Electric vehicle owners have long been troubled by range anxiety, with complaints resurfacing during every holiday period. Let's examine the root causes of range anxiety:

Gasoline used in traditional cars has an average energy density of 13,000 Wh/kg. Current mainstream lithium batteries offer energy densities of 200-300 Wh/kg. Even at the highest value of 300 Wh/kg, there remains a substantial gap compared to gasoline. However, energy conversion efficiency must be considered. Data shows that pure electric vehicles average 86% energy conversion efficiency, while internal combustion engine vehicles achieve only 30%. This means over 80% of lithium battery energy converts to driving power, whereas gasoline wastes significant energy as "useless work." After this adjustment, traditional vehicles' usable energy density exceeds lithium batteries by approximately 15 times.

Increasing lithium battery energy density by 15 times represents an "impossible mission." Although laboratory experiments have achieved 10-fold increases, such batteries typically fail after just dozens of charge-discharge cycles.

Is it possible to moderately increase energy density while maintaining ideal charge-discharge cycle performance?

Enter Supercapacitors

Capacitors represent fundamental electronic components. Essentially, they consist of two metal foil sheets separated by an insulating layer, enclosed in a protective casing. The space between these foils stores electrical energy. As capacitors primarily provide instantaneous power, their energy storage capacity remains limited, with energy density far inferior to batteries.

However, capacitors possess one significant advantage over batteries: exceptionally long charge-discharge lifespan. They easily withstand 100,000 cycles, often showing minimal performance degradation even after hundreds of thousands of cycles. Consequently, their lifespan typically matches the product's operational life.

This outstanding cycle life stems from capacitors' physical energy storage mechanism, which involves no chemical reactions. Imagine charging a capacitor as directly "pouring" electrical energy into it, and discharging as "dumping" it out. In contrast, lithium batteries convert electrical energy to chemical energy during charging, and reverse this process during discharge.

Given this advantage, expanding their electrical storage capacity became a natural progression - thus supercapacitors emerged. These transform capacitors from momentary power suppliers into substantial energy storage devices. However, the primary challenge remains enhancing supercapacitor energy density.

During the 1990s, American supercapacitor manufacturer EEStor invested substantial resources over several years to improve supercapacitor energy density. The company secured significant R&D funding and established a strategic partnership with ZENN Motor Company, an electric vehicle motor provider. Unfortunately, after years of research, multiple scientists involved concluded regretfully: "We strongly desired to break the market deadlock for supercapacitors, but current technology cannot achieve this goal." EEStor ultimately failed.

This failure made many investors adopt a wait-and-see approach toward supercapacitor R&D. Over two decades, supercapacitor technology progressed relatively slowly. Although manufacturing costs decrease annually by less than 10%, this technology still requires substantial advancement.

Enhanced energy density could enable supercapacitors as electric vehicle power sources. China began utilizing this technology early. The 2010 Shanghai World Expo showcased 36 supercapacitor buses, which have operated stably for extended periods and remain in normal service today.

Shanghai's supercapacitor buses can travel 40 km after just 7 minutes of charging

However, this technology hasn't proliferated to other routes or cities, primarily due to low energy density causing "range" limitations. Although charging time reduces dramatically to just minutes per charge, range remains limited to approximately 40 km. Initially, buses required charging at every stop.

Range anxiety persists because these supercapacitors' energy density doesn't yet match lithium batteries. The fundamental reason lies in the insufficient dielectric constant of carbon-based materials used in supercapacitors.

Researchers worldwide seek materials with higher dielectric constants - better insulating layer materials. Higher dielectric constants, thinner layers, and greater voltage tolerance directly increase capacitor capacity, thereby enhancing energy density.

China's Technological Efforts

Recent reports indicate that a research laboratory under a leading state-owned automotive group discovered a novel ceramic material in 2020 - rubidium titanate functional ceramic. This material's dielectric constant reportedly exceeds all other known materials by an incredible margin!

The report claims the dielectric constant of ceramic sheets developed by this Chinese team surpasses other global research outcomes by hundreds of thousands of times. Furthermore, they've manufactured supercapacitors using this innovative material.

This supercapacitor offers these advantages:

1) Energy density 5-10 times greater than conventional lithium batteries;

2) Rapid charging speed, with 95% electrical energy utilization efficiency due to avoiding electrical/chemical energy conversion losses;

3) Long cycle life, enduring 100,000-500,000 charge cycles with ≥10-year service life;

4) High safety factor, containing no flammable or explosive substances;

5) Environmentally friendly, pollution-free;

6) Excellent ultra-low temperature performance, operating from -50℃ to +170℃.

With energy density reaching 5-10 times that of ordinary lithium batteries, this technology not only enables fast charging but also provides ranges of 2,500-5,000 km per charge, completely eliminating range anxiety. Beyond automotive power batteries, such high energy density and voltage tolerance make these supercapacitors ideal for "buffer energy storage stations," effectively resolving grid instantaneous load challenges.