over the last couple of decades electric cars have evolved from being an alternative form
of transportation to the cornerstone of every major car company's product
roadmap to take evs to the next level of efficiency developers the world over are on
the quest for better batteries but it's a bit of a paradox adding more and bigger batteries
may give the car more power and range but it'll also add weight which can actually reduce the
overall efficiency it's a bit of a paradox but what if there is a way to integrate the battery
into the structure of the car itself so that it doesn't contribute any additional weight
at all could this really make our evs more efficient will they be safe and will there
be any trade-offs we thought these questions deserve a deeper dive today on tuba davinci
special thanks to aura for sponsoring the show the future with the metaverse and nfts can seem
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vehicle efficiency weight is a major factor the heavier an object is the more energy it takes
to get it to move if you've ever lifted weights at the gym you know what i'm talking about i do
all the time this creates a bit of a paradox with vehicles especially battery-powered ones bigger
batteries weigh more meaning they will eat up more of the power they provide it's a vicious cycle
right now eva batteries consume a large portion of the car's overall weight take a tesla model s for
example their batteries weigh about 544 kilograms just under 1200 pounds with a total vehicle weight
of 2241 kilograms the batteries alone comprise almost a quarter of the car's total mass
and that's with no passengers or payload of any kind the problem isn't just the battery's weight
it's that the weight doesn't contribute any load-bearing functions to the rest of the
vehicle so if we need more energy storage and less weight we have a few choices use
more exotic materials to lower the weight of the car leaving more weight for batteries or develop
more energy-dense batteries with more energy per unit of mass the sensitivity to vehicle weight is
so great that the epa estimates that just a 10 reduction in vehicle weight could result in six
to eight percent boost in fuel efficiency but what if there was a way to take better advantage of all
that dead weight what if the batteries themselves could literally do more than just pull their own
weight around that is exactly the idea behind structural zero mass batteries where typical ev
batteries today are built in sequence and stored at the bottom of the chassis a structural battery
is as the name suggests worked into the overall structure of the vehicle these batteries are often
dubbed zero mass because in essence the battery's weight disappears as it's woven directly into the
load-bearing structure major breakthroughs in structural battery technology have recently
been achieved by a team of researchers at the chalmers university of technology in sweden
before we dive into this team and talk about their breakthrough let's talk a little bit about where
the idea for structural batteries came from structural power sources have been utilized
in aerospace technology for decades transport and high performance aircraft commonly have their fuel
source built into the wings or fuselage of the craft an airplane in flight is kind of like a
gymnast with outstretched arms supporting their weight on the rings if they could just cut off
their legs and torso and stick that way closer to their arms then maybe even i could be a gymnast
this is in essence what fuel in the wings does for an aircraft so if we have already seen this
technology in action why haven't we applied it to evs yet so in essence either an aircraft in
flight or a gymnast on the rings have their load bearing forces on the wingtips and all the mass
in the center and that means that you have a lot more torque and weight and fatigue and strain on
all the parts by putting the weight closer to where the lift comes from all that is decreased
so if we have already seen this technology in action why haven't we applied it to ivs yet the
quest for better integrating fuel sources into vehicle design is a rabbit that researchers have
been chasing for a while back in 2007 the us army research laboratory began experiments to develop
a structural battery composite using carbon fiber lamina as the electrode this research acted as a
springboard for researchers at chalmers university who have finally produced just such a battery one
benefit of vvs that doesn't get enough attention is saying goodbye to gas stations which means
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one key element in developing a structural battery has been landing on the right materials
in the past structures that prove structurally sound being lightweight and strong often lack
the proper electrical properties to make a good battery and vice versa but according to chalmers
professor and project lead leaf asp introducing and utilizing carbon fiber has allowed the team
to design a structural battery that checks all the boxes possessing competitive energy storage
and structural integrity so how does a structural battery work it begins with a positive electrode
made of lithium phosphate coated aluminum foil the negative electrode is made out of carbon fiber
which serves as a host for the lithium storing energy while also providing strength and rigidity
because carbon fiber is a great electrical conductor it helps reduce the weight even further
by eliminating the need for additional copper or silver to act as a conductor a fiberglass fabric
in a matrix electrolyte developed by kth row institute of technology separates the electrodes
