscap") (TSX VENTURE:NCE), a global leader in
research, development and manufacturing of ultracapacitor products, is pleased to announce that
the Company has signed an agreement to supply ultracapacitors valued at USD $3.2 million.
The agreement with Trainelec, a subsidiary of Spanish based CAF (www.caf.es), a world-class
railway vehicle manufacturer, calls for Nesscap to supply product with the option of increasing the
order size by 20%. This contract follows previous orders stemming from a development contract
with CAF in early 2007. The order is scheduled to be fulfilled through 2011.
"As a result of this latest contract, Nesscap will become the world's largest ultracapacitor supplier
to the tram industry," said Dr. Sunwook Kim, Chief Executive Officer of Nesscap Energy Inc. "As a
result of our focused development work for more than ten years with many global companies for
diverse applications, we are now seeing strong growth in commercial orders."
Nesscap's ultracapacitors will be used in trams serving major cities in Spain. Ultracapacitor-based
energy storage systems enable light rail vehicles or trams to travel without overhead power lines
or catenary power. Specifically, this system allows electrical power catenary to be installed locally
at the passenger stops, and, when the vehicle stops, the ultracapacitor energy storage system is
fully charged in about 25 seconds. This provides enough energy for the vehicle to reach the next
stop on the route with remarkable traction and auxiliary power performances. Ultracapacitors can
help reduce the energy consumption of a light rail or metro system by up to 30% by storing the
energy released when braking and using this energy during the next acceleration of the vehicle.
Moreover, lower peak current demand means that fewer substations are needed and they can be
further apart, which reduces infrastructure investment.
About CAF
Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), S.A. is one of the international market leaders in
the design, manufacture, maintenance and supply of equipment and components for railway
systems (www.caf.es).
Trainelec is dedicated to the design, integration and production of electric traction systems for the
rail industry including all kind of rolling stock as LRVs, Metros, Commuter Trains and Locomotives.
Trainelec incorporates improved energy efficiency based on ultra-capacitors via train braking
energy recuperation. The accumulated energy in the ultra-capacitors during braking can be used
later to drive the train, thereby achieving an energy saving of as much as 30% (www.trainelec.com).
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - (Marketwire - Aug. 24, 2012) - Nesscap Energy Inc. ("Nesscap") (TSX
VENTURE:NCE), a global leader in research, development and manufacturing of ultracapacitor
products, today reported its financial results for the three-month and six-month periods ended
June 30, 2012.
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Sales for the three-month period decreased 40% to $2.8 million (USD), compared to $4.7 million
for the same period in 2011. Sales for the six-month period decreased 33% to $5.7 million from
$8.6 million in 2011. The decrease is primarily due to a significant drop in sales to one of the
Company's largest 2011 customers, overall soft demand at key accounts, and the continued
weakness of the European and Chinese economies. Net loss for the quarter was $769,177 or
$0.004 per ordinary share compared to a net gain of $42 thousand or $0.000 per ordinary share for
the same period in 2011. The reduction in net gain was due mainly to a reduction in revenues and
increase in sales, general and administration expenses. The Company had cash and cash
equivalents equal to $1.0 million and working capital of $13.2 million at the end of the quarter.
"In the second quarter, Nesscap experienced softness with a few of our customers, specifically in
the Euro zone." said Dennis Orwig, Chief Executive Officer of Nesscap Energy Inc. "We are, however,
aggressively pursuing new business and remain committed to executing our strategic and
operational initiatives, supported by continuing signs of long-term global growth in ultracapacitor
products and applications."
In May 2012, the Company established German-based Nesscap Energy GmbH, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Nesscap Energy Inc. to expand business in Europe.
As a result of the completion of an equity financing previously announced in January 2012,
18,304,341 preferred shares, issued to Vardimco Enterprises Limited (since renamed I2BF Energy
Ltd., "I2BF"), were converted into common shares in May 2012. The Company completed its
external equity financing of $20 million from Open Joint Stock Company Rusnano, in Russia, and
I2BF, an affiliate of I2BF Holdings Ltd., in the British Virgin Islands.
Subsequent to the quarter end, the Company announced the closing of a USD $8.5 million private
placement of common shares from I2BF and Arbat Capital Group Ltd. ("Arbat Capital") at a price of
CAD 0.38 per common share. Proceeds will be allocated primarily to expand Nesscap's operations
in South Korea. The unaudited financial statements and related MD&A can be found on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com.
9.1.11. Nichicon Japan
Interviewing Nichicon at an exhibition in 2012, we established that a priority is electrical
engineering applications such as material handling but sales are, as yet, well behind market leader
Maxwell Technologies, they say it is partly because the Japanese leaders like them do not use
acetonitrile so certain key properties of these supercapacitors are inferior. Priorities declared then
were the Information, Communication and Special Power Supply markets and the Energy market
with a tentative plan to do high voltage versions for the latter.
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Fig. 9.5 Nichicon supercapacitor emphasis at EVS26 Los Angeles 2012
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At Tokyo Big Sight in 2012, Nichicon exhibited supercapacitor-based electric vehicle fast charging
stations as shown below.
Fig. 9.6 Supercapacitor-based electric vehicle fast charging stations launched in 2012 by Nichicon.
Source IDTechEx
9.1.12. Nippon ChemiCon/ United ChemiCon Japan
Interviewing Nippon ChemiCon at an exhibition in 2012, we established that, as with Nichicon, a
priority is electrical engineering applications such as material handling but sales are, as yet, well
behind market leader Maxwell Technologies, they say partly because the Japanese leaders like
them do not use acetonitrile so certain key properties of these supercapacitors are inferior.
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Fig. 9.7 Mazda car supercapacitor exhibited at EVS26 Los Angeles 2012
Source IDTechEx
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Fig. 9.8 Nippon Chemi-Con low resistance DXE Series priority shown in 2012
Source IDTechEx
However, another major priority in 2012 has been vibration tolerant heavy duty supercapacitors for
material handling and similar applications.
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Fig. 9.9 Exhibit by United ChemiCon at EVS26 Los Angeles
Source IDTechEx
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9.1.13. Yo-Engineering Russian Federation
New supercapacitor developer Yo Engineering in Moscow writes, "Recently, modern electric cars
and plug-in hybrids have been using lithium-ion cells, which have a series of significant
disadvantages, such as additional CO2 emissions during manufacturing, the need for recycling
after the end of their service life, the high cost of a car due to the application of expensive materials,
the limited distance achieved when operating only on battery power, lengthy charging times, large
mass, and the undeveloped infrastructure associated with such batteries, as well as the additional
electronics necessary to maintain a charge balance (without which the battery may fail or even
explode."
Taking these disadvantages into consideration, Yo-Engineering chose to use a supercapacitor in
place of a battery in an electric vehicle, noting that, "A supercapacitor can withstand a million
charge-discharge cycles, in comparison with lithium-ion cells that are designed for only 10,000
cycles.
Supercapacitors ensure stable operation in the -50 to +60 C temperature range, and the control
system developed by our engineers is resistant to extreme climate conditions. Supercapacitors
release their accumulated energy for the fast spinup of the ё-mobile's motor during dynamic
acceleration (standing start, brick acceleration, overtaking). When the ё-mobile reaches the
constant required speed, the supercapacitors are sufficiently charged to enable the acceleration of
the ё-mobile to maximum speed. In this case, the power generated by the generator is used to
maintain the motion at a constant speed. In the event of regenerative breaking, the supercapacitors
are charged from traction motors. As a result of this working algorithm, a reduction in fuel
consumption and hazardous emissions, as well as an increased level of performance, is observed.
In addition, the required amount of stored energy is less, and the battery's mass and cost is
reduced, respectively."
IDTechEx asked the following questions of Valery V. Graboshnikov, Deputy General Director LLC
"Yo-Engineering" 17 October 2012.
Can you tell me the latest situation with Yo-Engineering please?
