Battery cells as we know them will soon be a thing of the past ..
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/superdielectrics-supercapacitor-electric-car-battery
In the 1970s, Dr Donald Highgate found a way to make contact lenses more comfortable. With colleagues at the University of Surrey, he developed a transparent, flexible polymer that held water like a sponge.
Now, the same technology has spawned a new supercapacitor material that could accelerate the adoption of electric cars, and solve one of the biggest problems facing renewables.
Instead of storing energy in chemical form like a battery, supercapacitors hold it in an electrical field, like static collecting on a balloon. In 2011, Tesla's Elon Musk predicted that it
would be supercapacitors, not batteries, that would power future vehicles.
They promise faster charging times, and don't rely on expensive materials such as lithium and cobalt, says Dr Sam Cooper from the
Dyson School of Design Engineering. They are also more durable. "Supercapacitors have a very long cycle life," he explains. "You can fill and empty them a huge number of times."
The problem has always been a lack of energy density. The best available supercapacitors hold just five per cent of the energy per kilogram of a lithium ion battery. A fleet of supercapacitor-powered electric buses in Shanghai illustrates the point. Although they can charge in less than 30 seconds while dropping off passengers, they need to do so every few stops. But that could be about to change.
Superdielectrics Ltd has developed a supercapacitor material that can store "remarkable amounts of electricity, far beyond what we've seen before," according to its CEO Jim Heathcote. It's cheap to produce, uses no rare elements, and because it's mostly water, it can't catch on fire like traditional batteries. The discovery happened almost by accident, says Highgate, who is now director of research at the company.
also....
Alternative to traditional batteries moves a step closer to reality after exciting progress in supercapacitor technology
Read more at:
https://phys.org/news/2018-02-alternative-traditional-batteries-closer-reality.html#jCp