{"id":327438,"date":"2010-02-16T07:44:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-16T12:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864176.post-8466428738415194438"},"modified":"2010-02-16T07:46:47","modified_gmt":"2010-02-16T12:46:47","slug":"electric-cars-put-a-battery-in-your-roof","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/327438","title":{"rendered":"Electric cars: put a battery in your roof"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFP has an article on some nanotechnology research in the UK which may lead to lighter batteries – Electric cars: put a battery in your roof<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A nanoscale material developed in Britain could one day yield wafer-thin cellphones and light-weight, long-range electric cars powered by the roof, boot and doors, researchers have reported.<\/p>\n

For now, the new technology — a patented mix of carbon fibre and polymer resin that can charge and release electricity just like a regular battery — has not gone beyond a successful laboratory experiment.<\/p>\n

But if scaled-up, it could hold several advantages over existing energy sources for hybrid and electric cars, according to the scientists at Imperial College London who developed it.<\/p>\n

Lithium-ion batteries used in the current generation of plug-in vehicles are not only heavy, which adds to energy consumption, but also depend on dwindling supplies of the metal lithium, whose prices have risen steadily.<\/p>\n

The new material — while expensive to make — is entirely synthetic, which means production would not be limited by availability of natural resources.<\/p>\n

Another plus: conventional batteries need chemical reactions to generate juice, a process which causes them to degrade over time and gradually lose the capacity to hold a charge.<\/p>\n

The carbon-polymer composite does not depend on chemistry, which not only means a longer life but a quicker charge as well.<\/p>\n

Because the material is composed of elements measured in billionths of a metre, “you don’t compromise the mechanical properties of the fibers,” explained Emile Greenhalgh, an engineer at Imperial College and one of the inventors.<\/p>\n

As hard a steel, it could in theory double as the body of the vehicle, cutting the weight by up to a third.<\/p>\n

The Tesla Roadster, a luxury electric car made in the United States, for example, weighs about 1,200 kilos (2,650 pounds), more than a third of which is accounted for by batteries, which turn the scales at a hefty 450 kilos (990 pounds). The vehicle has a range of about 300 kilometers (185 miles) before a recharge is needed.<\/p>\n

“With our material, we would ultimately lose that 450 kilos (990 pounds),” Greenhalgh said in an interview. “That car would be faster and travel further.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n