We are designing SCs ourselves for our hybrid cars as well as for other applications. The latest
situation - we are in process of designing our prototype Generation "0" (G0). We are planning to
have first prototypes G0 in March - May 2013.
What applications will your designs make possible in the next ten years?
Our plans are to cover the needs of transport vehicles (cars, trucks & buses) as well as the needs
of private clients which are intent to use Micro CHP units.
Do you plan to manufacture supercapacitors at some stage?
At the moment we are considering several options: to manufacture ourselves or in cooperation with
existing SC manufacturer. Decision will be made later.
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We are sure that neither Impulse nor Power SCs can meet in depth the needs of any Client, so, the
Hybrid Energy Storage System is required. How it will look like depends on different circumstances
not all of which are clear at the moment.
Will you develop supercabatteries (AEDLCs) – if so what type? Or do you think, like some people,
that symmetrical supercapacitors can reach the energy densities of supercabatteries over the next
ten years?
Capacity of SC depends on the materials and design. The more progress will be made in material
design the more chances will be that SCs will come close to supercabatteries by the capacity and
performance.
9.1.14. Yunasko Russian Federation
In our interview with Vadim Utkin CEO in late 2012, they said they use acetonytrile (non aqueous)
electrolyte because it allows them to have high power. They say that aqueous electrolytes are
cheap but they don’t achieve high power. They know companies like Elton (Russia) that use
aqueous electrolytes.
Business Model
Yunasko is a 60 people company. They are basically a research and development company looking
for an industrial partner to scale the production of their technologies through licencing, strategic
partnerships or joint ventures. Half of their employees are involved in research and engineering
activities, some of the rest of the employees are occupied of manual manufacturing stages of
supercapacitors. They have key scientific personnel (4 employees) with more than 20 years of
experience in electric energy storage technology, some of them working previously for the former
Soviet Union. They have an office in London UK (Administrative and Legal Offices, IP rights and
patents) and R&D and pilot scale facilities in Ukraine. These have been funded through first round
of venture capital coming from Dekarta Capital (private equity and venture capital firm focused in
funding technology companies that have originated in Russia, Ukraine and Latvia, which have
clearly demonstrated their potential to become industry leaders in the global arena). They
mentioned that they would need another founding round by 2013. When asked what was the
amount of the first round they mentioned they would ask for permission to speak about this.
Through Dekarta Capitals’s website we found out that they typically invest in their selected
companies up to $1 million at the early stage and between $2 million and $15 million at later
stages.
When asked if they would partner with a competitor in the supercapacitor industry, Mr. Utkin said
that they don’t see an opportunity to merge with another company right now, but maybe in the
future.
In relation to the possibility of licencing their technology, they mentioned that they want to be very
careful with this option since the market is not cheap yet. They think they might miss interesting
opportunities if they give away the technology or give exclusivity. They are primarily interested in an
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industrial partner with manufacturing capabilities in Europe, USA or Asia. In their website they
mention that they would be interested to pursuit the model of selling key components – special
modified rolls and electrode rolls. Being potential customers of these products are industrial,
capacitor or battery companies. Additionally they mention that they are looking for Product
Development Partners, to find new opportunities for the product applications together with those
who are working on different engineering solutions.
Currently their only revenues come from selling prototype cells to potential customers and
partners. They receive additional funds from grants mostly from Europe. They are obviously not
covering fully their current expenses.
Manufacturing Capabilities
They have manufacturing capabilities at pilot plant scale. This plant has a capacity of 200
cells/month relying on automated and manual manufacturing stages. They have produced so far
around 4,500 cells so far. Looking for Industrial partners, they are sure that all of their
developments will be scalable at industrial scale, they regard this capability as one of their
strengths.
Regional Markets
“We are talking with many car manufacturers however Europe is not in a good shape for the car
industry. They are looking for the Chinese (no. 1 market for energy storage devices and specially for
supercapacitors) and US Markets”
Market Growth
They see a 20-23% growth per year. Maybe even more. Mr. Utkin mentioned that there are signs
that support this, for example he said that Maxwell Technologies will open a new manufacturing
plant in Arizona which would double their current production capacity (which he said it is 2 million
cells per year in 2011). He mentioned that Nesscap (South Korean company) is building a $20
million plant near St. Petersburg with Russian money and a capacity of 3 million cells/year.
Industry profitability
Mr. Utkin mentioned that as a benchmark it can be estimated that a supercapacitor plant begins to
be profitable when reaching 1 million cells/year (large supercapacitors).
Strengths
They regard as one of their core strengths the fact that through their Pilot Plant, they can be sure
that their R&D developments will be scalable to industrial scale, in Mr. Utkin words – “ We want
everything that is developed in our lab can be manufactured without the intervention of scientific
personal. You can see many start up energy storage companies delivering samples developed in
labs. The important question is whether their technologies will be able to be produced at a
manufacturing level”. The second advantage of having this pilot plant is that they are able to
produce cell and module samples for potential customers and clients.
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As mentioned before they don’t have industrial scale manufacturing facilities of their own and
hence they are actively looking for an industrial partner. Dr. Andrew Burke from the Institute of
Transportation Studies from the University of California Davis has tested the performance of their
products. Dr. Burke has worked in the standardisation of performance tests of supercapacitors.
Technologies and Development Pathways
Yunasko develops both supercapacitors (they call them carbon/carbon ultracapacitors) and they
have a new development, a supercabattery (they call them hybrid ultracapacitor).
They develop supercapacitors in compact prismatic design, they say is suitable for automotive.
Below are the results shared by Mr. Utkin, these were just received by them at the beginning of
September 2012.
Device C,
F
ESR,
m
RC,
sec
Energy,
Wh/kg
Power
(95% eff),
kW/kg
Match.Imped.
Power,
kW/kg
Yunasko SP-4a,b 1200 .11 .13 4.6 9.7 85.9
Yunasko SP-4a,b 1500 .10 .13 4.6 9.2 81.9
Yunasko SP-5c 1200 .08 .10 4.3 11.0 95.3
Yunasko-hybrid a,c 6000 1.0 6.0 36 4.5 ~40
a) ITS test results;
b) JME test results;
c) YUNASKO most recent test results
Source: Yunasko
Mr. Utkin mentioned that their supercabattery is ahead in terms of energy and power density in
relation to competition, but there is still work ahead.
On their website they have published test results from the Institute of Transport Studies from
University of California Davis (Dr. Andrew Burke).
Development Objectives
Energy Density
a) Supercapacitors Carbon – Carbon Devices
They have right now 6 Wh/l, next year 2013 they will accomplish 6.5 Wh/l,
They say that their competitors are power not energy devices.
He mentioned that by 2020 the industry could increase up to 7 Wh/l, not more, because of physical
limit.
b) Hybrid Ultrapacapitors - 30- 35 even 40 Wh/L
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Power Density
a) Supercapacitors - What they have now is 13 kW/L (95% efficiency) – 10 kW/kg
For automotive applications they tend to use more energy volumetric density.
They have a goal to reach by 2020, the energy density of 20 KW/L.
They mentioned that you could double the power easily by reducing the life time of the
supercapacitors (number of cycles). However they aim to increase power while keeping a number
of cycles close to 1 million and not to sacrifice the life of the device.
Cost
Manufacturing scale device – 13 usd/kW, and they want to achieve in the next 2 years 10 usd/kW,
and 2020 – 6.5 usd/kW.
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9.2. User interviews and inputs
9.2.1. Bombardier Canada
IDTechEx interviewed Lutz Ziegler, Business Development, Propulsion & Controls, Locomotives,
Light Rail Vehicles & Equipment, Bombardier at the IAA bus and truck exhibition in Hannover
Germany in September 2012. He pointed out that they do not make hybrid buses because they feel
that for city use, even large buses are viable in pure electric form (we heard the same view from
Bernd Maierhofer, Member of the Executive Board R&D (CTO) when he lectured at the co-located
Electric Vehicle Congress). Lutz said that they see no need for supercapacitors in their buses
because they have a lithium-ion battery that is extremely tolerant of fast charging. The most they
may want for the future is possibly a range extender for some models.
