Ultracapacitors are not new. In fact, after being discovered in 1957, they have been available commercially since 1978. What is new is that they will soon become affordable; this is because of new progress in nanotechnology.

Also called supercapacitors, these batteries don't work the way normal batteries work. Batteries work by converting chemical energy to electrical energy and back. Capacitors store energy in the electric field between a pair of plates. As opposed to normal capacitors, supercapacitors do not have a normal dielectric, they contain an electrical double layer. The double layers "dielectric" is exceedingly thin only nanometers, but with a very large surface area.

Soon when we can store high capacitances in practical sizes, the electric automobile will finally mature. This will create a demand for a new type of Technician (one that knows more about watts than gear ratios).

As scary as this may sound to some Mechanics, other Technicians can't wait for this technology.

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