Posted on 07/23/2015 9:23:04 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The problem of limited range has been an important factor curbing the wide-spread adoption of electric cars. But scientists in South Korea have developed a new technology which could solve the problem.
The lithium-ion batteries used in most of the current generation of electric cars have limitations. They are expensive and store insufficient power for the needs of many drivers, requiring frequent top-ups. And when they have to be recharged the charging process is time consuming.
The technological breakthrough could solve these problems. And in the process, Dr Lu Wu of the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea has discovered a new use for the miracle substance graphene.
Strictly speaking the new battery technology uses a supercapacitor, rather than a battery, but both supercapacitors and batteries store electricity. A supercapacitor stores energy on the surfaces of materials in the form of static electricity.
Graphene is a form of carbon which is a single atom thick. It is therefore particularly suitable as material for a supercapacitor, because a small amount of it has a staggering surface area: one gram can cover 2,675m sq.
In theory, graphene supercapacitors could be used to store much more energy per kilogram than lithium-ion batteries.
Dr Lu has managed to produce sufficient quantities of graphene in a form that can be used in a supercapacitor, The Economist reports. First he produced graphite oxide. Next, he heated it to split the graphite into graphene sheets. Then he removed the surplus oxygen. Finally he incorporated the graphene sheets into a supercapacitor.
The supercapacitor worked well. It stored as much energy per kilogram as a lithium-ion battery and could be charged up in less than four minutes. It is likely that a refined version of the supercapacitor will exceed lithium-ion batteries' storage capacities in due course.
The next stage will be to scale up the technology and commercialise it.
Scaling up the production of graphene is the trick. Do that and all sorts of good things will happen.
I saw a story where Won Hung Lo was also working on graphine capacitors with great success.
To dump that much electricity into the capacitor in that short of time I’m thinking you need a pretty robust source and wire.
Ping.
Looks good to me. Great location for the discovery, too (low cost Republic of Korea). Hopefully, Musk has his eye on it, too.
These are just dry wet dreams of people who are simply infatuated with change for the sake of change like the Transformer In Chief in the White hut!!!
These hopeless attempts at duplicating what America did for the world with the mass produced automobile, diesel locomotive and airplane utilizing petro fuels is just preposterous, again IMO!!!/rant
In other words... I ain't buyin it!!!
There's also the problem that we don't generate enough surplus electricity to power a wide-spread adoption of battery-powered cars. And then, thanks to this administration's war on electricity through its forced closings of coal fired generators, were unlikely make that adoption anytime soon.
When a vehicle or motor can drive 100 miles and engage a recharging system using the energy
to recharge a drained system in minutes, then recharging stations will be gone, oil, gone.
Battery pack (1) = 100 miles on a charge
Battery pack (2) = recharge in 15 minutes
(1) drains and switches to (2), then recharges (1)
This could also be used for nonstop flights around the world.
Hmm, come to think of it, this guy is going to die and all this will just go away.
I remember when our country was full of innovation.
The laws of Physics haven't changed. Getting that much energy into your car in four minutes will require massive conductors, high voltage and high amperage circuits.
That's not something you'll find in your average house.
Working with that kind of voltage can be instantly fatal to careless individuals...
It’s called “innovation”. It happens. You sound like the guy riding the horse sneering at the horseless carriage.
It is likely that a refined version of the supercapacitor will exceed lithium-ion batteries’ storage capacities in due course.
...
It’s more likely that this is the last we’ll ever hear of it.
Thank you. :)
Another question.
If seen some significant damage when a cap fails, or when shorted. Especially in old TV’s. What happens when the giant one in your car fails?
They find your head in the back seat, or find a black husk that appears to have been struck by lightning?
I’d have to be convinced of stability, and overcharge barriers in something that can store that much power, that quickly.
Test Engineer, Whee Goh Boom was quoted as saying “This is the best thing since Chernobyl”
(poof) Gone. Similar tech has also disappeared.
Not to be negative.........but where is all the electricity going to come from to charge the plethora of electric cars the gaia worshippers foresee? They condemn power generation from coal, nuclear and the use of fracking to produce natural gas, is all of this charging electricity going to come from solar?
Visualizing a VW Beetle with a solar panel on the roof.
“To dump that much electricity into the capacitor in that short of time I’m thinking you need a pretty robust source and wire.”
No doubt. But, robust sources and fat wire exist and are widely used. Thus, this is a feasibility, assuming the articles claims are true. Conventional Ni-CD and Li-ion batteries simply cannot accept too much charge at a time or they heat up destructively and/or blow up.
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