[TheAntiDoomer]

http://www.daisanalytic.com/applications/nanocap.html

NanoCap functions differently than a battery because it stores an electrical charge, not chemical energy. Preliminary tests indicate that NanoCap has three times the storage power of today's best Lithium Ion batteries, exhibiting a staggering storage potential equivalent to the energy density of gasoline. Working with GE's Global Research and Development Center, Dais has been able to demonstrate its polymer materials possess key technical advantages for use in this "super battery" NanoCap application.

Dais Receives Patent For Ultracapacitor
http://www.renewgridmag.com/e107_plugin ... ntent.7268

Dais Analytic Corp. says it has been awarded a patent from the U.S. Patent Office for its Nanoparticle Ultracapacitor, which uses the company's commercial family of Aqualyte nano-structured materials to create an energy-storage mechanism.

Dais, working with personnel at the University of Florida under a cooperative testing agreement, has used the patent's concepts to create a functional energy-storage prototype device named NanoCap.

The Start of an Energy Storage Breakthrough
http://moneymorning.com/2011/09/08/the- ... akthrough/

According to the company's Website, "NanoCap functions differently than a battery because it stores an electrical charge, not chemical energy."

It provides extraordinary "dielectric constants." In other words, by means of a decided ability to adjust the presence of an electric field, NanoCap essentially offsets a huge problem - that resistance usually lessens the actual surface area providing benefit in using an electrical charge.

In this way, it allows three times the energy storage densities than even the best lithium batteries now on the market. NanoCap also has an increased ability to cycle, which increases efficiency; and it significantly reduces weight, while simultaneously providing higher power and energy.

[steam_cannon]

I like the progress I'm seeing with battery technology and it has the potential to be a silver bullet for many applications. But it's not a silver bullet for all problems.

Here's the electricity storage problem put into perspective:

A bicycle with a gas motor:
$100 cheap steel bicycle
$150 cheap for a small gas engine
$250 Total
Range 160 miles per gallon and affordable to much of the world population.

A bicycle with electric motor:
$100 Cheap steel bicycle
$300 Cheap electric motor system
$400 Cheap Battery
$800 Total
Range 20 miles and not affordable to most of the world population.

Most electric kits cost over $1000. But in this case even if the battery was free and had a 160 mile range, electric is still more expensive. That's the problem.

I hope this technology gets to market and quickly. We really do need better batteries and this would be a silver bullet for some applications, but it's not a silver bullet for everything.