Standards for Engine-Starting Capacitors

Over the past few years electrochemical capacitors (ECs) or, as they are so often referred to today, superor ultracapacitors, have become increasingly interesting for a certain critical group of applications because of their unique attributes. The first of these EC attributes is exceptional power performance, even at very low temperatures. The second is an essentially unlimited cycle life when compared to batteries. And the third is that, once installed, ECs are completely maintenance free. These latter two attributes contrast markedly with those of batteries, which are, by design, intended to and do wear out at some point. An application that has generated much interest in capacitors because of these attributes is the starting of internal combustion engines.