Vert Cool battery tech.

Three interesting papers are emerging at the moment they are high on my I so wish they get exploited list ( I've often thought that someone should put a capacitor in line with a battery on a hybrid vehicle. The idea is when you break you can re-generate energy ( slow the vehicle down while putting power back into the battery). The limit I understand is that the amount of charge (current)you can put into a battery ( remember it takes over night to recharge your mobile phone). So it's not perfect. Equally you have problems with the amount of torque you can put out from an electric motor. The idea is to have a capacitor which is better a soaking up power but has a limited density(it can do it quickly but can't store much). On the plus side you do get maximum torque from a standstill (one of the reasons for using them on electric trains). You also don't get such a limited power range so you don't need gearing.

It looks like someone called Rubloff have come up with a much better idea. Making a capacitor which could store a lot of power as well as being able to deliver it up quickly.

I also heard about a way of doing ultra fast charging on normal batteries here. A guy called Byoungwoo Kang and Gerbrand Ceder have shown how to make a lithium battery which can be discharged in 10-20 seconds. If you could make a large battery you could charge in 60-120 seconds that would completely change hybrid and more importantly pure electric car designs. Not to mention storing power from wind turbines. Kang and Ceder day - yes I'd have it if they managed to build a commercial battery.