2020年经济学人 让乌龟和兔子交配(4)（在线收听）

Bristling to work

竖着工作

In tests with a number of unnamed battery companies, Dr Boulanger says VACNT electrodes achieved an energy density of 500wh/kg in one battery and up to 1,400 watt-hours per litre in another. This is roughly double what a typical Li-ion battery can manage in terms of weight and volume respectively. "We have done that very easily," he adds, "so we believe there is more room for improvement."

布朗热博士称，在与一些未具名的电池公司的测试当中，VACNT电极在一种电池中达到了500wh/kg的能量密度，在另一种电池中则达到了每升1400瓦时的能量密度，这大概是普通锂离子电池在重量和体积上的两倍。他补充道：“这一点我们很容易就做到了，所以我们相信还有很大的改进空间。”

One firm that NAWA does admit to working with is Saft, a large batterymaker owned by Total, a French oil giant keen to diversify from fossil fuels. Among Saft's customers are several Formula 1 teams which use some electric power in their racing cars. Saft has also teamed up with PSA group, a big European carmaker, to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles.

NAWA承认有合作的一家公司是“帅福得”，“帅福得”是想要从化石燃料转向多元化的法国石油巨头道达尔旗下的一家大型电池制造商。Saft的客户包括几支F1车队，他们的赛车要使用电力。“帅福得”还与欧洲大型汽车制造商PSA集团合作，为电动汽车生产电池。

Naturally, the new device's success will depend on the cost of manufacturing it. NAWA is already constructing a mass-production line to make VACNT plates for its latest supercapacitors. The process used, which grows nanotubes on both sides of a roll of aluminium foil, would, says Ulrik Grape, NAWA's chief executive, transfer easily to an existing battery-production line and might even reduce battery-making costs. He expects the first versions of the supercapacitor-battery hybrids to be in production by 2023.

当然，新设备的成功将取决于它的制造成本。NAWA已经在建设一条大规模生产线，为其最新的超级电容器生产真空极板。NAWA的首席执行官葛卫凯称，这种在一卷铝箔的两面都种植纳米管的工序可以很容易转移到现有的电池生产线上，甚至有可能降低电池的制造成本。他预计第一代超级电容-电池混合动力车将于2023年投产。

Whether such hybrid storage will be able to compete with conventional Li-ions remains to be seen. Li-ion batteries have the advantage of incumbency, and batterymakers have invested billions of dollars in huge "gigafactories" to turn them out in droves. Yet, for all the hype surrounding electric cars, doubts about Li-ions linger in many customers' minds. Range-anxiety, recharge rate and cost all combine to induce a hesitation to reach for the credit card. Mixing the spice of a supercapacitor with the stamina of a battery might overcome at least the first two of these objections, and thus, at last, truly launch an era of carefree electric motoring.

这种混合储能技术是否能与传统锂离子电池竞争还有待观察。锂离子电池具备市场主导优势，电池制造商已经投资数十亿美元建立了巨大的“超级工厂”来对它们进行批量生产。然而，尽管对电动汽车的大肆宣传，对锂离子电池的疑虑仍萦绕在许多消费者的心中。里程焦虑、再充电速度和费用所有这些因素都会让消费者犹豫要不要买它。将超级电容器的爆发力和电池的耐力混合起来至少可以克服上述两个障碍，从而最终开启一个真正无忧无虑的电动汽车时代。