Carbon fibre can act as a structural battery component in vehicle bodies

Structural batteries have been under consideration for electric vehicles for some years. For example, Lord Paul Drayson’s record-breaking electric racing cars incorporated prototypes of these components. Put simply, structural batteries are energy storage devices which form part of the overall structure of the vehicle: this could be the bodywork or chassis of an electric car, or part of the fuselage or skin or the underlying supporting framework of an aircraft. In theory, performing "double duty" as both part of the structure and the energy storage capability of the vehicle is a method of reducing weight. However, previous prototypes of structural battery systems have been found wanting in both capacities.

Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have now found a new way of transforming composite panels into batteries. Led by Leif Asp, a professor of material and computational mechanics, the team has been researching how carbon fibres in composites could be used as components of lithium ion batteries formed out of the panelwork itself. "It will also be possible to use the carbon fibre for other purposes such as harvesting kinetic energy, for sensors or for conductors of both energy and data. If all these functions were part of a car or aircraft body, this could reduce the weight by up to 50 per cent," Asp claimed.