Feasability of Capacitors in Electric Cars
...he Honda EV. (2) The other problem is the time to charge an electric vehicle, which is currently at least 3 hours. (2) Refueling is a problem for those people in a hurry, or people that want to take big trips. A lead acid battery used in General Motors' EV1 (9) Capacitors are electrical devices that can store a charge much like a battery. The difference is that batteries can produce a charge using chemical reactions, capacitors only store a charge using two parallel conducting metal sheets. (3) One advantage of capacitors is the time it takes to charge a capacitor is much faster than to charge a battery. The other advantage is the cost of a capacitor is much smaller because it uses two conductors while batteries use expensive chemicals. The advantage of current battery technology is that the battery can be recharged while driving thanks to regenerative braking (9), which can't be done with a capacitor. (4) Regenerative braking is a process that takes the kinetic energy of a car in motion, and uses magnets to create power back to the battery itself, this can increase the range of a car like the General Motors' EV1 depending on how you drive. This is a very important improvement, because it makes the car more efficient, which is the whole goal for the limited electric vehicles. Another important improvement has come along in the world of batteries. Energy Conversion Devices, who has been contracted out by General Motors, has made a nickel-metal hydride battery that has a significantly longer range than lead acid batteries. (7) The problems with nickel-metal hydride batteries are the cost of producing them, and the fact that they need to be replaced every 20,000 miles. Another battery still being developed is the Lithium-polymer battery, which delivers the same power as the nickel-metal hydride battery but should also be significantly lighter. Current prices of nickel-metal hydride batteries for electric vehicles are as much as $30,000 dollars. (2) Current prices of a 25,000-Volt capacitor are ar...