Dr. Sebastian Pohlmann speaking at BatteryWorld 2021
Our VP of Innovation, Dr. Sebastian Pohlmann, was invited on February, 3rd to deliver the keynote speech at BatteryWorld 2021, a conference organized by elektroniknet.de, Design&Elektronik, Markt&Technik, and SmarterWorld. This technology-oriented knowledge forum gathered industry leaders and academics to discuss technical and commercial challenges regarding the value and supply chains of energy storage devices.
Dr. Pohlmann delivered his keynote on the topic of “Supercaps: the better batteries?”. There are arguments supporting the idea that ultracapacitors are better batteries: their 1 million cycle lifetime, their charges and discharges in seconds, the fact they don’t use any rare or toxic metals, their higher power density, etc. Arguments exist on the other hand, too: batteries have a higher energy density and are produced at a much greater scale. It is important to know what is meant by “better”. Here, “better” means a lower cost against customer requirements.
Dr. Pohlmann gave an overview of the current ultracapacitors market, highlighting existing applications of our ultracaps such as kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS) for trams (1.3 kWh saved in 3 seconds, 98.9% of energy saved used for acceleration) and engine starting for trucks (full efficiency even at -40 °C) and underlined that the cost down for ultracapacitors is expected to be much faster in the next 5 years than for lithium-ion batteries. Ultracapacitors are where Li-ion batteries were in 1999.
Of course, the key question is then where the ultracapacitors market will be in 2025, and what Skeleton is working on to capture the biggest share of this market. As it is already known, Skeleton is developing its new generation of ultracapacitors, also known as SuperBattery, which will provide 10 times more energy density, bring the cost down by 90%, have a 15-seconds charging time, allow over 200 000 cycles and excel at 10-15min applications. The technology will already be tested by a leading European OEM this year.
You can watch Sebastian’s talk here (in German) and thank you to the organisers of the event:
