What are the most interesting companies working on batteries, supercapacitors, and other similar projects? For this article, we selected three from Europe to review. All three of them are relatively young and most important super innovative.
Batteries and their technologies will be crucial in the next couple of years to achieve emission reductions goals and we are looking forward to seeing even more breakthrough innovations in the next couple of months.
NAWA Technologies
Launched in April 2013, NAWA Technologies, is a French company focused on improving energy conversion, storage, transport, and efficiency using new interface materials and an innovative generation of ultracapacitors.
It has developed a unique electrode material that combines the best nano and clean technologies: the Ultra Fast Carbon Battery. This ultracapacitor has a power density higher compared to its competitors because it is made of super-thin nanotubes. These tubes can help ultracapacitors charge faster and have a longer life compared to regular batteries. The nanotubes also help reduce the environmental impact because they last longer and don’t use lithium compared to batteries
Applications of NAWA technology will be possible in battery storage, devices, tools, and even vehicles. Below is the video of NAWA’s prototype motorbike. It uses NAWAs supercapacitors combined with a lithium battery, making it and “hybrid” motorbike with a range of over 300 km.
Skeleton
Skeleton is an Estonian company, a global leader in developing graphene-based ultracapacitors for energy storage in automotive, transportation, grid, and industrial applications. They have developed new supercapacitors, with a patented “curved graphene” technology.
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While Supercapacitors with curved graphene will not replace lithium batteries for energy storage, they will still have a serious impact. The A/C or the navigation system in an EV needs power. That power usually comes from a supercapacitor. A curved graphene supercapacitor is more efficient compared to a normal supercapacitor and an EV will need less of these onboard.
Several European large companies working on automotive, transportation, grid, and industrial solutions have already become Skeleton’s customers. To understand better how Skeleton technology works, you can check the application in the video below. Skeleton for instance could help facilitate the transition to renewable energy!
Northvolt
And finally, we have to talk about Northvolt which is the younger company of this group. Launched in 2017 by former Tesla employees Peter Carlsson and Paolo Cerruti.
The company until December 2021 was producing only batteries at its lab. This year they completed building the first European Giga factory. Their aim: compete with Americans and Chinese in the production of lithium-ion batteries at a large scale. After producing on December 28th the very first battery in the factory, they plan to produce 60 GWh of lithium-ion batteries per year.
In the next few years, Northvolt will open several new factories in Europe. Additionally, European industries leaders – such as VW, BMW, Volvo to name a few – have either signed orders, become partners, or have invested in Northvolt. The future for this young European company looks very bright!
You can find out more about Northvolt’s journey in the video below.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com columnists are their own, not those of Impakter.com
