News and New Products

Ultracapacitor family targets minimal series resistance and cost

By Maury Wright, Editor In Chief -- EDN, 3/3/2006

Ultracapacitors, also sometimes called supercapacitors or electric double-layer capacitors, have long offered promise in power applications alongside of and in place of batteries. The products can handle a million charge/discharge cycles and can provide a power boost for engine and motor starts in applications ranging from consumer electronics to hybrid vehicles. But cost has hampered the adoption of the technology. Last year, Maxwell Technologies introduced one ultracapacitor cell—the 2600F MC2600—that brought the price of the technology to 1 cent per farad. Now, the company is expanding the low-cost offering in cells ranging from 650 to 3000F and in modules that gang multiple cells.

The new members of the Boostcap family are cells and modules for either power or energy applications. Power applications include hybrid vehicles, distributed power systems, and others that demand the lowest possible series resistance. The energy line uses a lower cost electrode with higher series resistance and typically serves in roles such as battery backup or for a sporadic current boost in telecom systems to automatic meter-reading systems. The new family represents a better than halving of the cost of the earlier Boostcap family that the company announced four years ago.