this electrolyte helps transport lithium ions between the two electrodes while also helping
transfer mechanical loads between carbon fibers and other parts of the vehicle now let's talk
efficiency right now the battery has an energy density of around 24 watt hours per kilogram
which is 10 times better than previous versions but to put that in perspective the 2170 cells
in the tesla model 3 and y have batteries with 246 watt hours per kilogram and tesla claims
their future 4680 cells will come in at 285 so at first glance it doesn't seem like the
structure of battery packs stack up very well against competition does it but this is where
it's time to think like an engineer while the batteries may not have the same energy density
as some of its more dedicated cousins remember they don't have to besides storing energy these
components also double as structure so any energy storage benefit is really just a bonus one that
could reduce the weight of dedicated batteries required the epa even estimates that replacing
cast iron and traditional steel components with lightweight materials could reduce the weight
of a vehicle's body and chassis by about 50 now integrating a battery into the vehicle structure
alone won't make a difference quite on that scale at least not right away but by proving
the viability of such a design we're moving closer and closer to that reality at battery day in 2020
tesla not only revealed their new 4680 battery cells but a new architecture that will integrate
the cell into the future vehicle design think of tesla's battery as structural battery light
the battery isn't built into the vehicle's entire structure instead it's able to reduce
exterior packaging making the dedicated battery area stiffer and lighter this innovative feature
promises to reduce the number of parts needed to construct these designs while also being able to
bring down the total mass of the battery pack tesla projects that this design can
bring vehicle weight down by roughly 10 percent and could increase battery range by roughly 14
when it comes to vehicle structure one element tends to make the highest priority and that's
safety in the event of an accident how safe will my battery be and more importantly how safe will
i be it turns out the carbon fiber structural batteries may be as safe or even safer than most
of the cars on the road today the structures measure a stiffness of 25 gigapascals and a
tensile strength exceeding 300 megapascals meaning the structure is comparable to other commonly used
construction materials tesla's battery pack also utilizes a hexagonal honeycomb design similar to
designs used in aerospace and other vehicles the bmw i3 uses a similar design structure for crash
absorption around the vehicle's battery pack so are we going to start seeing evs outfitted with
zero mass structural batteries in the near future tesla is expected to use their new battery format
in cyber trucks which could be a major win for the future of heavy-duty evs the batteries will
also be utilized in future model wise but the more ambitious total structural battery is likely to be
much further away currently carbon fiber vehicle structure is reserved for only the most demanding
and expensive applications vehicles like the million dollar mclaren senna and the ultra modern
boeing 787 dreamliner both use extensive carbon fiber structure to great benefit but at great cost
that's because currently carbon fiber is a much more expensive material to work with metals such
as steel aluminum are derived from raw ore which is then formed or fabricated into end products
using time tested and standardized processes like casting where molten metal is poured into dyes
or forging where compressive forces are used to shape metal in contrast carbon fiber is
pretty complex requiring a series of carbon layers laid up in an alternating weave pattern
then a binding agent is applied and everything is vacuum sealed and hardened into the desired
pattern this makes it much more time intensive and harder to mass produce if true structural
batteries are to gain prominence they will have to be developed alongside new carbon fiber techniques
in fact perhaps it's the ability to not only be structural but also store energy that might give
engineers the motivation to further pursue the use of carbon fiber the chalmers battery
has also inspired other researchers like scientists from the swedish national space
agency their project replaces the aluminum foil in the positive electrode with carbon
fiber which will help increase energy density as well as stiffness the fiberglass separator will
also be substituted by an ultra thin variant which should allow for faster charging cycles
if they succeed this team of researchers believes that this battery could reach a stiffness of 75
gigapascals with an energy density of 75 watt hours per kilogram pretty incredible however
the team doesn't expect their research to reach any conclusions for at least another two years
and the chalmers battery is also a ways off from production still this research is all heading in
the right direction finding innovative solutions to some of the biggest roadblocks facing evs today
and with companies like tesla already rallying behind these kinds of breakthroughs
we move ever closer to the day where everyone is driving an electric vehicle
but what do you think should evs follow aircraft and integrating batteries into
their structural design let us know in the comments below so that is a look at the zero
mass battery as you can tell we're still outside our studio is not ready yet hopefully in january
but bear with us and all the noise and everything else thank you so much for watching if you want to
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