The size and especially the weight of batteries is a critical factor for most things that use them. Battery weight is a key limitation for computers and cell phones. It is even more of a limitation for electric cars, ships, or planes.
If the battery of a device or vehicle can also function as a load-bearing structure, its weight and energy consumption can be dramatically reduced. This concept of a structural battery is sometimes called massless energy storage. It has the potential to halve the weight of a laptop computer, make cell phones as thin as a credit card, and increase the range of an electric car by as much as 70%.
Researchers at Chalmers University in Sweden have been working on structural battery technology for many years. Their first published results in 2018 showed how stiff, strong carbon fibers could be used for chemical storage of electrical energy.
Since then, they have been creating batteries with increasing energy density. Their latest versions still have only a quarter of the capacity of today’s lithium-ion batteries. But if batteries can be part of the structure of a vehicle, for example, and can be made of lightweight materials like carbon fiber, then the overall weight of the vehicle can be greatly reduced and not nearly as much energy will be needed to power it.
The goal of the Chalmers research is to achieve battery performance that makes it possible to commercialize the technology. There is a lot of engineering work to be done before these structural batteries can go from laboratory proofs of concept to real world use. But the potential is quite promising.
**********
Web Links
World’s strongest battery paves way for light, energy-efficient vehicles
Photo, posted August 8, 2024, courtesy of NOI Techpark via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio
Leave a Reply