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Published on Thursday, 06 August 2015 by Rohit Sharma WhaTech Pro Trial
Super capacitors are electrochemical capacitors that are capable of holding more energy per unit volume and can bear multiple charge and discharge cycles compared to conventional batteries.
These are also called as Ultra-Capacitors and are governed by same governing principles as conventional capacitors but are incorporated with high surface areas and thinner dielectrics which decrease the distance between the electrodes that enable power supply stabilization, greater energy storage, energy regeneration and many more.
Due to these properties, the super capacitors find application in electric vehicles, cars, buses, elevators, and others where regenerative braking and short term energy storage needs to be achieved.
The super capacitors market is forecast to grow at a rate of 35.4% during the period 2015-2020. The high growth is due to the increasing adoption of super capacitors into transportation, consumer electronics and healthcare industry.
Electric vehicles and medical equipment are the key end use products which require efficient regenerative braking and short term storage of energy and are estimated to significantly escalate the market value.
The healthcare segment is the highest growing market in the period 2015-2020 owing to the escalating demands from the industry for effective power management and wearable devices. The medical wearable devices require compact and high energy storing devices and the ultra-capacitors meet the requirements and offer cheap, low power, and support batteries.
In 2015, CAP XX Co. Ltd has launched a product of 0.6mm thickness which is ideally suitable for wearable and portable devices.
With increase in the disposable and wearable medical devices, such as disposable insulin device or fitness tracking devices, the market for super capacitors is set to witness a high growth rate of 42.2% in the forecast period.
At the same time, the market growth is forecast to be aided by the transportation products. Buses, Electric Vehicles, Trams, and so on are the prime potential target for the companies to develop products.
The electric vehicle market is the promising among all of the transportation products whereas the trams, metro trains are seen as the potential segments owing to the government projects in certain regions. In China, in May 2014, 100% super capacitors powered low floor train was launched in which the ultra-capacitors provide the necessary power to the traction system.
The capacitors in this train are capable of 1 million charging cycles, that is, it possesses lifespan of around 10 years. Hence, with more such initiatives the not only transportation cost is reduces but performance also can be improved.
Thus, the market has growth prospects in the transportation and healthcare industries.
SMALL CAP IDEAS: CAP-XX's tiny super-capacitors should be no laughing matter once the technology takes-off
The surge in the share price of technology firm CAP-XX over the past six months has been nothing short of spectacular.
Investors lucky enough to get in at March’s £2.5million fund-raising, priced at 1p a share, are sitting on a near 600 per cent paper profit. Those who exited at 8p have done even better.
However, there is an argument the current price of 7p a share is merely a staging post to a valuation way in excess of the current market cap of £19million.
Certainly, if orders materialise from 20 or so automotive companies it is working with, or the integration of its tiny super-capacitors into machine-to-machine technology takes off, then the current share price will seem laughable.
Driving forward: CAP-XX's specialism is in super-capacitors – from the wafer thin, to those large enough to help power a high performance sports car.
Driving forward: CAP-XX's specialism is in super-capacitors – from the wafer thin, to those large enough to help power a high performance sports car.
Listed on the AIM here in London, CAP-XX is an Aussie headquartered firm that is tapping into some potentially huge global markets.
Its specialism is (as mentioned earlier) super-capacitors – from the wafer thin, to those large enough to help power a high performance sports car.
In layman’s terms, super-capacitors bridge power gaps.
They store electricity very efficiently, so it is there when it is needed. Importantly, they are able to supply the current in sharp, very powerful bursts.
Chief executive Anthony Kongats says CAP-XX’s technology is ‘disruptive’ on a number of levels
Its Thinline product is the lightest, thinnest super-capacitor on the market and is ideal for electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops where space is at a premium.
The ability to extend battery life is an added bonus that will no doubt be seized on by the consumer electronics industry.
However, the Internet of Things, where machines communicate via wireless, could be transformed by devices such as CAP-XX’s.
Its larger units, used in cars and for jump starting trucks, offer customers 'more punch for their dollar' by being smaller, but more powerful than the other products on the market.
Very little of this latent potential was apparent in the last set of results – the prelims – which were nevertheless revelatory on a number of other levels.
They showed the company’s gross margins, on sales of A$4.4million, had more than doubled to 30.6 per cent in the space of the year as CAP-XX became more efficient.
They also told us the royalties from Japan’s Murata Manufacturing, which uses the technology in a number of electronic devices, were on a sharp upward curve.
CAP-XX AT A GLANCE
AIM ticker: CPX
Value: £19million
Share price: 7.1p
Year high: 8.71p
Low: 0.75p
Notable also was the amount spent on research and development, which at A$2.6mln, was 60 per cent of revenues.
Boss Kongats makes no apologies for the amount invested back into products.
What he is selling is not another ‘me-too’ super-capacitor, but the best in class product, be that at the micro-end of the market, or larger units.
'We need to keep ahead of the competition,' he told Proactive Investors.
'If we cut back then we won’t be huge or a success. We believe there will be large growth in a number of markets we address that justifies the level of R&D
'We have to have something unique to sell.'
Neither is this a single-shot-on-goal company.
It is currently active in areas or developing products for car keys, electronic locks, smart metering and building controls.
Add to that list: smart credit cards, electronic shelf labels, medical and fitness devices and asset tracking.
Tiny product: Its Thinline product is the lightest, thinnest super-capacitor on the market and is ideal for electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops where space is at a premium
Tiny product: Its Thinline product is the lightest, thinnest super-capacitor on the market and is ideal for electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops where space is at a premium
Each, in and of itself, is a multi-million pound market.
'We are selling the shovels here to the gold miners,' CAP-XX boss said.
'I don’t know which application is going to take-off in the medical market for instance, but what I know is they are going to have a better product using CAP-XX.'
Among the high profile products on the market is a next-generation insulin pump that uses its super-capacitors – and provides an entre to the wider medical devices arena.
CAP-XX has a twin-track approach to commercialising its Intellectual property.
The larger opportunities in consumer electronics, mobile telephony and the automotive sector, it will joint venture or license out.
But where the market is smaller, the company will oversee the manufacturing of the product, while maintaining control of the technology at the core.
The plan ultimately is to be for advanced power what Intel is to the computer central processor – the default technology.
Currently CAP-XX’s Thinline product is under evaluation with more than 20 different companies involved in developing machines that talk to one another – part of the so-called Internet of Things.
A further twenty-odd automotive businesses are interested in the technology – some of these collaborations are close to throwing up licensing opportunities.
These and the deal with a tier-1 vehicle components maker to commercialise the truckStart product (it does as the name suggests), should tell investors the next six to 12 months will provide many more catalysts for share price growth.
'What’s held us back in the past is we have been waiting for the technology convergence to happen,' said CEO Kongats.
'We’ve had our technology ready, but others haven’t. That’s all changed and it is having a profound effect on our prospects.'
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-3233901/SMALL-CAP-IDEAS-CAP-XX-s-tiny-super-capacitors-no-laughing-matter-technology-takes-off.html#ixzz3lktc4cWD