Electric Motorcycle without Batteries
Electric motorcycles are hindered by the size and weight of conventional batteries, but the answer could be in lightweight supercapacitors built into the bodywork.An scientists at a Austrian university are working on supercapacitors which they believe could one day replace batteries in electric motorcycles. One of the scientists said supercapacitors can deliver more energy in bursts, which would be great for acceleration.
Supercapacitors are a thin, light and strong film made of two a — carbon electrodes sandwiched around an electrolyte. They could easily be placed within the bodywork of a sportsbike. A drawback is that they don't store a lot of charge so you need a lot of them. The science team explained that at the moment they would be more practical in cars with large panels and surface area.
'But we are making rapid advances all the time and they are feasible for use in electric motorcycles.' one of the scientists said. 'I've just received an email of a paper in which they claim they found a new way of holding the charge. It's all a work in progress.' Another advantage of supercapacitors over batteries is that they charge much more quickly.
Perhaps the answer is a combination of battery and supercapacitors to give electric motorcycles more range and faster charging. These have been the two biggest hurdles for the introduction of electric vehicles.
The science team hope supercapacitors will one day store more energy than a lithium-ion battery while retaining the ability to release its energy up to 10 times faster. They say that they can see the day when they provide electric vehicles with the same range as petrol-powered vehicles.Tag: Electric-Power Electric Vehicle EV Electric Bike Technology Business Science Battery
