Supercapacitor Market to Surge to $877M by 2014
The market for supercapacitors, energy storage devices that can charge quickly and store energy in a relatively small package, is poised to power up significantly over the next five years. While capacitors have traditionally been used for quick bursts of speed, rather than endurance, companies and scientists in recent years have been trying to develop capacitors that can match batteries in both areas. And according to a new report released this morning from Lux Research, that work will soon pay off as “demand for power-hungry applications” like grid storage and transportation swells. Overall, Lux finds the capacitor-based storage market can be expected to reach $877 million by 2014, up from $208 million last year.
Both incumbent and new players will be able to find opportunities as demand for capacitor technology increases, says Lux. Electronic applications like cell phones and digital cameras are forecast to make up some $550 million of the supercapacitor market in 2014, up from just $122 million last year. But the grid storage (particularly with wind turbines) and transportation sectors — where startups including EEStor (and others with less bold claims) are hoping to carve out a niche — are on track to make significant gains, too. According to Lux, these and other large-scale applications for supercapacitor technology will reach $320 million by 2014, up from just $86 million last year, although “relatively high supercapacitor prices will limit adoption rate.”
Much of the supercapacitor market will end up being dominated by big players like Panasonic, NEC-Tokin and Maxwell Technologies, says Lux. But the lead author of today’s report, Lux analyst Jacob Grose, says in a release about the research today that as industry giants start to reap benefits from economies of scale, “the market may see more diversification as large companies bolster their portfolios through acquisitions of smaller firms.” Startups vying to get first in line for those acquisitions will likely have to move faster than the rate EEStor is going.
This article might have had some credibility if it were written six months ago. At this point in time it appears hopelessly obsolete and ignorant of events.
Aside from the meaningless reference to EEStor’s “slowness” (EEStor doesn’t make capcitors,
at least not the rather obsolete types this article is referriing to). In addition to the obvious fact that an EEStor success eliminates any need for these old timey capacitors, even the near-certain success of MIT’s fast recharging, ultra high output li ion “slippery surface” technology (which has been demonstrated in vivo and is certain to hit the markets within 2 years) dooms these capacitors. They simply no longer have any pupose.
@kent, I completely disagree with you, this article is pointing out a market trend which clearly affects the sector EEStor is in.
What market is EESTOR in…hype, press releases, and wait till end of next year?