Fisker EMotion Ditches Supercapacitor-Based Battery for Launch

Despite the change, Fisker still claims a 400-mile range.
www.thedrive.com

Not so long ago, auto manufacturer Fisker was touting its next-generation battery technology in its upcoming luxury sedan, the EMotion. But only days after a pre-debut teaser was dropped, the company’s founder, Henrik Fisker, took to Facebook to announce that the vehicle would instead ship with Lithium-Ion battery cells. Despite the change, the company still promises quite the range increase over any existing electric sedan available on the market.

The EMotion was previously said to use a new form of solid state power storage with supercapacitors instead of existing technology which relies on multiple chemical-based cells. Currently, a Lithium-Ion battery stores its charge in the form of chemical energy. When power is requested from the cell, a reaction occurs within the cell that produces electricity and heat as a byproduct.

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The Fisker EMotion will have 400 miles to a single charge, via Twitter

Like many who are largely unimpressed by the current state of EV battery charging requirements, Fisker was then set on developing a quicker, more efficient way to charge batteries to allow for faster charging. His idea was to use high-capacity supercapacitors to store energy. In electronics, a supercapacitor allows for a quick charge and is able to release short bursts of stabilized power. But it wasn’t Fisker who initially had this idea for automotives. In 2013, Toyota teased a concept for the Yaris R which featured regenerative braking and supercapacitors attached to three electric motors.

Should Fisker perfect the supercapacitor-based battery system it could revolutionize the way that electric cars charge and travel. It was estimated that a full charge would only take nine minutes, much quicker than the current generation Superchargers, despite Tesla looking for ways to improve charging speeds.

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Rob Stumpf

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After putting down the camera and leaving the tuner car scene behind, Rob has been covering the automotive world since early 2017. Rob’s blend of technology and automotive backgrounds coupled with his industry insight give a unique perspective of what the future of mobility holds.