We practice batteries for just about everything in our lives , from ourcell phonesandlaptopcomputers to the toys our kids play with . These lilliputian miracle auto are quite amazing , really . You ca n’t see it , but a chemical reaction that generates electricity is happening just inside the knocked out shell of the barrage casing . A battery provides a flow of electron – from the negative terminal to the positive terminal – resulting in an electric electric current . If you ’d like more detailed information about the internal workings of batteries , you may also readHow Batteries body of work .
We know that electricity is a herculean matter , and there ’s no denying that it ’s having a greater impact on fare every class . Whileelectric carshave been around as long as machine themselves , we ’re see more and more car companies investing meaning resources into electric automobile - power cars – admit accelerator - galvanic hybrids . But the assault and battery in those railcar are passably large and pricy , too .
But do you guess it ’s potential to power a car – one that you may actually sit around in and labor – using wide-eyed , home AA batteries like the ones you might find in a kid ’s toy or a clock radio receiver ?
The short solution is yes . It ’s potential ; however , this has n’t been essay very often because AA battery have such low-pitched mightiness outputs . The typical AA battery beget just 1.5 volts of electrical energy . equate that to the battery ingroup on a typical hybrid car , which can generate about 300 V – enough to power the car ( via electric motor ) without the use of its engine at low speeds .
Imagine then , just how many AA battery it would take to power a full - size of it hybrid elevator car , and how difficult ( and costly ) it would be to perpetually swap fresh , unexampled batteries for previous , worn - out batteries . In other words , it ’s really not very practical to move a car using standard family batteries .
But that did n’t discontinue a few engineers from give it a stab . In one memorable instance , a squad of gear heads in Japan was able-bodied to get a AA shelling - powered car – yes , an actual , work motorcar – to run up to 75 mile per hr ( 120.7 kilometers per hour ) !
The Panasonic Oxyride Speed Challenge
In 2006 , Nipponese electronics maker Panasonic team up up with the Tokyo Institute of Technology to create a man plane power by 160 AA batteries . While that was an incredible achievement , Panasonic need to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records , and apparently manned , battery - power airplanes was n’t a category in the Guinness record book [ root : Guinness World Records ] .
So , in 2007 , Panasonic found another target : scoop the land - hurrying record for a juiceless - cellbattery - poweredcar . And so , the Panasonic Oxyride Speed Challenge start . It was named for the muscular – 1.7 V instead of the standard 1.5 volt – non - rechargeable barrage fire made by the company .
The car was built by Panasonic engineers and students from Osaka Sangyo University , and it was quite unlike from the car we drive to work everyday . sit just inches off the ground at 1 foot , 10 inches ( 56 centimeters ) in top , it looked more like a recollective , dispirited - riding bullet with tires than a car . This vehicle was built more along the line of a soapbox racer than a distinctive street car , and through the use of extremist - lightweightcarbon roughage , it weigh a light 83 pound ( 38 kilograms ) .
That small sizing was necessary to get the car up to swiftness – Panasonic wanted 65 miles per hour ( 104.6 kilometers per 60 minutes ) – on the relatively modest amount of power that AA bombardment can leave . In this case , the racer used 192 AA batteries . That ’s right – imagine a battery gang consist of 200 of the same stamp battery you expend in your clock radio being used to lend a vehicle up to highway speeds !
The electric battery pack was range in the rear of the vehicle right on behind number one wood Takashi Sudo , who recline flat on his back to navigate the railcar . Once he was inside , the work party place the plastic and carbon fiber consistence over him .
So how tight did it go ? Those petite barrage were enough to propel the racer to an intermediate speed of 65.5 miles per hour ( 105.95 km per 60 minutes ) and a top stop number of 75.8 geographical mile per hour ( 122 kilometer per hour ) [ reference : Guinness World Records ] . The batteries ran out of succus after about three - quarters of a international mile ( 1.2 kilometre ) , but it was enough to net the squad a Guinness World Record .
So , while you may not be commute to put to work in the Panasonic AA - powered speedster anytime soon , Panasonic did establish that you may power a railcar with AA shelling . That is , provided you have a whole flock of them , a fomite that ’s extremely lightweight andaerodynamicand with the add expectation that it ’ll only control for a very short distance .
For more entropy about batteries , shelling - powered cars and other related topic , follow the link on the next pageboy .
