High-Voltage Supercapacitors for Improved Energy Density Hybrid Power Sources

Both the aerospace and automotive industries depend increasingly on electrochemical energy storage. Reduction in mass, increase in energy, and increase in power can benefit both of these areas dramatically. Supercapacitors are currently under consideration for use in both hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and electric vehicles (EV) to improve delivery of power (due to their high rate capability), improve the life of the lithium-ion batteries (due to their ability to buffer the detrimental effects of high current pulses or alternating currents on the battery), and implement more efficient capture of regenerative breaking energy (due to their excellent charge acceptance at high rates).