I cheer for Maxwell. I hold a little stock but I can't recommend that for the nervous.

IMO supercaps will prove worthwhile in optimizing EV and serial hybrid personal vehicles. If that is true then strategically it makes sense to first get those vehicles to market and follow up with optimization.

For commercial vehicles in start/stop usage the opposite seems true. Try to optimize early, it will pay off in so many more starts and stops.

The VTM system described puzzles me a little. But at this hour many things do. I look forward to comments by those familar with drivetrains and design.

Isn't 7 stops per mile normal rush hour traffic, can this be doswnsized and used in cars and SUV's?

Give me this and I could turn a race car into an acceleration screamer; think how great a 10 second boost would be at the start of the straight-away while the ICE is starting to catch it's breath and the turbos spool up (may not be needed) and how great deaccelerating braking would be at the braking points. In the case of a rear-drive, you might have a balance issue at the drive shaft because of the added weight of an armature. And, the program logic of the CPUs would require some deep thought. Other race cars using electric motors, favor in wheel motors in the front and a driven axle motor in the rear for acceleration.

With this device, turbos might not add much. The potential is excitin'.

Very exiting,
All this big capacitor stuff, with applications in wind generator, regenerative hybrid braking, Assymetric (I like that word)battery packs for grid storage,
I hope the new Technologies are able to stay green ino the bargain.
There were awfully toxic pcb's etc in the previous generation of capacitors and still remain major concerns over the recycling or disposal of E-waste.
What standards do the new gen supercaps meet or aspire to?

You have to realize that a $2000 super capacitor pack holds the same energy as economy car $40 lead acid battery. It is not good for storing an enormous amount of energy over hours and hours. It is good for giving that 5 to 10 second boost, and saving break wear.

42 kW is only 52 hp at peek which won’t do much for heavy vehicles and the cost will limit use in lighter vehicles.

The control is inspiring: uses simple mechanics (sliding the rotor) instead of very expensive inverters/converters. We saw this a while ago in wind turbines:

http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007/07/dewind.html

@Ed Danzer:
The great thing about the electric motor is the instant torque...press the switch and you have it all right now. In the case of racing, that when you can use it the most. 52 hp, I'll take it!

dear ed,
only 52 hp? WHATS WRONG WITH ME. I got 2 feet you (hopefully) have too. I was made that way. remember baby driver? once upon a set of wheels down the road whats my number wonder how your engine feels?.paul simon.? But me horse? - well thats another story.
I think we are .7 to .1 hp. ie 70 - 120-180? watts.
I presume in the context of this matter, one horse is enough for me and Im, sorry to say, It leaves me lost for words to hear the kids of today complain about the lack of a spare (or LAZY) 100KW.
The fact of the matter is one H.P. Is a wild thing in the right hands.
How we end up in this "greeenhouse predicament has more to do with unbalance in the eco-system(s) IN WICH WE EXIST. Not in Isolation, but in unity with he rest of the natural world.
These days us oldies have some trouble understanding that the world we are born into colours the perception of its inhabitants.
So I guess what I want to say is consider changing your perception, of neccessities towards accepting the natural order, cause there lies small simple pleasures.
I confess in the relativist world I'm a bit lost when i consider the H.P. At harness to many of us in the advanced western world.
But I can see how it happens and I can see the Illusion.
I can also see the unsustainable nature of unthrottled energy.
The kids have been sold a pup!
commiserations.
Small is beautifull, someone said that.

@ Ed Danzer -

you cannot compare ICE hp to electric hp like that. The point of this hybrid system is to deliver a lot of additional torque at low vehicle speeds to improve acceleration performance from standstill and in slow city traffic. The utility of the electric motor/generator is increased by the field weakening afforded by the sliding mechanism, because some electric assist is available even at higher speeds. In practice, that means peak shaving the load demand on the downsized diesel ICE. Remember, this is a retrofit system so the electric machine can only be attached to the driveline between the transmission and the differential.

Hybridization also reduces particulate emissions from the diesel engine, which tend to be high during rapid transients.

Moreover, because it is supercap-based, the system should also be efficient at recuperating kinetic energy at low speeds. This is highly relevant for the fuel economy of the target applications, as stated.