Car body panels that store energy

Researchers from Imperial College London and their European partners including Volvo Car Corporation are developing a prototype material which can store and discharge electrical energy while being strong and lightweight enough to be used for car parts.

Ultimately they expect that this material could be used in hybrid petrol/electric vehicles to make them lighter, more compact and more energy efficient.

In the new project the scientists are planning to develop the composite material so that it can be used to replace the metal flooring wheel well in the car boot.

Volvo is investigating the possibility of fitting this wheel well component into prototype cars for testing purposes.

The team says replacing a metal wheel well with a composite one could enable Volvo to reduce the number of batteries needed to power the electric motor. They believe this could lead to a 15 per cent reduction in the car's overall weight which should significantly improve the range of future hybrid cars.

The researchers say that the composite material being developed is made of carbon fibres and a polymer resin and will store and discharge large amounts of energy much more quickly than conventional batteries.

It does not use chemical processes making it quicker to recharge than conventional batteries and recharging causes little degradation in the composite material because it does not involve a chemical reaction.

The material could be charged by plugging a hybrid car into household power supply. The researchers are also exploring other alternatives for charging it such as recycling energy created when a car brakes.

The first stage will see development of the material so it can store more energy.