There are some sources of new technologies that you have to take 'with a grain of salt': Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, and my favorite GreencarCongress. If all of their news reports were accurate and combined, the car would drive itself and get over 100 MPG. But this one . . . well a man can dream: Source: UltraBattery® - New Dimension In Lead-Acid Energy Storage: Ecoult They just completed an endurance test with a 144V battery pack in a Honda Civic . . . hummm, same voltage as the 'Prius c'. No, I'm not ready to declare 'a new age' but this is an interesting technology and somewhat clever . . . if it works. Capacitors are a voltage storage device so putting them in parallel with a lead-acid battery is not what I would consider a high-density, energy storage. But what this offers is a way to mitigate some of the charge-discharge characteristics of a lead-acid battery, to mitigate their worst problems with energy storage. Bob Wilson
Interesting, now if only the ultracap also reduced the weight of the lead.. From their site expected application of this seems to be for stationary usage (grid backup, ups etc), not for cars as they state:
I found the initial list from GreencarCongress citing a year long, 100,000 mile, test with a Honda Civic hybrid. I suspect they will sell it to anyone who wants to use them for any purpose. Bob Wilson
Doesn't the Mazda6's new Eloop using super capacitors to help with smaller lead acid aux battery and alternators?
It does, but is a seperate unit. These PbC 'batteries' have the capacitor built into the lead acid battery. I don't think Mazda uses a smaller battery. At least, I don't recall reading that they do. In any case, they use a capacitor because they don't limit the amount of energy captured by braking do to max charge rates. Mazda Starts Production of Mazda6 With i-ELOOP - HybridCars.com
