We are very proud to announce our next webinar with Prof. Leif Asp of the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. Professor Asp’s research is focused on efficient design methodologies for carbon fibre composite transport applications. The research relies on more than twenty-five years’ experience in damage tolerance modelling, design and certification methods for aircraft composite structures. Passenger aircraft need to be much lighter than they are today in order to be powered by electricity. A reduction in weight is also very important for vehicles in order to extend the driving distance per battery charge.
Leif Asp, Professor of Material and Computational Mechanics at Chalmers University of Technology, conducts research into the ability of carbon fibres to perform more tasks than simply to act as a reinforcing material. They can store energy, for example.
Recently researchers from Chalmers University of Technology announced to have produced a structural battery that performs ten times better than all previous versions. It contains carbon fibre that serves simultaneously as an electrode, conductor, and load-bearing material. Their latest research breakthrough paves the way for essentially ’massless’ energy storage in vehicles and other technology.
Join the webinar May 20th
The batteries in today’s electric cars constitute a large part of the vehicles’ weight, without fulfilling any load-bearing function. A structural battery, on the other hand, is one that works as both a power source and as part of the structure – for example, in a car body. This is termed ‘massless’ energy storage, because in essence the battery’s weight vanishes when it becomes part of the load-bearing structure. Calculations show that this type of multifunctional battery could greatly reduce the weight of an electric vehicle.
Prof. Leif Asp, who is leading this project, estimates the battery could reach an energy density of 75 Wh/kg and a stiffness of 75 GPa. This would make the battery about as strong as aluminium, but with a comparatively much lower weight.
In this webinar we will discuss this fabulous pioneering research and the possible impact of this great breakthrough for ’massless’ energy storage.