Interesting, this seems to mirror the purchase of Maxwell Technologies by Tesla some time ago. (Note Maxwell was manufacturer of super capacitors using graphine technology, like Nawa). Looking at the Skeleton claims although lacking key number (kWh/kg, $/kWh, etc.) it seems as all three are on the verge of future battery technology.

Sounds very promising for Hybrids and Fuel-Cells then. Straight up electric is impractical for me. A good plug-in hybrid SUV or Truck using these batteries could be significant. Hopefully FCA buys into this, I'd love a Ram that gets better than the 12mpg I get now, but the ability to keep the HEMI for towing.

If lead acid batteries leave EVs bricked when they die,why not install two in parallel? If one dies,the other one can carry on without a problem.

Here is another potential use case: generators. This could help with high draw things such as refrigerators or AC systems. Initial power draw for those can be much higher than the load for normal running.

Nicely written article, Loz.

Although I recall upon doing some quick research about the other company, Nawa, they appeared to be a bit janky and with a many years long track record of actually producing nothing.

Reminded me of a US company named Energy Conversion Devices, founded by Stanford Ovshinsky. Very interesting guy and he had an amazing talent for bringing in capital over decades... without producing anything.

Sounds like these would be ideal for an electric drag racing vehicle. Could hold enough power to do a burnout, and still have enough for the run down the track. Then a quick full charge for the next round.

I'm still having trouble seeing the niche here. With adequate cooling (!) there are plenty of lithium-ion batteries that can produce power bursts that would be capable of emptying the battery in less than a minute. Maybe the ultra version can help for bursts that would drain in a few seconds, and still be smaller, lighter and cheaper than a conventional capacitor. By the way, "curved graphene" sounds a lot like the "crumpled graphene" that's been around for a while. That's known to be effective on a lot of applications.

"if only anybody could work out how to produce it cheaply and in bulk" it's quite easy to do just that, there are are a number of video's online even that walk you through the process. graphene isn't the mysterious material that a lot of writers make it out to be. e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFUOsZ0LSkQ or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvqkH0WLvyc

Thank you for the well-researched article and for explaining the practical application of this technology. The "battery geekery" was fascinating.

I still don't buy it. At least, in how it works. My take back when they first made some news was that graphene was ultimately used just in the electrical contacts potentially lowering the internal resistance of batteries with conventional chemistry. And I think, this is just some variation of it. That is, the exoticism is just in layering some graphene flakes here and there in the contacts. All the rest is just marketing stuff.