Technology assessment and market analysis of solid state ultracapacitors

Abstract

This report provides quantitative analysis of Solid State Ultracapacitors (SSUs) from technological and financial perspectives. SSUs are Ultracapacitors with solid electrolytes predicted to have huge application potential as the electrical energy storage device in Hybrid Electrical Vehicles (HEVs) due to the projected high energy density. The potential high energy density of SSUs is achieved through engineering dielectric materials to possess high breakdown voltage and/or DC permittivity. Among the available SSU models, Electrical Energy Storage Units (EESUs) have been reported to possess energy density as high as 280 Wh/kg with the permittivity and breakdown voltage enhancements achieved through engineering composition modified barium titanate powders. Organic Solid State Ultracapacitors (OSSUs) is a proposed concept of SSUs with conductive particle filled polymer systems as the dielectric material to take advantage of the systems' giant permittivity phenomenon reported under AC. However, through experiments and modeling, such giant permittivity is not found under DC and it is thought that the reported AC giant permittivity may be strongly distorted by the eddy current loss in the commonly used equivalent circuit characterization model and therefore does not contribute to the energy density enhancement. It is also found that the geometric dispersion of conductive particles does not contribute to the energy storage capability. Hence, it is concluded that OSSU is not a competitive SSU model. EESU would outperform current batteries in HEV applications both in terms of manufacturing cost and fuel efficiency according to the PHEV performance model.

(cont.) It is predicted that a typical EESU PHEV140 midsized sedan, with the estimated cost of $29,000/vehicle and the fuel efficiency of 206 mpg, would become more economically favorable than a conventional vehicle of the same size in five years based on the current energy price. The increase of the energy price will increase the relative performance of EESU PHEVs compared with battery PHEVs. Through a dynamic manufacturing model, it is predicted that the EESUs, if manufactured from 2011, would have an appreciable market share due to its superior product utility, which, in turn, transforms the product competitiveness into the corporate financial profit as soon as the sixth year of operation with 4-5 folds of return on investment in ten years.