Could you make a cars whole body into a battery that could be charged to run motors in the wheels?

Question

The amount of charge a battery holds depends on the surface area of the plates in the battery. The sheet metal and frame of a car have a lot of surface area. If the two materials that make up a battery were sandwiched together into body panels, could you get a lot more storage without taking up passenger and cargo space?

Answer 1

This is a rhetorical question as the body of the car (at the present time) could not be made into a feasible battery. Charging and cell separation is the main problem. Small Lithium Ion cells could be incorporated into the panelling but a number of smaller cables will be required to transport the power and to the motors. Re-charging of plate Lithium Ion cells is technically difficult when there are a lot of cells as the specific charging currents can not be exceeded otherwise the Li-ion cells fail. In addition, most 'wheel motors' for commercial vehicles and cars operate at about 278 volts and up and so electrical isolation and personal protection is an issue as DC voltages above 100 volts (and with higher currents) are deadly.

Wheel motors are already made as full hubs and are available from Hi-Pa, MM and E-motion for vehicles from wheelchairs (a few milliwatts) through to full commercial vehicles (up to 200 kW drive motors). The Hi-Pa motors incorporate electrical controls within the motor hubs.

The Zebra battery or further development of the Vanadium Red-ox battery will be likely starters for future powering electric vehicles rather than Nickle Metal Hydride or even Li-Ion. Even though, Ford (America) have announced they are to produce 20 electric vehicles (cars!) with the intention of using Li-ion batteries as the power source.

Answer 2

The car body would have to be made hollow due to the necessity of the catalyst needed to transport the electrons from one plate to the next.

In conventional batteries it is sulfuric acid.

Sulfuric Acid causes burns on organic materials.

Imagine an accident in which the body of the car is punctured and acid is spilled on the occupants of the car.

Answer 3

I doubt it could be done safely.
The physical structure of a battery is very critical and a dent in the body of the car could result an a short circuit.
Fire would be the minimum problem that could result.
I NEVER call anything impossible, but it would likely be too costly to be practical.

Answer 4

thats a really interesting idea but wouldnt the weight of a whole car battery be to much to bear, just a nickel cadium battery from a hybrid weighs 300 to 525 pounds depending on model or make up wouldnt a whole car battery weigh thousands of pounds and make it next to impossible to move or need huge electric engines and defeat the purpose? but it was a great idea!