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Advances in technology across industry

Vehicles that could run forever

Forget the obsession with driverless autonomous cars; energy independent vehicles (EIV) are the megatrend. Electric land vehicles, boats, underwater craft and aircraft already exist that never plug in or refuel. Most use solar cells for their power, storing the power for night use. They are not without shortcomings – few use bad weather harvesting and they waste much of the captured energy as heat. However, the good news is that these weaknesses can be fixed. The best EIVs will charge batteries, even while stationary, using onboard energy harvesting equipment. Tethered aircraft charging ship batteries at tens of kilowatts have been demonstrated. You can buy boats that charge batteries by the propeller going backwards when the boat is moored in a tidestream and, with sailing boats, when under sail. In windy areas, a car could erect a wind turbine and extend more solar panels when parked. Spray-on solar is also promised.

Dr Peter Harrop of analysts IDTechEx enthuses, “Taken together, the multiple uses of energy harvesting for internal efficiency and for external sourcing of energy can give tenfold increase in performance by 2025. Structural electronics will take it further. Even remote regions and developing countries will afford EIVs with near-zero operating cost and ultimate freedom of use. Today’s demonstrations and plans shows this will encompass on- and off-road vehicles, boats, ships, airships and fixed wing planes. It will not all happen overnight but here is a huge new industry in the making.”

The whole electric vehicle business is forecasted by IDTechEx to be around $400bn in 2026, rising strongly thereafter. The report provides unique insight into electrical EIVs on land, on water, underwater and in the air with the electric vehicle market addressable by energy independence technology forecasted in 45 categories. Visit: www.IDTechEx.com/eiv.

Synthetic batteries for the energy revolution

Ateam of researchers at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU Jena), in the Centre for Energy and Environmental Chemistry (CEEC Jena) and the JenaBatteries GmbH (a spin-off of the University Jena), have made a decisive step towards a redox-flow battery which is simple to handle, safe and economical at the same time. They developed a system on the basis of organic polymers and a harmless saline solution.

“What’s new and innovative about our battery is that it can be produced at a much lower cost, while nearly reaching the capacity of traditional metal and acid containing systems,” Dr Martin Hager says.

In contrast to conventional batteries, the electrodes of a redox-flow battery are not made of solid materials (e.g. metals or metal salts) but come in a dissolved form. The electrolyte solutions are stored in two tanks, which form the positive and negative terminal of the battery. With the help of pumps the polymer solutions are transferred to an electrochemical cell, in which the polymers are electrochemically reduced or oxidised, thereby charging or discharging the battery. To prevent the electrolytes from intermixing, the cell is divided into two compartments by a membrane. Visit: www.uni-jena.de

Volvo Cars and Autoliv join forces in Autonomous Driving

Volvo Cars, the premium car maker, and Autoliv, the automotive safety technology company, two of the world’s leaders in automotive safety, have agreed to work together on the groundbreaking Drive Me project, the world’s first largescale autonomous driving (AD) initiative.

Drive Me involves 100 self-driving Volvos being used by families and commuters on public roads in everyday driving conditions in the Swedish city of Gothenburg – the first time anywhere in the world AD cars have been made available to members of the public for their daily use.

Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars, said: “We are delighted to welcome Autoliv to the Drive Me family. Autonomous driving will make our roads better and safer. The sooner we can develop the necessary technologies and start offering them in our cars the better.”

One extremely important aspect of autonomous driving is the potential for far fewer traffic accidents, injuries and fatalities. According to independent statistics, over 90 per cent of all fatal accidents are believed to be caused by human error, typically due to inattention. A self-driving car can detect and respond to situations causing these tragedies. The present active safety systems for Autonomous Emergency Braking, Lane Departure Warning and Safety Lane Keeping Aid are examples of the first step towards automated driving. Visit: www.volvocars.com