Imperial innovation uses car body as battery

Researchers from Imperial College London and several European partners, including Volvo, aim to develop a composite material that can not only store and discharge electrical energy but which is strong and lightweight enough to form part of the car’s structure.

In 10 years, they expect that the carbon-fibre-resin composite could be used in hybrid petrol/electric vehicles to make them lighter, more compact and more energy efficient, enabling drivers to travel for longer distances before recharging them.

The project’s co-ordinator, Dr Emile Greenhalgh, a reader in composite materials at the Department of Aeronautics at Imperial College London, believes that cars of the future could eventually be drawing power from their roofs, bonnets or even their doors.

Initially, the engineers are planning to enhance the properties of a prototype material they have developed so it can be used to create a composite component that will replace the metal flooring in the well of a car boot where the spare wheel is kept.