Abstract
Hybrid and full electric vehicles are becoming more and more relevant and currently represent a real alternative for green transport and an opportunity for economic recovery. Probably, the main limitation that electric vehicles must overcome is related with their capacity to store and deliver energy. At the present time, lithium based batteries seems to be the most feasible option to provide energy for electric vehicles, due to their relatively high energy density, but they present severe limitations in terms of power density. Because of their specific properties, ultracapacitors could be a realistic complement to improve electric vehicle performances. Ultracapacitors have an acceptable energy density while maintaining high power density. These properties could be used to complement battery powered vehicles in power peak demand situations and during brake energy recovery, e.g. By this way, it is possible to improve vehicle performances thanks to the possibility of delivering higher power and enlarge battery lifetime by using ultracapacitors as an energy buffer.
Keywords: supercapacitor, energy, power, storage, vehicle.