Graphene for Automotive - Page 7

Iceni Labs, a spin-out from Imperial College London, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Singapore’s 2D Materials (2DM) that will see the companies combine their respective expertise to develop and market graphene-based products for the defense, automotive and aerospace markets in Europe, North America and the Middle East.

Iceni Labs, a spin-out from Imperial College London, aims to exploit the properties of graphene for devices aimed at the defense market. 2DM manufactures graphene as an additive to enhance the properties of many industrial materials. The MoU will explore the potential to use 2DM’s graphene as an industrial additive to enhance the properties of Iceni Labs-developed industrial products including microphones, weapons optics devices and coatings.

Haydale has announced that is has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Viritech, a UK-based company that is developing technologies to deliver advanced hydrogen powertrain solutions for the automotive, aerospace, marine and distributed power industries.

Haydale will provide Viritech with consulting engineering support services, including pressure vessel design, structural analysis, and material science analysis.

Australia-based battery case developer Vaulta has been awarded a Federal Government grant to commercialize its battery casings for the electric vehicle market.

Vaulta received a grant of AUD$297,500 (around USD$219,000) from the Federal Government’s Accelerating Commercialization grants program to commercialize its low-cost and light-weight graphene-enhanced battery modules.

Skeleton Technologies has signed a contract with CAF Power & Automation, a global manufacturer of electric power solutions for the rail industry, to supply supercapacitors in trams powered by CAF P&’s OESS-s (On Board Energy Storage Systems).

Skeleton’s cells will reportedly be included in Greentech OESS portfolio already used by some of the leading railway companies worldwide to offer cutting edge solutions to energy recovery, peak shaving and catenary-free applications.

Researchers at Graphene-XT have developed a new graphene-based lubricating oil additive for diesel and petrol engines in cars or motorcycles.

By introducing graphene into a lubricating oil, Graphene-XT found that both its performance and stability improved, resulting in more compression and less wear and tear in the engine parts of both cars and motorcycles.

University of Bath researchers have developed a graphene-based light material that can reduce aircraft engine noise and improve passenger comfort.

The graphene oxide-polyvinyl alcohol aerogel weighs just 2.1kg per cubic meter, making it the lightest sound insulation material ever manufactured. It could be used as insulation within aircraft engines to reduce noise by up to 16 decibels - reducing the 105-decibel roar of a jet engine taking off to a sound closer to that of a hair-dryer.

SPAC, an Italy-based medium-sized company specializing in the production of technical textiles, has joined the Graphene Flagship's Spearhead Project G+BOARD that aims to build parts of cars’ passenger compartments with graphene and related materials.

G+BOARD’s researchers aim to remove most of the copper wiring currently used in dashboards, to reduce the car’s weight and production steps, while improving aesthetics, disposal and recyclability. SPAC is developing new steering wheels and glove boxes with graphene-based materials.

ZEN Graphene Solutions has announced that it has developed a stable diesel fuel additive, which increased the performance of diesel fuel by up to 10% in initial testing. Zen stated that these promising early results can be improved further through additional optimization work. ZEN has filed a provisional patent for this graphene-based fuel additive technology.

Greg Fenton, ZEN CEO commented: Energy and fuel are crucial to global economic prosperity, but also represent our biggest challenge from an environmental standpoint. With global market estimates for diesel fuel alone near $1 trillion, the size of the challenge to reduce emissions from this level of demand is massive, but so is the opportunity for novel solutions to help us be more efficient in our usage. Global challenges of this magnitude require a number of solutions and as a developer of nanotechnologies that help protect people and the environment we are excited to contribute with technology that is easily delivered into fuels to improve efficiency and create value for our shareholders in the process.

Australian battery casing company, Vaulta, has announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Braille, Grafoid and Focus Graphite.

Vaulta signed the MOU to pair its innovative graphene-based cell casing technology with three Canadian companies focused on battery energy solutions and the development of creative applications for graphene. Vaulta will work with Braille Energy Systems Inc. (BESI), Focus Graphite Inc. and Grafoid Inc. to conduct market analysis to identify new sectors of interest and co-developed projects.

A British engineering company called Viritech is working on an ambitious hydrogen-powered hypercar. Dubbed the Apricale, it is being designed primarily as a technical showcase for the company’s hydrogen fuel-cell technology and aims to demonstrate the advantages of hydrogen vehicles over electric powertrains. The hypercar will be sold in limited numbers for around £1.5 million (~$2 million).

In order to lower the weight of the Apricale’s hardware, it features graphene-reinforced hydrogen pressure vessels. It was explained that the hydrogen storage tanks form part of the structure of the chassis to reduce weight and cost.