Ultrastart – A Novel Emergency Power Jump Starter Based on Ultracapacitive Technology

Student: Arnaud Bacyé, 2015-2016

Emergency power technologies are largely dominated by battery units, generating about $387 million annually. Used in emergencies such as when a vehicle battery dies, these chemicals-based devices are however subject to a multitude of limiting factors, that restricts their use for a variety of applications. Among the many defects these battery units face, limited working time (hence need for replacement), restricted output power, malfunctioning under extreme weather conditions and slow charge cycle are the most pressing, especially for jumpstarting applications. After several years of research and development, Slipstream Projects has designed a low-cost, customizable and modular emergency pack based on ultracapacitor technology that overcomes the problems with battery units so as to efficiently and safely jump start commercial vehicle fleets. This thesis project entails finalizing the design of the unit, refining the Slipstream current web based product customization engine (allowing vehicle owners to order units specifically tailored to their application), building the online presence, kick-starting the marketing campaign and finally launching the product line in our beachhead market, namely the approximately 300,000 commercial vehicle fleets in the United States, with a primary focus on heavy vehicles with diesel engines.