9.2.2. Hydrogenics Corporation USA
"In fuel cell vehicles, ultracapacitors have demonstrated a higher recovery of energy from braking
than batteries, are considerably lighter, have a longer economic life, and they are more
environmentally friendly in their manufacture and disposal," said Pierre Rivard, president and CEO
of Hydrogenics of Mississauga, Ontario, a clean power generation company in a press interview.
Looking beyond applications in cars, he continued, "When paired with fuel cells in stop-and-go
mobility applications, such as forklifts, ultracapacitors provide burst power for lifting and
acceleration and enable regenerative braking; in backup power applications [ranging from
hospitals to office buildings, factories, and homes], they provide instantly available short-term
bridge power. In many applications they buffer power demand peaks, allowing our scalable fuel cell
systems to be optimized for size and low cost."
9.2.3. Honda Japan
Honda Motor Company is using ultracapacitors in its FCX hybrid fuel cell vehicle, a few test models
of which are already on the road in California. According to a spokesman for Honda, "Utilizing
ultracapacitors, we have gained an edge in energy efficiency and throttle responsiveness over
competitors that are pursuing the hybrid battery/fuel cell model."
Honda had a program making its own supercapacitors but we have not been able to clarify whether
this has now been shut. Certainly things have gone quiet on this front.
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10. Developer, materials
supplier and academic
inputs
10.1. Daikin Industries Japan
At AABC in Florida in 2012, Diakin Industries explained how fluorination of electrolytes is increasing
the energy density of supercapacitors by increasing the cell voltage, this also increasing reliability
because high voltage stacks will have fewer connections. 3V was cited.
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Fig. 10.1 Daikin Industries display on fluorination of supercapacitor electrolytes
Source IDTechEx
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10.2. Hutchinson (TOTAL) France
Acetonitrile is used as electrolyte in some EV batteries and most EV supercapacitors. It is a very
nasty substance, being volatile, flammable, carcinogenic and, according to recent research causes
birth defects. At eCarTec lecturer Dr Philippe Sonntag Director E-Green Hutchison SA in France, a
company of TOTAL, revealed more.
He ran through calculations, using data from supercapacitor manufacturer Ioxus, that showed that
a large supercapacitor leaking in the air volume of a typical garage, can kill. He confirmed what we
had been told by Japanese suppliers Nichicon and Nippon ChemiCon that the Japanese are
voluntarily making only "safe" aqueous supercapacitors.
His company is about to do the same, making it, on our count, the 79th supercapacitor
manufacturer in the world. Afterwards he told us that he will concentrate on the flat rectangular
"prismatic" construction, prioritising automotive applications.
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Fig. 10.2 Extracts from Hutchinson presentation at eCarTec Munich October 2012
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Source IDTechEx
10.3. IFEVS Italy
Prof Dr Pietro Perlo, IFEVS and formerly Director of Fiat Research, tells us,
“On February 2012, the commercial state of the art battery cells was at 280Wh/kg (Panasonic used
by Tesla). The theoretical limit of several Li-ion chemistries are well above 1000Wh/kg explaining
why the Japanese and Korean are not pursing Li-iron phosphate whose limit is just above
250Wh/kg thus having little hope to compete in few years, even if they are simpler and sufficient to
cover large scale applications such as e-bikes. Metal air batteries have theoretical limits at several
thousand Wh/kg (see Polylithium).
Commercial Supercaps today are still at 5Wh/kg.. Graphene and CNT are only at research level.
large scale productions are still far away. All commercial solutions with larger than 5Wh/kg energy
density have very reduced cycles. That is, they lose the properties of typical supercaps.
Supercaps have their own application world. For start and stop in ICEs micro hybrids and to open
doors in buses supercaps are ideal. When you distinguish in between high energy batteries and
high power batteries and when you combine the two technologies you avoid the complexity of
supercaps in EVs, full hybrids and plug in hybrids (the real large volumes). Supercaps have a
difficult to manage behaviour. Maxwell has proposed the combination of batteries and supercaps
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for the last 6 - 7 years but the use of high power batteries combined with high energy batteries of
the same chemistry is much simpler while satisfying the needs.”
10.4. Northeastern University USA
Cell phones as thin and flexible as a sheet of paper. Energy-storing house paint. Roll-up touch
screen displays. These are the sorts of devices that the engineering industry is preparing for and
expecting. But if any of them is to work, said Northeastern University mechanical and industrial
engineering professor Yung Joon Jung, experts also need to create a thin and flexible energy-
storage system. His lab has developed such a system.
In a recently published article in the journal Scientific Reports, Jung and colleagues from
Northeastern and Rice University presented their design of a flexible and transparent
supercapacitor, a device that stores energy as an electrical field instead of a chemical reaction, as
batteries do. As such, it is a prime energy-storage candidate for the thin, flexible devices of the
future.
The technology is based on a nanomaterial developed in Jung's lab two years ago, which they call a
nanocup. One of the perceived advantages of nanotubes, Jung explained, is the potential to fill them
with other materials, such as electrolyte in the case of a supercapacitor. The inner capacity of
nanotubes has turned out to be too small to achieve this capability, "but if you have a cup," Jung
said, pointing to his own coffee mug, "you can put anything in it you want."
The first step to making a nanocup is etching nanoscopic divots into an aluminum film through oxi-
dation. By tweaking the voltage and time of this process, researchers can tailor the size of the cups.
The second step is to layer carbon atoms onto the aluminum mold using standard carbon nanotube
technology.
Hyunyoung Jung, the first author on the paper and a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Jung's
lab, has a background in polymer chemistry. He emphasized that the new supercapacitor's novelty
derives from the large surface area and the open textured surface of the nanocups. This mor-
phology allows them to come into greater contact with the electrolyte, which drives the formation
of an electrical field and thus the energy storage functionality.
The supercapacitor, which has not yet been optimized, is able to store energy and provide power at
levels comparable to other devices. The difference, however, is its ability to be incorporated into
thin film devices. "If we give up transparency and mechanical flexibility," Jung said, "we can easily
go to that level of commercially available devices. But my goal is not to lose these two qualities and
simul-taneously develop high-performance energy devices."
The research team has already used a flexible and transparent prototype to power a light. The
group plans to make continued improvements in power generation and energy storage.
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10.5. NYSERDA grants reveal trends of
research
October 15, 2012
NYSERDA Awards $2 Million to Eight NY-BEST Members to Develop Advanced Energy Storage
Technologies
Goal is to Develop Working Prototypes for New Forms of Batteries, Ultracapacitors, Fuel Cells and
Related Components
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has awarded
$250,000 to each of eight companies and research centers to develop working prototypes for a wide
range of energy-storage technologies. The recipients are all members of the NY Battery and
Energy Storage Technology (NY-BEST) Consortium.
The companies and research centers – located in Albany, Ithaca, New York City, Oneonta,
Schenectady, Troy and Williamsville – will each receive $250,000 provided by NYSERDA, to turn
energy storage technologies with proven technical feasibility into working prototypes. A working
prototype is an essential step along the product commercialization path and increases a company’s
opportunity to attract additional investment.
“Energy innovation plays an important role in driving economic growth and helps advanced
manufacturers remain competitive. These eight recipients will leverage additional private
investment for energy storage solutions developed in New York State,” said Francis J. Murray Jr.,
President and CEO, NYSERDA. “The State’s investment, under Governor Cuomo, in these
companies and research centers will reap rewards for New Yorkers not only today but for the next
generation to come.”
Under the terms of these awards, each recipient must match NYSERDA’s funding, leveraging
NYSERDA’s $2 million with a total of $2.5 million in additional private investment.
