Carbon Fiber Battery Could Drop Weight of Cars by Half
Sinonus, a spin-out from Chalmers University of Technology (CTU), is revolutionizing the transportation industry with its carbon fiber material that can store electrical energy. This innovation could reduce the weight of cars and aircraft by up to 50% by functioning both as a structural component and a battery, eliminating the need for separate heavy batteries.
CTU Professor Leif Asp highlighted that this material combines competitive energy storage capacity with rigidity. Sinonus CEO Markus Zetterström explained that their carbon fiber composite can increase electrical storage without adding weight or volume, or it can reduce system weight while maintaining battery capacity.
The energy density of this material is currently 25-50% of a conventional lithium-ion battery. Despite not matching traditional batteries in efficiency, its structural load-bearing capability offers significant system-level gains in weight, strength, stiffness, and electrochemical properties. This integrated approach could optimize vehicles more effectively than focusing on individual components.
CTU’s research on structural batteries has evolved over years, with notable milestones including a 2018 discovery that carbon fiber-based batteries could reduce vehicle and aircraft weight and a 2021 announcement of a structural battery with ten times the previous performance, featuring an energy density of 24 Wh/kg.
Sinonus has demonstrated the technology’s viability in low-power devices and is now scaling up for larger applications, such as electric vehicles and aircraft, in collaboration with industry partners. This technology promises weight reduction, increased energy efficiency, and enhanced safety, potentially transforming the future of transportation.