Automobile engineers and car manufacturers are regularly introducing new technologies in cars. It has been quite some time that electric cars have been running on roads, and auto makers are constantly working on new cars which can run on alternative fuel options. Such innovations will play an important role in providing clean environment, and allow automakers to adopt new hybrid technologies. Offering electric cars bring some hurdle for automakers such as the massive space and weight of batteries. So innovators around the world are experimenting new technologies in cars to tackle these issues.
To address this concern, car manufacturer in Europe have been researching and testing an automobile technology that allows body panels to store energy and charge faster than the current batteries. These energy-storing body panels are made of carbon resin and polymer fiber that is strong enough to play as an auto body. Despite being strong, the body panels are flexible to get moulded into panels.
Engineers have designed these panels to absorb energy from multiple ways, including regenerative braking and plugging-in overnight. The energy is then stored and released as per the demand. The engineers have used lightweight capacitors, which are basically thin, bulky, high-density films consisting two all-carbon electrodes engaged in electrolyte. These films have been set in car roofs, body panels, bonnets, doors, and floors.
The advantages of this automobile technology would add to the existing benefits of an electric car, which include zero emissions and superior acceleration. This technology will contribute significantly to new cars by reducing the size of electric car batteries, removing the wasted energy used up in moving the extra weight in batteries.
Low-end electric cars use very heavy lead-acid type batteries, while the high-end cars run on lithium-ion batteries that have little weight difference with their supplement. The energy-storing body panels come with lightweight capacitors, which are likely to overcome this weight challenge. Adding to it, these panels combine the benefits of lithium-ion batteries with the ability of super-capacitors to provide energy in large spurts, thus allowing them to store much more charge for longer travelling distance.