This is the first of three rounds of funding to help members of NY-BEST move promising
technologies toward commercialization. NY-BEST is an industry-focused coalition working to
establish New York as a global leader in energy storage technology for heavy-duty transportation,
electric grid and other storage applications.
“NY-BEST is delighted that NYSERDA is awarding $2 million to companies right here in New York
State that are on the cutting edge of developing new innovative energy storage technologies.
Energy storage technology is poised to revolutionize the way energy is used throughout the world
and these companies are playing an important part in that transformation. NYSERDA and Governor
Cuomo have continued to demonstrate their commitment to this rapidly evolving industry and,
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through their efforts, are helping to attract and grow the energy storage industry in New York
State,” said Dr. William Acker, Executive Director of NY-BEST.
The companies and research centers receiving funding include:
Custom Electronics Inc. (Oneonta), which seeks to develop an energy-storage device known as a
graphene electrolytic capacitor to provide extra energy to ride through power sags, swells, or
momentary electric interruptions.
E2TAC (Albany), which seeks to enhance lithium-ion capacitors for improved short-term energy
storage for applications ranging from hybrid vehicles to power electronics. E2TAC (Energy and
Environmental Technology Applications Center) is located at the College of Nanoscale Science and
Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany.
GE Energy Storage (Schenectady), which seeks to work with Raymond Corp. of Greene to develop
an electric forklift for use in freezer warehouses using GE’s Durathon batteries. These could
replace conventional lead-acid batteries, which work poorly in cold temperatures.
Graphene Devices Ltd. (Williamsville/Rochester), which seeks to develop graphene-based high
energy ultracapacitors with three times the energy density of current commercial devices at the
same cost. Applications include smart grid devices and the use of energy storage for hybrid
vehicles.
Ioxus Inc. (Oneonta), which will continue development of its advanced ultracapacitors.
Ultracapacitors can assist with numerous applications including transportation by storing energy
generated by braking and discharging that energy back to assist with acceleration and in wind
turbine pitch control.
Paper Battery Co. (Troy), which seeks to develop a production prototype of its thin and flexible
ultracapacitor to provide temporary backup power in computing applications.
Primet Precision Materials Inc. (Ithaca), which seeks to lower the manufacturing cost of key raw
materials for lithium-ion batteries. These could allow more integration of lower-cost energy
storage into the electric grid which could bring lower-cost, reliable electricity to ratepayers.
Urban Electric Power Inc. (New York City), which is seeking to store a megawatt-hour worth of
power in a “flow-assisted” zinc battery that uses an advanced battery management system -
enough to power 40 homes for a day. The stored energy would be used to reduce peak power
demand in the city. The project is being developed in conjunction with the CUNY Energy Institute.
For more information on NY-BEST, visit http://ny-best.org/
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About NYSERDA
NYSERDA, a public benefit corporation, offers objective information and analysis, innovative
programs, technical expertise, and funding to help New Yorkers increase energy efficiency, save
money, use renewable energy, and reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. NYSERDA professionals
work to protect our environment and create clean-energy jobs. NYSERDA has been developing
partnerships to advance innovative energy solutions in New York since 1975.
10.6. Tecate Group USA
Tecate Group of San Diego markets supercapacitors. National Sales Manager Joe Rana has worked
for manufacturer Maxwell Technologies. In Washington November 2012, at the IDTechEx event
Supercapacitors USA, he told us that he believes that acetonitrile-based supercapacitors will never
reach 3.0 volts without unacceptably short life. He does not believe that the toxicity of acetonitrile
and its combustion gases such as HCN are a problem for small supercapacitors. He has not
encountered any markets where better power density is required over that typically exhibited by
supercapacitors today. He observed that the boycott of acetonitrile in Japan is not complete
between manufacturers because Murata uses it in the process it licenses from Cap-XX.
10.7. Yuri Gogotski
Researcher Yury Gogotsi Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University in
Philadelphia posits that the supercapacitor has the potential to become a big player in the global
search for reliable green energy. This is particularly true for transportation, based on experience
with the use of supercapacitors in Germany.
MRS Bulletin reports,”Supercapacitors are allowing trams in Mannheim, Germany, to use 30% less
energy than their equivalents in other cities. In a recent 24-hour speed race at Le Mans, Toyota put
their faith in a hybrid TS030 car that used "supercaps" for energy-capture during braking. In China,
supercapacitor technology has been embraced so fervently over just the past four years that tens of
thousands of supercap buses are now on the roads.
So what are supercapacitors and just what do they bring to the power party? Gogotsi explains
supercapacitors as power-storage devices that can supply onboard electrical power in hybrid
vehicles. Whereas batteries store energy in chemical form—in substances that can react to release
electrical energy—capacitors store it by simply piling up electrical charge on two electrodes. The
larger the electrodes and the closer they are, the more energy can be stored.
Unlike batteries, supercapacitors can be charged and discharged in seconds and can withstand
many hundreds of thousands of such charging cycles. This is ideal for energy-saving applications
that capitalize on transient opportunities for recharging, such as energy capture during braking,
and other actions that require power to be delivered in short bursts. They can help with
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acceleration, restart engines that cut out, drive air conditioning, and power automatic windows and
passenger doors. In some aircraft, they are entrusted with powering emergency actuation systems
for doors and evacuation slides.”
Supercapacitor technology is now deployed on Spanish and French trains and hybrid buses all over
the world, on construction equipment such as cranes, and on garbage-collection trucks in the US.
On buses, it can reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by around 30%. The Munich-based heavy-vehicle
manufacturer MAN estimates that their supercapacitor-fitted coaches each save around $4,500 a
year on fuel costs.
The take-up of the technology looks set to expand, as both energy-saving and low-emission
technologies become more necessary and as the technical capabilities of supercapacitors improve.
"There is no single perfect energy-storage solution, no 'one size fits all," said Gogotsi. "A 'battery of
the future' may well be a battery-supercapacitor hybrid which combines the long lifetime, fast
charging, and high power of a supercapacitor with the high energy density of a battery."
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Appendix 1
IDTechEx publications and consultancy
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Appendix 1: IDTechEx
publications and
consultancy Electronic Materials & Devices Reports
Electroactive Polymers and Devices 2013-2018: Forecasts, Technologies, Players
Electroactive Polymers (EAP) can change size or shape when stimulated by an electric field. This
marvellous property can be used in various applications, including actuators & sensors, energy
harvesting, and medical devices. IDTechEx predicts a market volume of $2.5bn by 2018, driven mainly
by the need for smart haptics solutions in touchscreen consumer electronics.
Supercapacitor / Ultracapacitor Strategies and Emerging Applications 2013-2025
By popular request we look closely at supercapacitor applications and technology today and in future
and company strategy in matching the two as they rapidly evolve. We address when new applications
will be identified plus when currently-impracticable applications will become viable. This new report
presents extensive new interviews and searches to reveal the trends and lessons. There is a strong
emphasis on new analysis and roadmaps to 2025 and the direction of 80 manufacturers and potential
manufacturers.
Batteries & Supercapacitors in Consumer Electronics 2013-2023: Forecasts, Opportunities, Innovation
The energy storage market for smart portable devices such as laptops, smartphones, tablet PCs, digital
cameras, wireless sensor networks and RFID, will be valued at $86 billion by 2023. Whilst new battery
technologies promise to satisfy the demands of the changing electronics industry, supercapacitors and
thin film batteries are challenging the current standard battery dominance. This report will guide you
through one of the fastest growing markets in the next 10 years.
Metal Oxide TFT Backplanes for Displays 2013-2018: Analysis, Trends, Forecasts
A range of major drivers are pushing the display industry forward and changing its landscape. These
drivers include product differentiation, size, scale, portability, flexibility, power saving, 3D, transparency,
rimless designs, etc. These trends and drivers are fast changing the needs that backplane technologies
must satisfy. This report examines how emerging metal oxide thin film transistors fit in this emerging
landscape and what their market potential will be.
