So How fast Did It Go?

We use batteries for just about all the pieces in our lives, from our cell telephones and laptop computers to the toys our children play with. These tiny miracle machines are quite wonderful, actually. You cannot see it, however a chemical response that generates electricity is going on simply contained in the outer shell of the battery casing. A battery provides a circulation of electrons — from the adverse terminal to the constructive terminal — resulting in an electric present. If you’d like extra detailed information about the inner workings of batteries, you can too learn How Batteries Work.

We know that electricity is a robust thing, and there is not any denying that it’s having a higher impact on transportation every year. While electric vehicles have been round as long as vehicles themselves, we’re seeing more and more car firms investing significant assets into electric-powered cars — together with gas-electric hybrids. But the batteries in these vehicles are fairly large and costly, too.

The quick reply is sure. It’s potential; nonetheless, this hasn’t been tried very often as a result of AA batteries have such decrease energy outputs. The everyday AA battery generates simply 1.5 volts of electricity. Examine that to the battery pack on a typical hybrid automotive, which may generate about 300 volts — sufficient to energy the automobile (via electric motor) without using its engine at low speeds.

Imagine then, just how many AA batteries it will take to power a full-dimension hybrid car, and how tough (and dear) it can be to continually swap contemporary, new batteries for outdated, worn-out batteries. In other phrases, it is really not very practical to run a automobile utilizing customary household batteries.

But that did not stop a few engineers from giving it a shot. In a single memorable occasion, a group of gear heads in Japan was capable of get a AA battery-powered automotive — sure, an precise, working car — to run as much as seventy five miles per hour (120.7 kilometers per hour)! While that was an unbelievable achievement, Panasonic wanted to make it into the Guinness E book of World Records, and apparently manned, battery-powered airplanes wasn’t a category in the Guinness file book [supply: Guinness World Data].

So, in 2007, Panasonic discovered one other target: besting the land-pace document for a dry-cell battery-powered automobile. And so, the Panasonic Oxyride Pace Challenge began. It was named for the highly effective — 1.7 volts as a substitute of the usual 1.5 volts — non-rechargeable batteries made by the company. Sitting simply inches off the ground at 1 foot, 10 inches (fifty six centimeters) in top, it seemed more like a long, cities skylines2 PS5 low-riding bullet with tires than a automotive. This automobile was constructed more along the traces of a soapbox racer than a typical avenue automotive, and via using ultra-lightweight carbon fiber, it weighed a scant 83 pounds (38 kilograms).

That small size was necessary to get the automobile up to speed — Panasonic wanted sixty five miles per hour (104.6 kilometers per hour) — on the relatively small amount of power that AA batteries can provide. In this case, the racer used 192 AA batteries. That’s proper — think about a battery pack consisting of 200 of the same batteries you employ in your clock radio getting used to carry a automobile as much as highway speeds!

The battery pack was placed in the rear of the vehicle proper behind driver Takashi Sudo, who reclined flat on his back to pilot the car. As soon as he was inside, the crew placed the plastic and carbon fiber body over him.

So how fast did it go? Those tiny batteries were enough to propel the racer to a median pace of 65.5 miles per hour (105.95 kilometers per hour) and a top speed of seventy five.Eight miles per hour (122 kilometers per hour) [source: Guinness World Data]. The batteries ran out of juice after about three-quarters of a mile (1.2 kilometers), but it surely was sufficient to net the crew a Guinness World File.

So, while you will not be commuting to work within the Panasonic AA-powered speedster anytime soon, Panasonic did show which you could power a automotive with AA batteries. That’s, provided you have an entire lot of them, a vehicle that’s extremely lightweight and aerodynamic and with the added expectation that it will only operate for a really quick distance.

For more information about batteries, battery-powered vehicles and different related topics, follow the hyperlinks on the subsequent web page.

Guinness World Information. «The Fastest Car powered by Dry Cell Batteries.» Aug. 28, 2007. (July 27, 2009) http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/adjudications/070828_quickest_car_powered_by_dry_cell_batteries.aspx

HybridCars.com. «Electrical Power Phrases.» March 27, 2006. (July 27, 2009) http://www.hybridcars.com/varieties-techniques/electrical-energy-terms.html