Tuesday, November 2, 2010

One Hot Car: Solar Coating Helps Power the ‘Quant’

In the building of the future, solar power and other forms of “green” energy will keep occupants in comfort. When the day is done, the workers will head for the nearby light-rail line and catch the train to their housing cluster just a few miles away, located within walking distance of the grocery and the café.

After all, they live in a community based on the concepts of “smart growth,” designed by smart land-use planners and smart architects, of course.

Or, maybe instead of the train, they’ll commute a short distance in their new electric-powered car—the sleek, sporty model with the glitzy exterior coating that generates some of the power.

This may all sound, like, so late-21st century. But perhaps not so much, at least in the case of the car with the glitzy exterior coating that produces electric power.

That’s because the car is already here—in the form of the NLV Quant, the creation of NLV Solar AG of Switzerland. The prototype Quant, a four-seat solar-electric car, made its public debut earlier this year at the Geneva auto show.

“The Swiss creation has a swoopy, futuristic body that covers a chassis made of carbon fiber,” reported Car & Driver magazine. The entire body is covered in a thin, photovoltaic film that generates some of the power for the four 150-kilowatt motors. “One motor is located at each wheel, providing all-wheel drive with torque-vectoring capabilities.”

NLV Solar bills itself as a “pioneer in photovoltaics and accumulator technology.” The company says the Quant is a “luxury performance car” that will be “fully engineered” and ready for production in the coming year.

This is no stodgy, eco-correct set of wheels either, according to the vehicle’s preliminary specs reported on the NLV Quant website (www.nlv-quant.com). With total power generation of 600 kW, the sleek, sporty-looking car will zoom from zero to 60 kilometers per hour in 2.8 seconds, with a top speed of 377 km/h—fast enough for any Green Party activist in a hurry to the next eco-summit in Munich or Brussels.

The price? To be determined. Mucho euro, no doubt.

NLV Solar says the car’s relatively light weight (for a battery-powered vehicle) is partly due to the four-motor configuration—an engineering feat that also contributes to the speed equation.

The company says the car’s exterior is coated with a thin film made of Pyrite, which is reported to convert light into electricity that supplies the operating electronics and supports the battery. The design allows installation of either a long-life metal-air battery or a rechargeable Redox Flow Cell. “These are both future-oriented, secure energy sources which help give the NLV Quant exceptional power and range,” the company says.

Getting back to that building of the future and that Smart Village some of us will call home....
We’ll have to remember to leave the Quant outside the garage long enough to charge up.

But wait, the garage roof’s PV coating will produce enough extra juice to plug in and charge the car. It’s got that coated roof from Tata Steel. Durability + Design just reported on that, too (see Charged up About PV Coating).

You know, that will take some the edge off all those heat waves caused by global warming. Who says the Truth has to be Inconvenient?