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New Opportunities for Gold: Conductive Inks for the Electronics Industry 2013-2019
Gold is a precious metal that is used in the electronics industry due to its stability characteristics. In
this report we look at the opportunity for gold-based inks in the printed electronics space, assessing its
potential penetration in applications varying from thin film transistors to emerging photovoltaics, photo-
detectors and other types of sensors.
Most-Needed Chemicals for New Disruptive Electronics and Electrics: De-risk your investment
We identify 37 families of new and rapidly-evolving electronic and electric device, spanning nano to very
large devices. Most chemical and material companies wish to de-risk their investment by finding
common formulations across this new business that has a potential of over $50 billion for them. Indeed,
the biggest markets for new and reinvented electrical and electronic devices may get commoditised
first or collapse suddenly, leaving the materials suppliers high and dry. Read this report to avoid such a
fate.
Analysis of 138 Lithium-based Rechargeable Battery Manufacturers: Chemistry, Strategy, Success
This report concerns lithium-based rechargeable batteries and their alternatives. All serious analysts
predict these will be responsible for the majority of expenditure on rechargeable batteries over the
coming decade. It is therefore important for those making, designing in and using such batteries to
understand the variations emerging and their potential for success or failure. This report clarifies the
situation, revealing the product chemistry, strategy and electric vehicle success of manufacturers and
intending manufacturers.
Graphene Opportunities 2013-2018: Technology, Markets, Players
Graphene, the 'wonder' material, is a hot topic. It promises to offer excellent properties in many
applications, including RFID, smart packaging, supercapacitors and sensors. The reality however is
different and this report diligently separates hype from fact. It analysis different graphene types and
manufacturing techniques. It assesses graphene's value proposition per target market and compares it
with incumbent/rival materials. It provides detailed market forecast and interviews/profiles of key
players.
Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC/DSC) 2013-2023: Technologies, Markets, Players
Although initial products are aimed towards indoor and portable applications, starting out with chargers
and solar bags with wireless solar keyboards demonstrated more recently, the end game for DSSCs is
the ability to have these largely inexpensive solar cells incorporated into much bigger installations. This
report highlights the main growth markets for DSSCs; adoption trends and barriers to
commercialization in the next decade are comprehensively discussed.
Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting 2013-2023: Forecasts, Technologies, Players
Piezoelectric energy harvesters generate electricity depending on the amount of force used in
compressing or deforming the material, the amount and type of deformation of the material's crystal
structure and the speed or frequency of compressions or vibrations to the material. There are more
than 200 appropriate materials which need careful selection for the particular application..
Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors: Supercapacitors 2013-2023
This is the only report on supercapacitors and supercabatteries with up to date ten year forecasts and
analysis of market, emerging applications, technology, patent and profit trends and the manufacturers
and researchers involved.
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Stretchable Electronics Comes to Market
Stretchable electronics concerns electrical and electronic circuits and combinations of these that are
elastically or inelastically stretchable by more than a few percent while retaining function. For that, they
tend to be laminar and usually thin. No definitions of electronics and electrical sectors are fully
watertight but it is convenient to consider stretchable electronics as a part of printed electronics, a
term taken to include printed and potentially printed (eg thin film) electronics and electrics. This is
because the cost, space and weight reduction sought in most cases is best achieved by printing and
printing-like technologies.
Touch Screen Modules: Technologies, Markets, Forecasts 2012-2022
The touch screen market is expected to triple in the next decade. Along with the current market leader,
projected capacitive touch, industry has a dozen other ways of building a touch screen, but not all of
them are suitable for the rapidly growing consumer electronics market that needs high performance
and high clarity. Every one of the roughly 15 different touch technologies has its own strengths and
weaknesses and is therefore used in very different applications. Hence, there will not be only one
technology in the next decade, but a few that clearly lead the market.
Conductive Ink Markets 2012-2018: Forecasts, Technologies, Players
Conductive inks are a simple and unglamorous layer but they will constitute a hefty $2.86 billion market
in 2012. This market is forecasted to rise to $3.36 billion in 2018, with $735 million captured by new
silver and copper nanostructure inks..
Printed and Flexible Sensors 2012-2022: Forecasts, Players, Opportunities
Printed and flexible sensors offer distinct advantages and potential advantages over non-printed
sensors, such as being lower cost to the point of being disposable, thin, lower and conformal profiled,
flexible, large area, and the exciting possibility of creating devices on a variety of substrates each
shaped and individually tailored to operate uniquely. They are making complex healthcare examinations
faster and cheaper, adding intelligence to packaging, toys, industrial processes and much more. In the
main, they will create new markets, where conventional sensors cannot..
Printed Electronics Reports
Printed, Organic & Flexible Electronics Forecasts, Players & Opportunities 2013-2023
This report provides the most comprehensive view of the topic, giving detailed ten year forecasts by
device type. The market is analyzed by territory, printed vs non-printed, rigid vs flexible, inorganic vs
organic, cost of materials vs process cost and much more, with over 200 tables and figures. Activities
of over 1000 leading companies are given.
Organic Photovoltaics (OPV) 2013-2023: Technologies, Markets, Players
In this report, we develop technology roadmaps or guidelines, which forecast improvements in module
efficiency, lifetime and costs over the next decade. They provide a practical insight into how the
technology is likely to evolve. We also assess the merits of OPV technologies for a diverse range of
market segments, including automotive, advertising posters, apparel, customer electronics, off-grid
applications, power generation, and building integrated photovoltaics..
Printed and Thin Film Transistors (TFT) and Memory 2012-2022: Forecasts, Technologies, Players
Printed electronics will be a $300 billion market within 20 years. The largest segment will be printed
transistors and memory. They will drive lighting, displays, signage, electronic products, medical
disposables, smart packaging, smart labels and much more besides. The chemical, plastics, printing,
electronics and other industries are cooperating to make it happen. Already, over 100 organisations
are developing printed transistors and memory, with first products being sold in 2007.
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OLED vs LED Lighting 2013-2018
The lighting market is a large and yet fragmented space. The fragmentation is driven by technology
and customer need diversity. LEDs were the first SSL technology to appear. They first had success as
LCD backlights, but have since diffused into multiple other segments, including automotive. OLED
lighting in now emerging but faces many challenges, particularly since it shares many target markets
with LEDs. This report analyses issues such as product differentiation, cost reduction, technological
improvement pathways, etc
Transparent Conductive Films (TCF) 2012-2022: Forecasts, Technologies, Players
This report focuses on the requirements and achievements to date on the topic of flexible transparent
conductors, where high transparency and high conductivity are required. Worldwide research and
design efforts are presented, both from research institutes and companies that are developing the
necessary materials and processes. Several technical solutions available are compared, and forecasts
are given for the next 10 years.
Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) for Electronics & Electrics 2013-2023: Forecasts, Applications, Technologies
IDTechEx market forecasts indicate that carbon nanotube transistors and other electronics
applications may be commercially available in volume from 2016 onwards. The biggest opportunity is
in printed and potentially printed electronics, where the value of these devices that partly incorporate
these materials will reach over $63 billion in 2022.
E-Paper / Bistable Displays 2012-2022: Markets, Forecasts, Technologies
A variety of e-paper display technologies have been developed which enable completely new products
or the introduction of electronic functionality in products where it was previously unavailable. This new
report from IDTechEx assesses the full range of non-emissive, bistable display technologies, such as
electrophoretic, electrochromic, electrowetting, cholesteric LCDs and others. A detailed appraisal of
the markets are given with forecasts by application type to 2020.
Printed Electronics for Healthcare, Cosmetics and Pharmaceuticals 2012-2022
Printed electronics for healthcare and beauty encompasses stretchable, flexible, conformal and
sometimes biodegradable electronics and electrics. It is very thin and lightweight, even in hybrid
constructions that, for now, incorporate conventional integrated circuits (IC), light emitting diodes
(LED) and other chips in a partly printed device in order to perform functions not yet possible with
entirely printed surfaces.
