QUT Researchers Developing ‘Body-Powered’ Electric Cars

Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) are close to developing ‘body-powered’ car panels, thanks to a technical breakthrough.

The university has developed a lightweight ‘super-capacitor’, which it says can be combined with existing electric vehicle batteries to dramatically boost output.

The super-capacitor is a ‘sandwich’ of electrolytes between two all-carbon electrodes, and is thin yet extremely strong with a high power density.

This allows them to be grouped and stored inside roof, door and floor panels in cars, where they can provide a burst of energy to the EV’s battery for improved acceleration and speed up charging times to just a few minutes.

Eventually, super-capacitors could work without the usual stack of lithium-ion batteries and provide up to 500km of range. They also weigh a fraction of what conventional batteries do, meaning future EVs could be much lighter.

Technology