Electric vehicles are much more efficient than their internal combustion counterparts, mainly due to the efficiency of electric powertrains. However, the Li-ion batteries used in current EVs have very low specific energy storage, i.e., they are heavy yet can’t store much energy. Fortunately, a new carbon fiber battery could soon be commercialized, which could solve some of the problems of the current crop of batteries used for energy storage.
As a result of research from Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology, these carbon fiber batteries can also be used for structural applications. University spin-off startup Sinonus now wants to commercialize and produce these batteries at scale. They could have huge implications for various industries. Notably, Sinonus imagines them for producing blades for wind turbines, which could be used for energy storage without the weight penalty.
However, EVs or eVTOLs can also be made from these carbon fiber batteries, which could also become lighter, potentially receiving huge range boosts. Volvo already had a similar idea, as the company was researching carbon fiber body panels as energy storage a decade ago. Of course, a carbon fiber battery won’t be as energy-dense as a Li-ion one, but it also doesn’t add weight compared to just using carbon fiber as a structural material. Moreover, it would be much lighter than a structure built from aluminum or steel.
In its solution, Sinonus uses carbon fiber to build the positive and negative electrodes, separated by a glass fiber separator and packaged inside a structural electrolyte. In a sense, this also means this is a solid-state battery, which would make it much safer on impact than a regular Li-ion battery. “The company’s innovative breakthrough in adding the dimension of electrical energy storage to carbon fiber has the potential to be truly transformative across a wide range of industries,” said Markus Zetterström, CEO of Sinonus. “Storing electrical energy in carbon fiber may perhaps not become as efficient as traditional batteries, but since our carbon fiber solution also has a structural load-bearing capability, very large gains can be made at a system level,” he added.