Smart Packaging Comes To Market: Brand Enhancement with Electronics 2013-2023
This report reveals the global demand for electronic smart packaging devices is currently at a tipping
point and will grow rapidly to $1.7 billion in 2023. The electronic packaging (e-packaging) market will
remain primarily in consumer packaged goods CPG reaching 35 billion units that have electronic
functionality in 2023.
Displays and Lighting: OLED, e-paper, electroluminescent and beyond
A revolution is in the making. Electronics will never be the same as new applications are spawned.
Invisible, origami, edible electronics, low cost materials and manufacturing will lead to the use of
electronics in spaces traditionally bare of their functionality. The research and growth of new
technologies, along with new materials and processing methods, is resulting in the increasing
penetration of innovative electronics and the emergence of new products in the competitive fields of
displays and lighting. Eye-catching, animated billboards; large-area, thin, flexible displays with
amazing colour contrasts; windows that are converted into surface lighting elements at night.
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Inorganic and Composite Printed Electronics 2012-2022: Needs, Opportunities, Forecasts
The future $300 billion market for printed electronics is emerging via thin film electronics. The
contribution of organic materials to this is greatly publicised and it has attracted over one thousand
participants already. However, the best devices being developed usually rely on inorganic or combined
inorganic/organic technology that is little publicised. With over 115 tables and figures, it critically
compares the options, the trends and the emerging applications and is the first in the world to
comprehensively cover this exciting growth area. The emphasis is on technology basics,
commercialisation and the key players.
Introduction to Printed, Organic and Flexible Electronics
Your essential report on printed electronics markets, technologies and companies. Printed electronics
is a term that encompasses thin film transistor circuits (TFTCs), displays, interconnects, power,
sensors and even actuators. Thousands of companies have now entered this market. The printing
companies today will be the new electronic giants tomorrow. This report is vital reading to understand
the opportunity of the technology, players, needs and timelines, giving global coverage from the
biggest printing companies in the Far East to paper and packaging companies in Scandinavia to
applications of the technology in the Americas.
Thin Film Photovoltaics 2012-2022: Forecasts, Technologies, Analysis
This comprehensive new report gives a thorough analysis of the subject by the well-known consultant
and academic Dr Bruce Kahn and Dr Harry Zervos with backing from the IDTechEx team of technical
specialists. It covers the science and the manufacturing technology extremely thoroughly yet in an
understandable form. 57 companies are profiled and forecasts are to 2018 are given, with projects for
ten years after that to 2028.
Barrier Films for Flexible Electronics 2013-2023
This highly targeted report from IDTechEx gives an in-depth review of the issues relating to high
barrier films for flexible electronics, as well as forecasts for display, lighting and photovoltaic
technologies, in order to understand the influence that the development of barriers will have on the
mass deployment and adoption of flexible electronics and photovoltaics.
Electric Vehicle Reports
Electric Vehicles by Application
MASTER REPORT
Hybrid and Electric Vehicles for Land, Water and Air 2013-2023: Forecasts, Technologies, Players
This report is based on ten years of researching the subject, intensive desk research, visits and
interviews. There are chapters on Heavy Industrial, Light Industrial and Commercial, Mobility for the
Disabled, Two Wheelers, Golf Cars, Cars, Military, Marine and Other vehicles. That even extends to
electric mobile robots, surveillance jellyfish and other Autonomous Underwater Vehicles AUVs, bats
and electric aircraft. Detailed forecasts for these vehicle categories by numbers and value and the key
components are provided for the next ten years. The trends, technology and planned vehicles are
clarified in numerous figures and tables including the historical context. Winning and losing strategies
are evaluated. Timelines are given of events to come.
F
MASTER REPORT
Electric Vehicle Industry Profitability 2012 – Where, Why, What Next
This report spells out the "Rules of the Marketplace" and sets them against the activities of many
organisations active in the electric vehicle value chain to explain how to create success. It analyses the
finances and positioning of many suppliers of EVs and their components, covering hybrid and pure
electric vehicles for land, water and air, because they have increasing commonality in commercial
terms. For example, they share the same parts and have the same lessons of success and failure.
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Electric Motors for Electric Vehicles 2013-2023: Forecasts, Technologies, Players
Today, the motors that propel electric vehicles on land, through water and in the air are mainly
brushless. Most of the number and the value of those brushless traction motors lies in permanent
magnet synchronous ones. No matter: they both have excellent performance including simple
provision of reverse and regenerative braking. However, that dominance is about to change. The main
reason is not those well publicised but elusive in-wheel motors coming in at two to six per vehicle but
simply the move to much larger vehicles and therefore motors. Power Electronics for Electric Vehicles 2013-2023: Forecasts, Technologies, Players
This report provides a market forecast for traction inverters for electric vehicles over the next decade,
together with a supplier and technology review. With a large range of applications and rapidly
increasing market, there is significant opportunity for a large number of players. However, traction
inverter technology is rapidly evolving, aided by new materials and innovations that provide step
changes in performance necessary to meet future demands.
Electric Boats, Small Submarines and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) 2013-2023: Forecasts,
Players, Opportunities
Those making electric vehicles or their components seek to expand their business. To do this, they
need to look beyond the oversupplied on-road sector. Marine electric vehicles are interesting as a
market that is more profitable and often more open to innovation. However, until now, there has been
no report assessing this substantial market sector. No longer. In 2011, IDTechEx has just completed a
report "Marine Electric Vehicles 2012-2022". It is the world's first comprehensive report on marine
electric vehicles with latest ten year forecasts and important new projects such as submarines that
will fly.
Electric Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) 2013-2023
Thousands of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles UAVs will be deployed in the next few years for both civil and
military missions. Early adoption of new technologies from smart skin to structural components and
intelligent motors with integral gearing will be employed. Near-silent operation and virtually no noise
or gaseous emissions are both major benefits. There is now so much happening in UAVs alone that
this report has been prepared to focus on UAVs alone. No other report is as up-to-date and insightful
about this subject.
Manned Electric Aircraft 2013-2023: Trends, Projects, Forecasts
Hybrid and pure electric manned aircraft offer improved safety, lower cost of ownership and green
credentials. Consequently the number of organisations designing them and the variety of types is now
increasing rapidly. This report analyses and forecasts the whole market. It investigates how almost
every component and structure is about to change and benchmarks against relevant best practice even
when it is first occurring in land and water EVs.
Hybrid and Electric Vehicles for Military, Police & Security 2012-2022: Forecasts, Opportunities,
Players
This brand new IDTechEx report concerns electric vehicles for military, security and police duty. Even
excluding regular cars minimally modified for such use and the huge development contracts, the
IDTechEx projections show a strongly rising market that becomes around 15% of the total electric
vehicle market in 2021, primarily due to the high prices attracted by the specialist construction
involved. Although the bulk of this demand will be for military vehicles on land, the water and air borne
applications will each become businesses of well over one billion dollars yearly within the decade. The
report emphasizes the need to benchmark best practice between each of these modes and gives a
large number of examples.
Hybrid and Electric Buses and Taxis 2012-2022: Forecasts, Opportunities, Players
The electrification of commercial on-road transport is now being progressed strongly by both paybacks
and mandates of local and national governments across the world. Even where paybacks are
underwhelming, the green agendas of the participants is driving things forward but there are
impediments too, including up-front cost and the poor range and reliability of some versions and the
practicality and cost of infrastructure. This report gives numbers and value for hybrid and for pure
electric buses and taxis, market drivers and overall transport statistics to put this in context. The most
active countries are identified and projections specifically for China are given. Large numbers of
suppliers are identifies and some interesting ones are profiled. Drive trains and batteries are
examined.
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Light Electric Vehicles 2012-2022: Forecasts, Players, Opportunities
Written by the world's leading expert on LEVs, with the longest track record, this LEV report looks
closely at global trends in their technology, manufacture and market drivers such as legislation.
