Ideally, battery materials should be abundant, cheap, and safe. NaCl (salt) seems to manage three out of three of these, but can it manage the energy and power density of less abundant and more expensive materials such as lithium? Faradion, an English enterprise specializing in “advanced energy storage solutions,” thinks that the salt of the earth may indeed be part of the secret sauce in their new battery. Initial applications will probably be in large energy-storage systems associated with renewable energy, but forward-looking statements (we used to call them predictions) show the potential for lighter, smaller batteries that could compete with lithium-ion cells. Since the introduction of new technology does not usually come from a single source, Faradion is partnered with co-funders Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency; Williams Advanced Engineering and the University of Oxford. The group is building 3 Amp-hour prismatic cells “containing Faradion’s novel cell chemistry, and are being incorporated into battery packs by Williams.” This will …
Sunexelec – Recharging in Flight
The Club d’Ultra Léger d’Alsace is a group of French enthusiasts in Strasbourg, on the German border about halfway between Luxembourg and Switzerland. They have been building ultralight aircraft since 1983, tackling technological innovations such as carbon fiber leading edges, motorization, electrification, and now solar power. They were the first to motorize a Swift, and with one of their craft electrically powered, mounted strips of photovoltaic cells to the upper wing surface. Finding that worked to boost battery duration, the group went on to mount 6.1 square meters of solar cells on an Alpaero Exelec, an ultralight self-launching sailplane. After making 60 flights on battery power between May and April of this year, the group installed the solar cells on the wings, flying 18 times on solar assist between May 21 and July 20. These included eight launches in which the solar cells recharged the airplane’s LiFePO4 batteries during the flight, making the possibility of endless cross-country flight a realizable …
A Hybrid That Doubles Your Odds
Of at least making it home at night. Zero-Grid’s demonstrator looks like an electric green Zap! Zebra sedan from the outside, but houses a wealth of creative energy, along with interior-filling racks of batteries and an innovative charging and switching system. While “range anxiety” is still a concern for buyers of even high-end pure electric cars, this hybrid system promises a final electricity-driven sprint even when the fuel runs out. Using a “Battery Alternating Recharging Process” (BARP), Michael Hargett,the car’s inventor, says Zero-Grid’s Zero Kar™, with two or more individual battery packs and a hybrid generator, can recharge one battery pack while the other runs the car. By alternating power and charging among multiple battery packs, the car achieves high mileage even for a hybrid, showing over 131 miles per gallon on average, with one run producing over 141 mpg. It also has reasonable performance, topping 70 miles per hour: the original Zap! Car could only do about 45 mph …
Dr. Eric Darcy, Building Better Batteries
Dr. Eric Darcy, the battery group leader at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas was selected last year as an Innovation Ambassador, and worked with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado to devise mathematical models for lithium ion battery performance. This was part of NASA’s Innovative Partnerships Program, which allows some of NASA’s most talented scientists and engineers to work at several of America’s leading innovative external research and development organizations. NASA explains that the “inaugural group of ambassadors is initiating the planned annual program targeting opportunities to create NASA partnerships and new innovation sources outside of the traditional aerospace field. During assignments of up to one year, the NASA ambassadors will share their own expertise while learning about innovative products, processes and business models. After returning to NASA, the ambassador may share new ideas with co-workers and implement innovations within their organizations.” Dr. Darcy’s work has far-reaching consequences, especially since it involves the design of batteries …