Toggle light / dark theme

Self charging car batteries mean you’ll never need to plug in

(21 Oct 2017) LEADIN:

Forget plugging in to charge up your new electric car, engineers are now working towards a future where you never need to plug in ever again.

That’s some time off, but a new generation of batteries is being designed to power the latest electric cars, from high energy cells to power sports models to those that power over long distances.

STORYLINE:

Electric cars are no longer concepts kept in top secret bunkers at a car manufacturers research unit.

Nor are they a seen as four wheeled status symbols of the wealthy elite.

Green light for a new generation of dynamic materials

Developing synthetic materials that are as dynamic as those found in nature, with reversibly changing properties and which could be used in manufacturing, recycling and other applications, is a strong focus for scientists.

In a world-first, researchers from Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Ghent University (UGent) and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have pioneered a novel, dynamic, reprogrammable material—by using green LED and, remarkably, darkness as the switches to change the material’s polymer structure, and using only two inexpensive compounds. One of these compounds, naphthalene, is well known as an ingredient in moth repellents.

The new dynamic material could potentially be used as a 3D printing ink to print temporary, easy-to-remove support scaffolds. This would overcome one of the current limitations of the 3D process to print free-hanging structures.

Tesla Roadster’s SpaceX thruster will be hidden behind the license plate, says Elon Musk

Tesla’s new Roadster is going to come with an optional ‘SpaceX package’ that will include cold air thrusters to improve performance.

Now CEO Elon Musk says that the thruster will be hidden behind the license plate.

When first unveiling the vehicle, Musk claimed a list of insanely impressive specs for the new Roadster, including 0–60 mph in 1.9 sec, 620-mile of range, and more.