IDTechEx has added forecasts and other material. This 206 page report encompasses over 70 brands,
gives forecasts of sales numbers, unit prices and total market value for 2012-2022. 13 market drivers
are balanced against many negative factors that are discussed in the report, which has 69 figures and
tables and detail on standards and legislation.
Industrial and Commercial Hybrid and Electric Vehicles 2012-2022: Forecasts, Opportunities, Players
This report covers the technical and market trends for industrial and commercial vehicles whether
hybrid or pure electric, putting it in the context of electric vehicles overall and including the activities of
a host of manufacturers of the vehicles and their components and even providing future technological
development roadmaps.
Hybrid And Pure Electric Cars 2012-2022
Electric vehicles just became exciting. For 111 years, electric cars that rely only on a battery - "pure
EVs" - have had a range of only 30-50 miles and the humble golf car has been the only type selling in
hundreds of thousands every year. However, huge changes have been announced in recent years.
Electric vehicles will penetrate the market rapidly to constitute 35% of the cars made in 2025 - 25%
hybrids, 10% pure EV. Any motor manufacturer without a compelling line up of electric vehicles is
signing its death warrant.
Electric Vehicle Technologies
Inverters for Electric Vehicles 2013-2023
This report provides a market forecast for traction inverters for electric vehicles over the next decade,
together with a supplier and technology review. With a large range of applications and rapidly increasing
market, there is significant opportunity for a large number of players. However, traction inverter
technology is rapidly evolving, aided by new materials and innovations that provide step changes in
performance necessary to meet future demands.
Range Extenders for Electric Vehicles Land, Water & Air 2012-2022
About eight million hybrid cars will be made in 2021, each with a range extender, the additional power
source that distinguishes them from pure electric cars. Add to that significant money spent on the same
devices in buses, military vehicles, boats and so on and a major new market emerges. This unique
report is about range extenders for all these purposes - their evolving technology and market size.
Traction Batteries for Electric Vehicles Land, Water & Air 2012-2022
This comprehensive report has detailed assessments and forecasts for all the sectors using and likely to
use traction batteries. There are chapters on heavy industrial, light industrial/commercial, mobility for
the disabled, two wheel and allied, pure electric cars, hybrid cars, golf cars, military, marine and other.
The profusion of pictures, diagrams and tables pulls the subject together to give an independent view of
the future ten years. Unit sales, unit prices and total market value are forecast for each sector for 2012-
2022. The replacement market is quantified and ten year technology trends by sector are in there too,
with a view on winning and losing technologies and companies.
Hybrid and Electric Car Traction Batteries - The New Gold Rush 2012-2022
This report is intended for industrialists, investors, market researchers, legislators and others
interested in the large new market now being created for batteries that propel hybrid and pure electric
cars along the road. It will also inform those studying associated technology and industrial and
government initiatives and legislation. The report is suitable for the non technical reader, with
introductory appendices and glossary for those new to the subject. However, there are many comparison
graphs, tables and sections concerning technical aspects, so those with appropriate technical training
will find much to interest them as well.
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Advanced Energy Storage Technologies: Patent Trends and Company Positioning
IDTechEx and PatAnalyse have collaborated to produce the world's first computer analysis of the
previously impenetrable patent thicket surrounding Advanced Energy Storage. A particular focus is
electric vehicle technology such as traction batteries in general, lithium-ion traction batteries,
supercapacitors/ ultracapacitors, battery management systems and charging. However, there is
thorough coverage of lithium batteries and supercapacitors in general for those more widely interested
in these topics. The results are startling. Our measurements reveal that one giant landing the biggest
orders rarely has its huge portfolio of patents cited, a warning on IP quality.
Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure 2012-2022: Forecasts, Technologies, Players
This report covers the full picture of how electric vehicles by land, water and air will be externally
charged. They are hugely increasing in number - we give the forecasts by type - and most will have a
plug in feature to save money and the planet. Charger market value will increase more than fivefold over
the decade but car charging grows much faster and other vehicle charging peaks, for reasons we
explain. In this new report with its comprehensive scope, we examine slow, fast and fastest charging
stations, including contactless charging and battery swapping with blunt appraisals.
Energy Harvesting/Regeneration for Electric Vehicles Land, Water & Air 2012-2022: Technologies,
Players, Forecasts
This report gives a wealth of examples of energy harvesting in action on electric vehicles by land, water
and air. It summarises trends in diagrams, tables and text to make it easy to compare essential
information. Forecasts for adoption in 2011 and 2021 are backed by ten year forecasts for electric vehicle
sales by type, 2012-2022 by category - number, unit value and market value. A critical explanation of all
the technologies is given with the good and bad aspects and assessment of likely future progress. The
work of a large number of suppliers and adopters is assessed.
Electric Vehicle Geographical
Hybrid and Electric Vehicles in East Asia 2012-2022: Forecasts, Players, Opportunities
56% of the value of sales of electric vehicles is and will remain in East Asia and cars only account for
about half of the value of the electric vehicle business worldwide. It is therefore important to look at the
big picture and, in particular, the latest ten year forecasts for EV activity in East Asia. Uniquely this
report provides that information. Entirely researched in 2010 and regularly updated, the report draws
many valuable conclusions
Energy Harvesting and Energy Storage Reports
Energy Harvesting and Storage for Electronic Devices 2012-2022: Forecasts, Technologies, Players
Energy harvesting is otherwise known as power harvesting or energy scavenging. It is the use of
ambient energy to power small electronic or electrical devices. That means solar cells on satellites,
heat powered sensors buried in engines, vibration harvesting for helicopter electronics and the wind- up
radio or lantern. However, there are also several more esoteric options.
Analysis of Energy Harvesting
Energy harvesting is the use of ambient energy to provide electricity for small and or mobile equipment,
whether electrical or electronic. It is concerned with providing relatively maintenance free, long life
equipment, reducing the need for batteries. As is typical in relatively new technologies, there is much
hype about energy harvesting and it is tough to find which countries, technologies and suppliers see
success and why. This report answers those questions using hard facts.
Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting 2012-2022: Devices, Applications, Opportunities
This report gives an overview of devices, materials and manufacturing processes, with a specific focus
on emerging technologies that allow for new functionality, form factor and application in various
demanding environments. Whether it is operation in high temperatures or corrosive environments,
applications with increased safety demands or components that need to be thin, flexible, or even
stretchable, there is a lot of research and development work worldwide which is highlighted.
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RFID and Smart Label Reports
RFID Forecasts, Players and Opportunities 2012-2022
This report is the summation of extensive research over twelve years including interviews with RFID
adopters and solution providers in the various applicational RFID markets, giving an unprecedented
level of insight into the total RFID industry and what is really happening. Purchasers receive an
electronic PDF and (optional) printed copy of this report, a separate functional spreadsheet of the
forecasts, and access to report updates throughout the year. Ten year forecasts are given split in many
ways, with more than 190 tables and figures.
Active RFID and Sensor Networks 2012-2022
Active RFID is little reported but its use is growing rapidly. Already several applications have been above
$100 million and there is more to come. Learn how to use it and how to sell it. Ten year forecasts from
2012-2022 show how Active RFID will develop in the years ahead.
Printed and Chipless RFID Forecasts, Technologies & Players 2012-2022
This report analyzes the prospects of the end game of RFID - ultra low cost tags that do not include a
silicon chip. We assess the technologies that are available and emerging, players, challenges, the
opportunity and give ten year forecasts.
RFID Progress, Opportunities and Forecasts in Russia, CIS and Baltic States 2012-2022
This report analyses RFID supply and use in Russia and 15 surrounding countries. These countries have
total population comparable to that of Russia but little more than one third of Russia's Gross Domestic
product GDP in total and RFID use and potential in total. They are the Baltic States, CIS and, because of
its RFID potential, Bulgaria ie Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) 2012-2022: Forecasts, Technologies, Players
Wireless Sensor Networks WSN - self organising, self healing networks of small "nodes" - have huge
potential across industrial, military and other many other sectors. While appreciable sales have now
been established, major progress depends on standards and achieving twenty year life.
