As Swedish carmaker Volvo to team up with Imperial College London on a 3.4 million euro project, possibilities for the concerns over the impracticality of electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles may soon come to an end. The duo to work...
As Swedish carmaker Volvo to team up with Imperial College London on a 3.4 million euro project, possibilities for the concerns over the impracticality of electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles may soon come to an end. The duo to work together to develop a prototype material that stores and discharges electrical energy, allowing parts of a car’s bodywork to double up as its battery. The project will help quash the very thought of being stranded at a location with dead battery and no recharge station for miles which is a major affliction people eschew buying an EV or HEV.
The project will work on an idea to store energy in different parts of the electric or hybrid car and then use this energy to power anything from the brake lights to the satnav. The technology will feature small and fewer batteries being used that could power the vehicle for a longer period of time without the need to recharge. Well, if this thing comes out to be true, it will not only be a new paradigm in energy conservation but will reduce the charging stations considerably.
The other possible +ve outcomes of this energy storage technology include: it would lead to lighter vehicles on the road, which obviously translates to less road wear-and-tear per car in the future. With all the research work going on, it doesn’t seem improbable to think of a car drawing power from its roof, bonnet etc or mobile phone as thin as credit card or laptop that can draw energy from its casing.
Via: Technabob
