GM Deal is a Milestone on Long Road for Maxwell Technologies

[Bruce Nunnally]

Shares of San Diego’s Maxwell Technologies (NASDAQ: MXWL) soared Tuesday by 18 percent, or 92 cents, to $6.03 a share, after Maxwell said General Motors is using its voltage stabilization system on many 2016 Cadillac models.

Maxwell said General Motors is the first North American automaker to integrate its ultracapacitor technology as part of an enhanced start-stop system, which shuts off the engine whenever the vehicle comes to a standstill and restarts as the driver accelerates again.

The company says its ultracapacitors help modulate the power demand on the battery by providing the energy burst needed to restart the engine, reducing high currents and repeated cycling that can shorten battery life.

Read more: http://www.xconomy.com/san-diego/2015/09/15/gm-deal-is-a-milestone-on-long-road-for-maxwell-technologies/

[airmike]

My buddy has a bmw that shuts off and he had it programmed out. I have no idea if it has the capacitor. I have to wonder what price is being paid by the starter to save however much gas is being saved. Starters are not unlimited usage devices and on may vehicles quite expensive to replace/repair. You know that old saying step over a dollar, to save a dime.

[Bruce Nunnally]

I like the idea of start-stop but I agree it should be user selectable.

[Cadillac Jim]

I think start-stop is great in flowing urban traffic with long traffic lights, or with railroad crossings. In creeping stop-and-go traffic like a jammed artery or freeway like IH 405 in the L.A. area, disabling it is best. It should be a button on the dashboard, not a dealer-service item, to switch it back and forth.

[KHE]

I was in Bethlehem, PA a few months ago on business and my 2015 Chevy Malibu rental car had the start/stop feature. At a red light, the car shut off at a light and I thought it stalled. I went to start it back up and before I could reach for the key, I took my foot off the brake and it started up - I then realized what was going on.

The cars equipped with that technology would need to have heavier duty starters since they will have more cycles of use vs. a car without the start/stop feature.

[James Woods]

I know that on majority of hybrid cars they don't use a starter. They utilize the electric motor to spin the engine by feeding A/C current to it and start it spinning. A 12volt jump start will not start these cars. The main high voltage battery pack is used.

The start and stop feature on hybrids seems to me a fine idea on these. But for a conventional engine I do wonder about 10-12 and 150k miles how much life the starter has left. And how much a heavy duty or whatever is used to last thru the added cycles will cost.

[Cadillac Jim]

The wear points on a starter are brushes, pinion gear, engagement mechanism and pinion gear spline, and bearings. Other additional engineering is needed in getting the added heat out of the starter, becasue high temperature really hits motor/generator performance. They have a pretty good handle on all these, as evidenced by the fact that modern starters usually go the life of the car, notwithstanding issues like long-term stalling or starting problems or other unusual stress on the starter. I would say that quadrupling the life of everything except the brushes is pretty inexpensive. That leaves the brushes and moving the heat away.

I think that it's doable economically, and that this was almost certainly addressed as part of considering doing a stop-start option before the developmen and design process began. On the other hand, as KHE and Jwoods016 point out, it isn't free.

And, I would want a button in the dash to disable it in stop-and-go traffic, or I would have it disabled at the dealer.