NFC-Enabled Phones and Contactless Smart Cards 2010-2020
This report compares and contrasts Near Field Communication (NFC), and particularly RFID enabled
mobile phones, with contactless smart cards and tickets. The emphasis is on how they are forms of
RFID with advantages and disadvantages and different development paths. We come to the surprising
conclusion that there will continue to be rapid growth in sales of all three alternatives for at least ten
years. This follows 800 million Chinese acquiring contactless national ID cards in four years and over 70
million Japanese adopting RFID enabled, NFC compatible phones in three years. These were two of the
fastest rollouts of electronic products in human history.
Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS) 2012-2022: Forecasts, Players, Opportunities
This unique report covers the technology and market for what will be a multi-billion dollar market by
2013. It includes active RFID devices based on WiFi, etc, and over 60 case studies. There are also
detailed forecasts.
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RFID Profit, Fund Raising and Acquisition Strategy
There is a great need for profit optimization and careful product positioning and repositioning in the
frenetic but unforgiving RFID market that is increasing ten times to become a $26 billion business in
2016. RFID is entering most sectors of corporate, public and private life so understanding how to create
enduring profit from such a choice of designs and applications, software, hardware and services, calls
for great care and modern management tools.
Application Specific Reports
Apparel RFID 2012-2022
Apparel RFID is the first big retail RFID success. This report is unique in analysing the use of RFID in
the apparel value chain from tagging cloth in manufacture to retail fashion and rented apparel. 138
users and suppliers are profiled. From Chile to Canada and Sweden to Taiwan, there is something to
learn from all of them, not just from the unusually broad approach in Germany, Italy, China, Japan and
the USA. This industry is on the move in a manner unmatched almost anywhere else in the RFID
market.
RFID for Animals, Food and Farming 2011-2021: Forecasts, Technologies, Players
This report concerns RFID in the food supply chain, from arable farming and livestock to presentation
in the retail store. We even cover some benefits if the RFID tag stays on the food to the private home.
Because the tagging of pets and use of RFID on animals and in conservation are closely allied topics,
we cover these as well. Consumers also demand more information, as do the police and customs.
This report analyses the use of RFID and allied technologies, with a profusion of case studies from
across the world.
IDTechEx Subscription Services
RFID Case Studies Knowledgebase – the largest in the world
Over 4,200 case studies, over 4,800 organisations, 109 countries and growing rapidly. The variety of
case studies in this Knowledgebase is a salutary reminder that, although the supply chain is seen as
ultimately the biggest application for RFID, the less hyped applications such as Libraries & Archiving,
Passenger & Personal Transportation, and Healthcare, are moving ahead extremely rapidly. This is a
searchable electronic database, with many links and slide presentations, by far the largest available.
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Introduction to IDTechEx Consultancy
IDTechEx provides independent consulting, research and analysis services on printed/organic
electronics, RFID, smart labels and smart packaging. We uniquely offer global insight into these
topics and provide both technical and commercial advice from experienced industry experts. We
help companies throughout the value chain from inventors and venture capitalists to value added
suppliers, system integrators, major users and facilities managers.
Our services include:
Evaluating and assessing the market potential and position of new products
Market analysis by application type
Technology forecasting and benchmarking
Company benchmarking, profiling and SWOT analysis
Needs by industry and new opportunities
Company training and brainstorming masterclasses
Business due diligence for acquisitions and investments
Assistance with fundraising
Our technical graduates are particularly well informed about the technologies and appropriate
enabling technologies and unusually rapid in response to customer's requirements and work hard
to "see the future". IDTechEx sponsor relevant academic and not-for-profit organisations to
support the industry and this also enables us to provide our clients with the latest knowledge which
they may not have access to. For example, we are sponsors of EPCglobal, SAL-C (Smart Active
Labels Consortium), Ubiquitous Computing (Japan) and active members of EuroTag. IDTechEx is
also a member of AIM, IEE and the Institute of Packaging. This support does not, however, conflict
with our strict independence.
Our publications, conferences and consultancy services are global in reach. Our staff includes
native foreign speakers for example and we regularly visit companies and conferences across the
whole world and our conferences are in the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia. We have provided
consultancy services in Europe, the USA, Japan and Korea.
Our clients include:
Hewlett-Packard, USA
Schiphol International Airport (Amsterdam)
Whirlpool Europe, Italy
ADT Security Services, Inc. / Tyco Fire & Security
Shell Limited
Manchester Airport, UK
PolyTechnos, Germany
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Plastic Logic, UK
Guinness UDV, UK
Cazenove Private Equity, UK
Power Paper, Israel
Magnadata, UK
Amadeus Capital Partners, UK
Rexam, USA Esprit, UK
Our confidential clients include:
Several of the world's largest chemical companies, USA
A global leader in EAS and smart labels, USA
Three of the world's largest companies in packaging and printing, USA/Europe
Several of the most famous Japanese electronics companies
IDTechEx Services
We have a high level of technical skill, with most staff being at degree standard, many PhDs, and
several being globally acknowledged experts in their field. However, we do not design products or
systems or sell them on your behalf. We assess them, conceive new product ideas, conduct market
research, help with business plans, offer tutorials, help raise funding, find licensees for inventions,
advise on sales strategy, investments, acquisitions, profit improvement and so on. We update our
publications very frequently. For example, our web journal Smart Labels Analyst is monthly and,
where our reports cover fast-moving topics, we update them every three months.
Recent work includes:
Assessing and forecasting organic photovoltaics commercialisation for a major Japanese
chemical company
Assessing new printed conductor technologies for a major materials company
Assisting in presentations and fundraising for an active RFID company
Teach-ins and brainstorming of strategy at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Shell oil company, a
major food manufacturer, clothing retailers and a microchip manufacturer
Internal training courses in both RFID and smart packaging in the US and UK for a major
packaging company
Assessing optimal technologies and materials for ultra low-cost smart labels of various types
and business plans for such products for various companies
Assistance with strategy of a security printer
Business due diligence of a planned acquisition for a US multinational and similar work for two
venture capitalists planning certain investments.
Recent work includes business due diligence for PolyTechnos of Munich, Germany for
investment in Plastic Logic, UK.
Evaluating and assessing the market potential and position of new products and technologies in
development
Helping startups in France, UK, USA, Sweden and New Zealand
Strategic advice for a major Australian power company
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Case Studies - Printed Electronics
Case Study 1:
A $40 billion company who was looking to participate in the printed electronics market and
leverage their expertise as a global materials company. It needed to understand how it could get
involved in this sector based on unmet needs, companies to potentially partner with or even acquire,
and company progress, particularly in East Asia.
IDTechEx profiled over 150 companies around the world, in particular those in East Asia. Full
patent searches, company SWOT reports and analysis was given. Recommendations of partners
and unmet needs (i.e. opportunities for the client) were given.
The client invested in one of our recommended companies and grew effort on topic accordingly.
The client later has attended IDTechEx events for ongoing market updates.
Case Study 2:
A $60 billion company sought impartial assessment of their technology and applications they could
address over different time scales.
IDTechEx analyzed their technologies versus others in the industry to identify what still needed to
be done. IDTechEx then looked at all the relevant applications, their technology needs and
timelines, and recommended first products.
The client grew their R&D activities to focus on unmet needs we identified. The client gave
IDTechEx a second follow on study and has attended many IDTechEx events and bought our
research publications for ongoing updates.
Case Study 3:
A German Venture Capital wanted us to provide due diligence prior to their investment in a UK
based plastic electronics startup.
IDTechEx provided due diligence on the company and their opportunities in light of the competitive
landscape and applicational demands.
The VC company invested in the company on our recommendation. The target company has gone
on to raise significant funds in later rounds and become a globally recognized leader in its field.