Dr. Sebastian Pohlmann is Vice President of Business Development at Estonian company Skeleton Technologies. Skeleton is a developer and manufacturer of energy storage systems for transportation, grid and automotive applications. Dr. Simon Fleischmann heads the "Nanoconfined Electrochemical Interfaces" working group at the Helmholtz Institute in Ulm.
In fact, they already exist today, the hybrids of batteries and supercapacitors. Here, materials researchers are trying to take advantage of the characteristics of both worlds: While the goal of combining the power density of capacitors and the energy density of batteries is not groundbreakingly new, it now seems more promising than ever.
Estonian company Skeleton Technologies is leading the way with its "SuperBattery." These hybrid (battery-like) supercapacitors achieve up to 50,000 charge cycles with ultra-fast 1-minute charging. Allegedly, the "SuperBattery" - like any supercapacitor - is still free of cobalt, copper and nickel. Also used is so-called "curved graphene." In the podcast, HIU scientist Dr. Fleischmann gives his assessment of what to make of this battery innovation.
The "SuperBattery" is expected to be used in hybrid and fuel cell electric vehicles, buses, trucks and charging infrastructure. The company also hopes to soon achieve large volumes in mining and off-road machines.
Related links: www.skeletontech.com/superbattery
