Student’s graphene battery could cut EV charging times

Josh de Wit, a second-year mechanical engineering student from the University of Sussex, has won the Autocar-Courland Next Generation Award for 2016 with a concept that could dramatically reduce charging times for electric vehicles (EVs) and reduce the weight of their batteries. Josh’s design harnesses the remarkable qualities of graphene, a form of pure carbon in sheets that are just one atom thick. A car battery made with stacked graphene, he says, would take far less time to charge, store more energy
December 8, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Josh de Wit, a second-year mechanical engineering student from the University of Sussex, has won the Autocar-Courland Next Generation Award for 2016 with a concept that could dramatically reduce charging times for electric vehicles (EVs) and reduce the weight of their batteries.

Josh’s design harnesses the remarkable qualities of graphene, a form of pure carbon in sheets that are just one atom thick. A car battery made with stacked graphene, he says, would take far less time to charge, store more energy and be cheaper, stronger and lighter than existing products. This is because graphene is highly conductive, light and strong and far less would be needed.

Josh, who studies in the University’s School of Engineering and Informatics, is currently on placement with electric-motor company YASA. In the spring, he will begin a six-month work experience tour of some of the major automakers, including 1683 Honda, 7998 Jaguar Land Rover, McLaren, 838 Nissan, Peugeot and 1686 Toyota.

He is also working with the University’s business incubator, Sussex Innovation, to develop a prototype and bring his stacked-graphene battery concept to market.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Personal Rapid Transit, clear benefits for European cities
    July 26, 2012
    David Crawford watches the race to get the world's first PRT system up and running. To paraphrase the old joke about buses bunching, you seem to have to wait several decades for a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system, and then half a dozen come along together. Currently, in fact, there are well over that number of schemes for driverless electric passenger-carrying 'pod' networks at various stages of planning, design and implementation around the world. Locations range from a straight-off-the-drawing board ne
    Read More
  • Helsinki’s residents trial MaaS as alternative to private cars
    August 21, 2018
    Would you give up your own car? Helsinki implemented MaaS late last year and Colin Sowman discovers that the initial reaction has been positive What would it take for you to give up your own car? That is the question posed by Sampo Hietanen, the so-called ‘father’ of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) and CEO of MaaS Global. And he is about to discover if MaaS really will convince the people of Helsinki to do the unthinkable. MaaS Global introduced a fledgling version of its Whim app in the city in late 2016
    Read More
  • Driving hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to market
    July 19, 2017
    An EU-funded project, with the support of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint undertaking (FCH JU), has installed hydrogen filling stations, tested prototype fuel cell vehicles and brought together car makers and infrastructure providers to push forward the commercial viability of this zero-emissions technology. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which manufacturers aim to make commercially available from 2018, offer zero-emissions transport and function much like an electric vehicle. However, fuel cell vehicles mu
    Read More
  • Ford and Toyota announce hybrid and telematics collaboration
    April 18, 2012
    Ford Motor Company and Toyota Motor Corporation have announced they will equally collaborate on the development of an advanced new hybrid system for light truck and SUV customers. The two companies also agreed to work together on enablers to complement each company's existing telematics platform standards, helping bring more Internet-based services and useful information to consumers globally.
    Read More

Highlighted Content