Ultracapacitors - Better than batteries?

An interesting article in the Toronto Star a couple of days ago ( https://www.thestar.com/business/mar...ty-trucks.html ) about a company, Effenco, ( https://www.effenco.com/ ) that is making and selling trucks that use supercapacitors (or ultracapacitors, if you prefer) to replace electro-chemical batteries in certain classes of trucks.

Quote:

While Effenco’s systems are assembled in Montreal, and used by terminal trucks operated by Termont in the Port of Montreal, 90 per cent of the company’s sales have been in the international market. Its clients include Purolator, which uses them on its warehouse trucks, and the City of New York, whose sanitation department has retrofitted its garbage trucks with the system. More recently, Effenco helped the French waste collection firm, Derichebourg, secure a contract in Paris, its first, by including Effenco’s technology in its bid. (In Europe, firms bidding on public contracts can earn “points” for emissions reductions they offer.) That contract led to similar ones in Norway, Italy and the Netherlands, where Effenco’s systems will be added to 60 more trucks.

More about supercapacitors, their construction and benefits here: https://interestingengineering.com/c...ctric-vehicles

Quote:

"In the future, it is hoped the supercapacitor will be developed to store more energy than a Li-Ion battery while retaining the ability to release its energy up to 10 times faster - meaning the car could be entirely powered by the supercapacitors in its body panels,” said the study's co-author Jinzhang Liu. "After one full charge, this car should be able to run up to 500km (310 miles) - similar to a petrol-powered car and more than double the current limit of an electric car.”

I see some hope. Anyone else?

via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/3pbZwsp