Supercapacitors – A Brief Overview for Investors

Elon Musk has dedicated a huge chunk of resources (not to mention a large area of the Nevada desert) to lithium-ion batteries, but even he thinks supercapacitors are the future of energy storage technology. Supercapacitors – also called supercaps or ultracapacitors – are similar to batteries in that they store energy through electrical charge and discharge, but they have the potential to be incredibly powerful, and wicked fast. Remove the word “super”, and you will find capacitors like the ones seen below in all kinds of everyday electronics:

A supercapacitor is just a really big capacitor as the name implies. So what are they exactly?

What are Supercapacitors?

Supercapacitors have a much lower density than batteries. They hold less of a charge per volume than batteries, and the process of charging and recharging doesn’t involve any chemical reactions. Instead, positive and negative electrolyte ions “stick” to the surface of the electrodes when charging, and “hop off” during discharge. Without the need for a chemical reaction, the speed of charge and discharge is incredible: think of a near future in which an electric vehicle can charge faster than it takes to fill up your car with gas, and take you just as far.

In the above diagram we see a basic capacitor construction w