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Wooden Ships, Cars, and Cities – Old Hat or New Thinking?

October 25, 2018 By Don Doman

Batteries storing energy for electric cars are heavy, but imagine electric cars built, not with steel, but with a shell of carbon fibers that also act as a battery. Currently, there are estimates that reductions of vehicle weight up to 50% might be possible. My little neighborhood ZENN (Zero Emissions No Noise) had six car batteries in the back and two more under the hood.

My little neighborhood ZENN (Zero Emissions No Noise) had six car batteries in the back and two more under the hood.

“Electric cars typically need larger, denser batteries if they’re going to meet the range expectations of people used to gas-powered vehicles, but available space and weight limit the size of that battery. Researchers might have a solution: turn the very body of the car into a battery. They’ve conducted a study showing that carbon fiber shells could serve as battery electrodes. The trick is to optimize the size and orientation of the fibers so there’s a good balance between stiffness and the electrochemical traits needed to store energy.” – engadget.com/2018/10/21/electric-car-carbon-fiber-battery/?yptr=yahoo

Researchers might have a solution: turn the very body of the (carbon fiber) car into a battery.

Wikipedia explains “Carbon fibers have several advantages including high stiffness, high tensile strength, low weight, high chemical resistance, high temperature tolerance and low thermal expansion.” In the Third Punic War the women of Carthage donated their hair, which was then braided into cords and became the bow-strings to propel arrows at the Romans. Carbon fibers are thinner than human hair, but like the Carthaginian bow-strings they get their strength from being twisted together like yarn.

All life on Earth is carbon-based. Carbon fiber is expensive . . . right now, but there are other possibilities along the same line of thinking. Carbon comes in at #4 in the most abundant elements of the universe following hydrogen, helium, and oxygen.

The US Forest Service has a new cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) “pilot” plant. The CNC is made from wood by-products. CNCs can be stronger and cheaper than Kevlar or carbon fiber. The projected costs of CNCs is less than ten percent of Kevlar or carbon fiber. – newatlas.com/cellulose-nanocrystals-stronger-carbon-fiber-kevlar/23959/

Carbon fibers are thinner than human hair, but like the Carthaginian bow-strings they get their strength from being twisted together like yarn.

It’s nice to see the circular thinking of progress. Wooden boats began trade between regions and then far off lands. Wooden carts and wagons provided commerce as they delivered goods. Wooden homes let us build rapidly. Science brought us metals and machinery, and now here we are considering the possibilities of living in a wooden world again.

The projected costs of cellulose nanocrystals is less than ten percent of Kevlar or carbon fiber.

If electric cars can be built with incredibly strong carbon fibers and provide battery storage for electric power perhaps we could connect the dots and create CNCs that also collect and store energy. They could provide incredibly strong building materials for houses and larger buildings. Many people are converting their homes and business buildings to solar power, but just around the corner we could be using 3-D printed homes, automobiles, ships, and perhaps space ships of cellulose. “Wooden” that be fantastic?

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About Don Doman

Don Doman: Professional writer and author. Ideas and Training - Human Resources/business training products for modern business. PublicDoman - Video production, internet video, website construction and online marketing and social media. NW Adventures - Fun places to visit in the Pacific Northwest: Great Restaurants, Lodging, and People. The Doman Directories - Business directory listings for many categories in Tacoma, Pierce County, and Washington State. FindItWashington - Local search engine for Washington State.

Comments

  1. P Rose says

    October 26, 2018 at 9:27 am

    I can see the headline now, “Electric shock kills pedestrian struck by charged car body.”

    • Don Doman says

      October 26, 2018 at 10:18 am

      P Rose,
      I think the more likely scenario is “Sticker shock kills pedestrians and drivers . . .” I do like the new Volvo policy of not selling their cars, but just renting them based on a monthly flat fee, which would cover almost everything. No insurance on the price, however!
      Thanks, again for commenting . . . and making my day.
      Don

  2. Dennis Flannigan says

    October 26, 2018 at 10:11 am

    Passenger complains there’s too much interference for her iPhone in their Carbonarro Lite-Ning, and neighbor kids have been chopping off fenders for fuel. It does get 237 miles per watt, but don’t touch the door while driving.

    Still an improvement over the early ZENN (Zero Emissions No Noise), which required battery charges after each 11 mile drive. Hard to carry a minimum of two batteries eleven miles back to the charging cord.

    • Don Doman says

      October 26, 2018 at 10:29 am

      Dennis,
      Thank you for the note . . . I do need to point out that some of your friends on the not the brightest bulbs in the knife drawer. I told your friend to order the pasta carbonara, not the carbonarro lite!

      Please, don’t malign my ZENN cars . . . carrying the two batteries for eleven miles would have been my only exercise. That’s why I always carried a five hundred foot extension cord. I could always count of the kindness of strangers . . . and an electrical outlet.
      Don

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