Cars UK, October
17, 2013
Volvo has
developed a new concept for storing electrical power in a car using car body
panels instead of a battery.
As our cars
become more and more reliant on power from batteries – either to run the
multitude of technology or top provide power for electric motors – the cost and
size of the batteries needed continues to grow.
But Volvo have been working on an alternative
for the last 3.5 years which can potentially do away with the battery and
instead store power in body panels.
Volvo has
built an experimental S80 which has body panels made of carbon fibre and
polymer resins and structural super capacitors. The carbon fibres sandwich the
‘battery’ bit and get moulded to form things like door panels to store the
power.
Power can
be put in to the battery layer from regenerative braking or by plugging the car
in to the mains, and so far Volvo has created two components – a boot lid and
plenum cover – on an S80 using this technology.
The boot
lid – which has the potential to replace a normal battery – actually weighs
less than a conventional boot lid, and the plenum can replace the rally bar due
to its rigidity, and store enough power to replace the start-stop battery.
Volvo
reckons that using this system could cut overall weight by 15 per cent, improve
economy and be more sustainable.
It may be a
few years away from production, but it’s a very smart way to go.
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