Status: 05/15/2022 2:04 p.m
With the electric car in the Australian outback? In the absence of charging stations, this seems impossible. Researchers are now testing a solution: recharging with plastic solar cells that are rolled up on board.
The long plastic mats glisten in the sunlight as they are slowly unrolled on a lawn. The 18 meter long solar panels made of lightweight PET will charge the red car parked next to them for the onward journey – with solar energy. A research team from Australia’s “University of Newcastle” wants to travel the entire coast of Australia in this way in September. The scientists are hoping to gain important insights from the 15,097-kilometer road trip, which is expected to last 84 days.
Loading problems in the outback
One of the biggest problems in the practicability of electric cars is still the availability of charging stations. In remote areas such as the Australian outback, a long-distance journey is therefore impossible. The Australian researchers came up with a solution: they developed mobile solar panels that can be transported rolled up, making the car completely independent of charging stations.
The technology behind it is not new: Organic solar cells, which consist of hydrocarbon compounds – i.e. plastics – and are also called plastic solar cells, have been researched for years. They offer many advantages over conventional solar cells: Due to their plastic nature, they are much more flexible, can be attached to any surface and their production is significantly cheaper.
Solar cells from the printer
The Australian team around the head of the department for organic electronics at the “University of Newcastle”, Paul Dastoor, has also noticed this. Your printer, which originally printed wine labels, produces the ultra-light PET mats with solar cells for around seven euros per square meter. “Find a carpet at this price,” says Dastoor proudly and laughs.
With the round trip along the Australian coast under the name “Charge Around Australia”, the plastic solar cells are now being subjected to an endurance test. Because it is still uncertain whether they are robust enough to withstand the everyday test of a road trip. So that the collected data can be evaluated immediately, the solar-powered electric car is accompanied by a support vehicle, which is also intended to offer the researchers a mobile home. The vehicle also houses the technology that feeds the collected solar energy into a charging system that can be used to charge the electric car.
Road trip as a reconnaissance mission
But research aspects are not the only focus during the trip. The team will visit around 70 schools and organizations in the almost three months of their trip. With experiments and lectures, they want to present their plastic solar cells and arouse interest in sustainable energy sources. Dastoor is confident in his mission: “I believe that society is very interested in solving the problems that climate change confronts it with.” In Australia in particular, the effects of climate change are already being felt: oppressive heat waves, which lead to devastating bush fires, or floods caused by heavy rainfall have been the order of the day in recent years.
Researcher Dastoor cannot say exactly whether the new invention will revolutionize the world of electric cars. Because work still needs to be done on the performance and durability of the printed solar cells. In any case, he sees great potential in his invention: “Our trip is an ideal test area to determine whether we can also use the technology in other remote locations – for example in space”.