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Supercaps aren't really anywhere near high-end batteries in specific energy or density. Additionally, capacitors have a linear voltage curve which makes it impr

Supercaps aren't really anywhere near high-end batteries in specific energy or density. Additionally, capacitors have a linear voltage curve which makes it impractical to use their full stored energy. You could try and work around a lot of the problems by jacking up the voltage very high, but supercaps break down at a relatively low voltage, and have poor self-discharge. It seems like you would need an absurdly large capacitor bank to store enough energy to make it worthwhile, and it would be incredibly inefficient. You could use batteries as the buffer, though. Most batteries support higher discharge rates than charge rates, which is nice for longevity. You would need a battery pack the same capacity as the car's in order for it to really make sense. You would also probably use lower density cells too, since they don't need to move. They wouldn't fit into the user terminal, so you'd probably locate them in a nearby shack, and run very thick cables. If you had more than one charger, you would probably have an even larger shack. Before you get to millions of battery cells to manage, you might step back and realize that something like a giant flywheel would make more sense, and then you're only one or two steps away from building a power plant.

mrtksn 4y ago
Hmm, kind of sounds like the battery replacing solution but instead of physically replacing the batteries, you simply move the energy from the buffer batteries to the consumer batteries. You can build battery towers or underground battery storages depending on the physical constraints maybe? If its feasible, it can also be beneficial from renewable energy standpoint as they also need the storage.
- sgtnoodle 4y ago
  One thought I have is that current battery technology depends on one nasty, rare chemical or another. It's difficult to extract from the Earth, possibly at the expense of human rights in some parts of the world. It's difficult to recycle also, to the point that it seems like a lot of companies are probably just quietly stacking up piles in warehouses to possibly but probably never deal with. There are obvious benefits for convenient portable consumer devices, though. The benefits seem to outweigh the downsides, and all things considered, there's not much raw materials per-capita. Electric vehicles are cool and fun to drive, but the benefits seem less obvious. Gas powered cars work very well, and if you look at the entire carbon cycle, it seems like they actually aren't all that bad relative to EVs. A lot of raw nasty materials to build EVs, by many orders of magnitude per-capita. Going to batteries for wide-scale energy storage, for a vast EV charging network, just seems like a massive waste of resources. I'd rather those precious raw materials be used to build smart phones, sonic toothbrushes, and revolutionary new stuff like delivery drones, for an indefinite amount of time until a better battery technology can be developed.

mrtksn 4y ago

Hmm, kind of sounds like the battery replacing solution but instead of physically replacing the batteries, you simply move the energy from the buffer batteries to the consumer batteries. You can build battery towers or underground battery storages depending on the physical constraints maybe? If its feasible, it can also be beneficial from renewable energy standpoint as they also need the storage.

sgtnoodle 4y ago
One thought I have is that current battery technology depends on one nasty, rare chemical or another. It's difficult to extract from the Earth, possibly at the expense of human rights in some parts of the world. It's difficult to recycle also, to the point that it seems like a lot of companies are probably just quietly stacking up piles in warehouses to possibly but probably never deal with. There are obvious benefits for convenient portable consumer devices, though. The benefits seem to outweigh the downsides, and all things considered, there's not much raw materials per-capita. Electric vehicles are cool and fun to drive, but the benefits seem less obvious. Gas powered cars work very well, and if you look at the entire carbon cycle, it seems like they actually aren't all that bad relative to EVs. A lot of raw nasty materials to build EVs, by many orders of magnitude per-capita. Going to batteries for wide-scale energy storage, for a vast EV charging network, just seems like a massive waste of resources. I'd rather those precious raw materials be used to build smart phones, sonic toothbrushes, and revolutionary new stuff like delivery drones, for an indefinite amount of time until a better battery technology can be developed.