The B2B platform for full-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles: Product News

A research alliance between Imperial College London and European partners is working on a prototype of multifunctional structural composite material that would boost up the energy storage capacity of electric vehicles and expand their range.

Dr. Emile Greenhalgh from the Department of Aeronautics at Imperial College London is the coordinator of this 3.4 million euro project in which researchers from the Imperial College London have joined forces with Volvo and other European partners to develop the composite material comprising carbon fibers and a polymer resin which can store and discharge electrical energy. This new strong and lightweight material, patented by Imperial, can be used for car parts and would make it possible to store energy in the car body.

Multifunctional components: power generating, energy storing and supporting mechanical loads

Researchers at the US Army Research Lab were the first to demonstrate the potential for multifunctional composite material able to store/deliver electrical energy and carry mechanical loads simultaneously.

South et al. provided in a paper presented at the Materials Research Society Symposium in 2005 three examples of multifunctional power-generating and energy-storing materials: structural lithium-ion batteries, structural proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, and structural capacitors. The objective was to combine functions of single components into one and this way achieve higher system efficiency. Special emphasis was put on designing multifunctional composites that are able to deliver power, store energy and at the same time bear heavy loads.  

The use of these composite material in electric vehicles is furthered by advances in the development of polymer composites, the structure of fibre composites being similar to the configuration of many current electrical storage devices. Carbon fibre composites are indeed commonly used both as electrodes and high performance structural reinforcements. So far, the form of the carbon is different depending on the intended usage. The researchers at the Polymers and Composites Engineering group at Imperial have been investigating the development of a carbon fiber reinforced polymer composite which can act as a supercapacitor and show good mechanical properties.

First integration into the car

In a first approach, the scientists are working on replacing the metal flooring of the wheel well holding the spare wheel, with the composite material. Volvo is already investigating possibilities to fit the composite material wheel well component into prototype cars for testing purposes.

Integration of composite material into the car body will permit to reduce the number or size of batteries needed to power an electric motor. The Volvo Team believes that the wheel well made of composite material will lead to 15% economies on battery and overall car weight.

An additional advantage is that the composite material, in contrast to conventional batteries, does not use chemical processes, making it quicker to recharge and limiting the degradation to a minimum.

Further research

The research alliance is now working on improving the energy storage capacity of the composite material and investigating methods of recharging the material, ranging from plugging into the household power supply to recycling brake energy. Best ways of producing the composite material on industrial level are also under examination.

The 3 year project is funded by the European Union and includes researchers from the Departments of Chemistry, Aeronautics and Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology at Imperial College London, Swerea SICOMP, INASCO Hella, Chalmers, Advanced Composites Group, Nanocyl, Volvo Car Corporation, Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung, ETC Battery and Fuel Cells Sweden.