Skeleton Technologies has launched graphene-enhanced ultracapacitors with a capacitance of 4500 farads. Skeleton claims this to be “the single biggest increase in energy density for ultracapacitors in the past 15 years”.

Energy density is a key development challenge for the ultracapacitor market and is fundamental if the technology is to eventually replace battery storage.

Skeleton’s SkelCap 4500 series addresses the heavy transportation and industrial markets where weight and space are at a premium.

“Graphene has long been heralded as a wonder material for a range of applications, including energy storage. However, a mass-market, graphene-based product has been slow to materialise. Our ultracapacitors will be that market breakthrough,” says Skeleton CEO, Taavi Madiberk, “we are harnessing the power of graphene to make the most significant advances in ultracapacitor performance seen for several years.”

Skeleton Technologies ultracapacitors have been chosen by the European Space Agency, where their use is expected to lead to significant cost savings by reducing the volume of heavy batteries required for energy storage. Next month, the company will be announcing the first ultracapacitor product for the hybrid truck market.

The new range has been designed for mass-market applications and the needs of systems engineers. The format has been developed to meet the industry standard of a 60 mm diameter cylindrical cell. Skeleton Technologies had previously offered prismatic cells, which are more compact in modular arrangements but more expensive to produce.

Skeleton Technologies has also achieved one the lowest ESR (equivalent series resistance) levels on the market at 0.095 mÙ. This factor is crucial as it greatly increases the efficiency of the cells by reducing the amount of energy that is lost as heat. For example, if a 3900A current is run through the SkelCap 4500 cell, it will lose only 0.30 joules per farad, whereas competing products can lose as much as 1.00 joules per farad.

Skeleton is targeting 20 Wh/kg by 2020, which is comparable with battery level energy density.

In the last month, Skeleton Technologies secured €9.8 million in Series B financing with a strategic investor in the electrical equipment market to ramp up the deployment of their graphene ultracapacitors.

By: DocMemory
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