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The Register reports
In a paper published at [Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences] (abstract), the researchers claim capacitance of more than 1,100 Farads per cubic centimetre--or around 1,145 Farads per gram, which is about as much as they reckon you could get out of the manganese dioxide (MnO2) in the cap.
Using a combination of graphene and MnO2, the researchers say the energy density they can achieve can be as high as 42 Watt-hours per litre, which is getting close to that of a lead acid battery.
It's not much yet: the demonstrator pictured below from the UCLA California NanoSystems Institute is one-fifth the thickness of paper, however it can hold charge long enough to power the demo LED overnight.
That, the university claims, beats a thin-film lithium battery on a pound-for-pound (or rather gram-for-gram) basis.
Manganese dioxide is cheap and plentiful, and is good at storing charge--which is why it's popular in dry-cell batteries and alkaline batteries.
The combination of the MnO2 and laser-etched graphene--the secret sauce in all of this--can be produced without dry rooms or extreme temperatures.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Tuesday April 07 2015, @11:45AM
Worth pointing out is from a fire safety standpoint only an idiot would start a pump and walk away, so its important to pump a couple gallons/min while the owner stands there in the cold or 100F+ weather.
However, the standard for electrical charging is pretty safety focused with microcontroller monitoring of the connector and various temperatures and stuff, so plugging in an electric car and going in the building to take a leak or buy a 128 ounce glass of corn syrup soda or whatever is perfectly safe, at least WRT fire safety.
The very long term effect of electric cars is likely to be a move away from a dedicated charge point (required for liquid fuel environmental and fire danger reasons) and toward having your destination provide charging. So it seems highly unlikely that we will have the local electric company operate charge stations just like a gas station and infinitely more likely the local restaurants / bars / retail stores / businesses / hotels will have some kind of "swipe a credit card for a charge" deal. This kind of negates the main whine heard about electric cars of range, well, as long as your battery range exceeds your stomach or bladder range the car will be just fine.