I just read a comment from David Schramm, Pres. of Maxwell Technologies, calling for GM to use their ultracaps to reduce drain and increase the life of the batteries. I left the following comment, for your interest.

There are newer UC technologies ready to be launched which GM should examine. GreenTech Media has cited several of them. I have investigated them all but only one stands out as being “disruptive”.

While all of the present competing UC technologies produce around 5 Farads per gram, (Thanks to Andrew Burke, UC Davis) one startup claims 100 F/g. That is the UC electrode developed and patented by Reticle Inc. of Los Altos Ca.

It seems that the reason for this is the way the activated carbon, used in the electrode material, is consolidated. The present mfrs use binders which tend to occlude the pores of the AC, reducing both the surface area and conductivity. The “Big Three” stated at the World UC summit, last year that they can only get a max of 600 sq. meters per gram from 2000 sq. meter carbon. Additionally, they can only make thin film electrodes.

Reticle says they use a patented process which creates thicker electrode material without binders and can get 1800 sq. meters per gram. If this is true, they can dramatically reduce both weight and costof uiltracaps and make them more acceptable for use in both HEV's and EV's. Check it out for yourself. (I found a paper published on Ultracapacitors.org last year (. I also understand they won the Frost & Sullivan 2009 Award for Carbon Materials.