IDTechEx's Supercapacitors Europe 2014 conference is bringing the best of supercapacitor developments in the region and internationally - 1-2 April, Berlin. Just recently, the Peugeot 308 was awarded Car of the year 2014. This prize is awarded by a consortium of specialized automotive European magazines and journalists across Europe. The Peugeot 308 in its diesel version is equipped with Continental's stop start system, which in turn uses Maxwell Technology's supercapacitors. The Peugeot 308 is positioned to increase its sales in the following years. This is just one of the many reasons why supercapacitors are getting higher traction.
At IDTechEx's Supercapacitors USA 2013 show, Maxwell Technologies, the market leader in the industry, opened the conference with a presentation by Dr. Bendale. An interesting point of the presentation were the results she presented from Rochester Institute of Technology and Argonne National Laboratory about how much lithium ion battery lifetime can be extended with the use of supercapacitors. Based on a model with a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle, which was tested at lab level to confirm the impact of using supercapacitors on battery performance, the study revealed that cycle battery capacity degradation was decreased by a factor of 2 and the impedance degradation reduced by a factor of 6. Why is this relevant? As you know lithium batteries account for half of the cost of an electric vehicle, and price is still one of the barriers for their mass uptake. If you manage to extend the lifetime of a battery you reduce the total cost of ownership of the car. Therefore by extending the lifetime of lithium ion batteries, supercapacitors can effectively reduce the total cost of ownership of electric vehicles, therefore contributing to their mass scale adoption.
At Supercapacitors Europe 2014 we will have a follow up in the topic with Imperial College's Dr. Billy Wu speaking about 'Supercapacitors as Fuel Cell Life Extenders'. Whether it is hydrogen fuel cells or batteries, both will perform better with supercapacitors, because neither fuel cells or batteries can cope with high power surges (i.e. acceleration) and if they are exposed to them (which is desirable by most drivers) they will reduce their operational lifetime. Let's not forget that batteries and fuel cells account for more than 50% of the cost of both fuel cell and electric cars.
IDTechEx has raised this point since our first Supercapacitor conference when showcasing the Riversimple fuel cell electric car at our conference in Washington in 2012. In the electronics sector, Paper Battery Co, a regular at IDTechEx's Supercapacitor conferences, has just announced an exciting partnership with TWS Industrial, a global lithium battery manufacturer, to create an enhanced battery solution integrating their ultrathin supercapacitor the PowerPatch™. At IDTechEx's Supercapacitors USA 2013 conference Paper Battery Co. stated that this solution could extend the battery lifetime up to 33% All major electronics companies know that batteries have been the component lagging behind in improvements over the last 10 years.
IDTechEx's Supercapacitors conferences in its USA and Europe editions have been following these developments and Supercapacitors Europe 2014 won't be the exemption. As Paper Battery Co and Cap-XX have shown before, form factor and physical footprint are key for the integration of supercapacitors in consumer electronics. Cambridge University will be presenting their results of a demonstration of the integration of supercapacitors into the fabric of flexible printed circuits, this solution can be integrated with the flexible printed circuit (FPC) manufacturing process and easily manufactured by any FPC producer.
IDTechEx's Supercapacitors Conference has been the forum for presenting new trends in cost effective, environmentally friendlier materials and this year won't be the exception. In this topic we will have Hutchinson presenting about safer inorganic based supercapacitors, the Poznan University of Technology will present how they are closing the performance gap between aqueous and organic electrolyte based supercapacitors and a quite interesting presentation by WWU Munster about the environmental advantages of new materials with the case of natural cellulose as an alternative binder for high voltage supercapacitors. Because supercapacitor's performance does not rely only on electrodes and electrolytes, but in separators, we will have Dreamweaver Europe speaking about their thin nanofiber separator which can allow high power supercapacitor performance based on their very low resistance.
Given that developing manufacturing technology is as important as developing new performance materials, IDTechEx will offer a space for innovative approaches and solutions in supercapacitor manufacturing. In this topic we will have VTT presenting their supercapacitor manufacturing process by printing technology and the performance of the manufactured product (electrical properties and lifetime). Enerize Corporation will speak about their solutions to test the safety and reliability of supercapacitors during the manufacturing process that replace destructive methods, a very important step in assuring the quality and performance at large scale manufacturing.
IDTechEx will also host the INTRASME project electric vehicle market opportunity workshop ( External Link), which is a European Commission sponsored forum whose objective is to provide a platform for small and medium enterprises, that are developing innovative technologies for the electric vehicle sector, to gather and discuss the opportunities in this exciting industry. This workshop is scheduled on the 3rd of April and co-located with Supercapacitors Europe 2014 and open to all interested delegates.
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