Renewable energy and electric vehicles have a common bottleneck to widespread adoption: safe, reliable, inexpensive, and eco-friendly energy storage. Engineers at Volvo have a solution that could have a significant impact on both markets: batteries and supercapacitors that can be integrated into building materials.
Led by researchers from Imperial College London, a European consortium consisting of nine organizations - Volvo being the only car manufacturer - developed a lithium battery surrounded by carbon fiber. The resulting battery charges faster than conventional batteries, but that’s just part of the story. The carbon fiber adds strength and allows the battery to be molded into various shapes, which means that the batteries can be integrated into the vehicle’s parts. Volvo claims that this innovation could reduce the weight of a car by about 15%.
Volvo is currently testing these devices in its S80 experimental prototype car, a gasoline-powered vehicle. The new battery, integrated into the car’s structure, replaces the 12V battery that’s normally used to drive the starter and run the accessories when the car’s engine is turned off. From there, they could scale up to a hybrid and eventually a fully electric vehicle.
Here’s a video describing the technology:
Although they don’t mention it, I can picture a spin-off technology coming from this: building materials with integrated storage. We already have photovoltaic roof shingles producing power, and research on spray-on PV will eventually lead to entire buildings capable of generating energy … during the day. The integration of storage is the missing piece of the puzzle, and this team from Europe may have produced it.
I do see some issues, however. This technology applies to both supercapacitors and batteries. Although supercaps have long lifespans, they don’t store as much energy as batteries and their voltages decrease linearly as they discharge. Batteries, on the other hand, have more energy density and maintain their voltage levels until almost completely discharged, but they have short lives compared to the life of a car, and even shorter relative to the life of a building. Depending on cost, it may be feasible to replace car parts when the integrated batteries begin to fail, but I can’t see that happening for the outside walls of a house.
And of course, there’s the safety issue. Currently, hybrid and electric cars have their battery banks in a well-protected part of the vehicle so they won’t be subjected to impact during a crash. I’m not sure how confident I’d feel knowing that the batteries are on the outside of the car.
As the old proverb says, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. In this case, it’s a very small step. If they can assure safety and improve battery longevity, then this technology could gain some momentum.
Images and video courtesy of Volvo Car Group