Skeleton Technologies, European developer of graphene-based supercapacitors and energy storage systems for transportation and grid applications, will supply supercapacitor systems to Å koda Electric, a traction equipment manufacturer, for 114 trams to be delivered by Å koda Transportation to Mannheim, Heidelberg, and Ludwigshafen in Germany.
The system recuperates the braking energy of the trams and uses it for re-acceleration, saving energy and decreasing costs. Supercapacitors are ideal for this application due to their high efficiency, reliability, and ability to recharge in seconds.
Å koda has an excellent track record in innovative and energy-efficient trams, and ultracapacitors are a perfect fit for the locomotive industry due to their ability to capture braking energy in seconds, their high efficiency, and their long lifetime... In 2019, we plan to make public announcement for additional locomotive projects currently in the works. Projects like these show that we do not need to go to China or the United States for battery and ultracapacitor production. Skeleton has proven that energy storage manufacturing is alive and well in Europe, and European companies can work together to bring huge benefits to the European industry and market, said Skeleton Technologies CEO Taavi Madiberk.
In April 2019, a study led by the US Naval Surface Warfare Center in Philadelphia, along with researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington, found that Skeleton's graphene-enhanced supercapacitors outperform competitors' for transient load applications. In September 2018, Skeleton entered an agreement with Wrights Group to install graphene-based supercapacitors on buses.
