This article was taken from the January 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Built by liechtenstein-based research firm nanoFLOWCELL, this is the Quant e-Sportlimousine. The electric car contains a new battery technology that, the company claims, can provide five times more energy than lithium-ion batteries -- the standard used in electric vehicles. The car is being road tested in Germany, Switzerland and France and the company says the higher energy density can power the vehicle to 350kph, and to 100kph in just under three seconds. "We currently demonstrate a technological edge of about 15 to 20 years," says Nunzio La Vecchia, the company's chief technology officer.
Flow-cell batteries, on which the Quant runs, generate energy by pumping two electrolyte solutions -- in this case saline solutions, one negatively charged, the other positively -- over complementary electrodes in two halves of a battery pack. That creates a voltage difference, which drives ions across a central membrane between the two halves, and electrons through an external circuit. This creates a current that flows through two supercapacitors (supercaps) to the e-motors, controlled by the vehicle control unit (VCU). The Quant contains two 200-litre tanks of this solution surrounding the nanoFLOWCELL battery. Flow cells can cut emissions completely and are long-term sources of energy -- but they also tend to be costly and less powerful than other fuels. "Finding materials that are inexpensive, have very fast reaction rates and a high energy density is challenging," says Anthony Kucernak, a professor of chemical physics at Imperial College London. "If [nanoFLOWCELL] has achieved this, it would certainly be exciting."
The company expects vehicle approval by 2016 and is working on two more prototypes of the car. "The nanoFLOWCELL has the potential to bring about a revolution of electric mobility," says La Vecchia.
Next is exploring its potential to power railways, ships and planes.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
