Skeleton Ultra Capacitors | Fully Charged

We visit Skeleton Technologies in Tallinn, Estonia to find out how these remarkable products are made and what they do.
Curved graphene. Yummy.
Imagine an electric car with batteries and ultra capacitors that can soak up all your regenerative braking generation and use it to accelerate the vehicle later. Hugely reducing strain on the battery and increasing lifespan and range. Nice.

[stevenhiller]

When I first say the title of the video I expected wild claims about supercaps replacing batteries. Pleasently surprised, the guy was very honest and provided clear explanation about the strength and weakness of his caps. Very well done.

[riggald]

"we are not in the kiloWatt-hour business, we are in the MegaWatt-second business". I loved that sound-bite.

[Dave-in-France]

In my opinion - this is the best video blog/story you've ever made !
Estonia - beautiful country, educated people, great national philosophies (broadband for everyone).
Ultra capacitors (EC's) - HOW BRILLIANT are these ???!!! Sucking in massive amounts of power in seconds and stuffing it out again. Brilliant for taking out peaks and troughs of grid demand but also using them in combination with lithium-Ion batteries in automotive applications, EC taking all that regen energy, delivering it during phases of acceleration - just a brilliant concept.
As you may have guessed, I lurved this video - just off to watch it again

[Buzzhumma]

The ceo is a wonderfully bright and focus individual and kudos to him . Every thing he discussed about the benifits was what I realised 15 years ago on an electric bike I set up. It had and underpowered Lipo battery so I intergrated some supercapacitors to negate the voltage drop under high acceleration . It would cause the electronic speed control to shut down due to low voltage cut off but the super caps solved the problem so I went the next step with regen braking and so forth. Cheap and amazing efficiency gains . Around 15 -20 % estimated gain and obvious battery longevity gains too . Good luck to this company and good forward thinking . Regards Andy from Australia !

[Haru]

Came for the Capacitors, now I want to go to Estonia Great Video!

[leifhietala]

Robert is one of my favorite personalities on all of YouTube. Not just because I'm fantastically interested in all things renewable, but also because he just seems like a really genuine person.

[maxtorque]

Three points of note need to be made whenever talking about batteries vs capacitors:

1) Batteries do not "store" electricity, they convert electricity into (and out of) chemical energy. ie the energy is stored by change in chemical balance within the cell. This is why they are "slow" but "energy dense" Capacitors directly store electric charge, the lack of chemical reaction required therefore makes then fast but fundamentally poor energy density

3) The charge held on a capacitor is inversely proportional to the separation of the charge carrying elements ( C = ( E X A ) / d ), however the maximum voltage a capacitor is capable of withstanding (before charge "leaks" across between those elements) proportional to that separation distance. Why is this important, because Power = Voltage x Current, so high power requires high voltage, which means large separation distances, which means a smaller capacitance value. The current drive for higher system voltages for eMobility applications, which is likely to continue (as both efficiency and cost fall with increasing voltage), tends to start making capacitors bit players in the energy storage game (And if you think "hey, i can just put some capacitors in series, well, sorry, but physics has got a limit there too, as capacitance is the opposite of resistance, so put two capacitors in series and their effective capacitance halves not doubles!)

3) The energy stored in a capacitor is directly proportional to the voltage across that capacitor (U = 0.5 C x V^2). Unlike in a battery, where the chemical reaction is driven by the voltage difference, a capacitor therefore has a voltage across it's terminals that is highly dependant on the charge stored. This means that practical capacitor based energy storage systems require an active voltage converter (DC/DC converter) in order to maintain a reasonably fixed output voltage at all energy levels. That means the power limit of the system is not actually the capacitors themselves, but the power transfer capability of that converter (who's ultimate performance is inversely proportional to the voltage ratio required). Therefore, any meaningful cost comparison with battery storage MUST include the cost of that vital voltage converter, ie you cannot just compare the cost of a capacitor with a battery, and say "capacitors are cheaper".

Today, significant capacitor energy storage has been only realised in high cost systems (buses, cranes, motorsports etc) simply because the cost and complexity of the necessary voltage matching infrastructure has made such systems un-competitive with chemical battery storage systems on small, or cost sensitive applications (ie passenger cars). And while chemical battery costs continue to tumble, driven by huge investment in massive volume production, that situation is not going to change any time soon imo..

[karlis]

This must be the first video on youtube where I read only positive comments.. Very intelligent crowd you have here! Video was great as well.

[michaelj]

This was outstanding. Amazing what you can do when your country sets it's priorities properly. It's population. Quite the contrast to what you see on the news everyday. This gives me hope.

[ad.]

I just love how Fully Charged gives exposure to such companies ❤! Thank you!

[pdsnpsnldlqnop]

I wonder how many viewers are now inspired to go to Estonia? Wouldn't have thought of it before but now Estonia is top of the list! The Estonian Tourist Board just need to distribute this 'film' and their job is done. Perfect weather helps plus Fully Charged can pay compliments that native Estonians can't say about themselves. Very enjoyable film!

[kennethkustren]

old idea. new tech. awesome humans. keep it werkin forward to new iterations... Estonia Rocks It Hard !! tyvm to everyone involved here.

[AleksandarStefanovic]

Combining batteries with capacitors to split different types of loads is a very good idea!

[AltheRad]

Very good report, including the info in general about Estonia. I am 71 years young and think ultracaps are very cool. Now, if I can just figure out how to make a mould of my hood, doors, etc. . and still be able to use the old gas engine for rear wheels, what a fantastic gas saver it would be to drive the front with ultracap and integrate it with existing electronics. Just a dream, keep on making good vids and maybe I will learn even more!

[markcornwall]

Never knew anything about Estonia but what an amazing country. Definitely on my list of places to find out more about and visit. Have to say the quality of content is truly amazing, and with such a small team. Thankyou

[omnipitous]

You just made me want to visit Estonia. It looks awesome.

[kmac]

What a no brainer, and a very impressive presentation from Taavi in what is probably his third of fourth language...

[jeta]

Love the intro how he starts walking into the show. This guy does good documentaries.

[pinoytechniko]

The presenter should be given an award or something . As a renewable energy advocate my self, i found this very entertaining and informative as well.

[rogerstarkey]

NOW I GET IT!
Basically
Regen the CAPACITORS.
Use THAT energy to accelerate.
Use the BATTERY for cruising.
Simples!