Using Ultracaps for Regeneration

[Seawalker]

I have been seeing more info come to light around Tesla's possible utilization of ultracapacitors for regeneration and would like to begin looking at doing this with my marine project. I am re-powering a 42' sloop with a 20kw pmac motor from Electric Yacht with 48v 400ah lifepo4 battery as the power supply. The standard regen process will put amps back into the battery above a certain hull speed. Current white papers on using ultracapacitors in that regen process claim better efficiencies because the UC's charge faster and in turn discharge faster into the main battery bank (lifepo4 in my case). If anyone is familiar with this concept I would love to discuss. And Will if your lisrening this would make for a really interesting video as a proof of concept.

 

[offgriddle]

Will you be using headspeed wind or hydro to generate the power to charge your capacitors? (I am sorry but I am not familiar with any of the advantages of using capacitive discharge as the middle man between voltage source and battery bank).

 

[Seawalker]

Will you be using headspeed wind or hydro to generate the power to charge your capacitors? (I am sorry but I am not familiar with any of the advantages of using capacitive discharge as the middle man between voltage source and battery bank).

Headspeed for now but open to using a hydro charger if it is justified. Using the drive motor for regen means that the controllers must direct the regen energy to the caps instead of the battery bank. Not a huge tech hurdle I don't think but definitely above my pay grade.

 

[SolarRat]

The new Lamborghini Sian uses regen to charge it's ultracapacitors. Every time the brakes are hit they fully charge, then can provide a short term 34hp boost. Sounds brilliant for a car on a racetrack, stopping and accelerating, but I'm not sure how it would benefit a sailboat at a steady speed?

 

[Seawalker]

The new Lamborghini Sian uses regen to charge it's ultracapacitors. Every time the brakes are hit they fully charge, then can provide a short term 34hp boost. Sounds brilliant for a car on a racetrack, stopping and accelerating, but I'm not sure how it would benefit a sailboat at a steady speed?

Right, I'm not at all sure if this translates to a marine application. Still, if it improves the regen side at all it may very well be worth pursuing. This concept looks like it is also being used in the Tesla model 3 but that is still speculation at the moment.

 

[SCClockDr]

I fail to see the benefit in a sailing context.