Nanoflowcell, a Liechtenstein-based company, has developed a way to improve the range offered by electric vehicles. A lot of time is usually taken to charge up the batteries. And in the recent years, companies like Tesla have tried their best to make electric vehicles more efficient.
The idea of Nanoflowcell’s technology is that an electric car can be filled up at the pump with a non-flammable, non-toxic fluid, which is expected to achieve a range similar to that of conventional petrol or diesel cars.
Nanoflowcell displayed its first concept car, the Quant E, at Geneva motor show last year. This year, it showcased the Quant F and the much smaller Quantino two-seater. All three cars are powered by four wheel-mounted electric motors supplied with electricity from a flow cell battery.
Normally, the flow cells can be topped up just like any other normal battery, or simply by replacing the fluid. The Nanoflowcell works differently, as it discharges the water-based ionic fluid evaporates, leaving the storage tanks empty and ready for refilling. Quant cars can be refuelled at a pump using a two-pronged nozzle to fill both the ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ tanks at the same time.
Traditional flow cell designs are such that they don’t have the greatest volumetric energy density, which means a large volume is needed to store a logical amount of energy. Nanoflowcell claims its new fluid formulation improves this, giving five times the energy capacity of a conventional flow cell. Unlike petrol, diesel or hydrogen, liquid fuel is easy to distribute throughout the structure of a car if necessary, especially if it is as harmless as Nanoflowcell claims.
As good as this technology gets, there is one problem, flow cells are good at producing a steady stream of energy, but when it comes to instant power, the flow cells generally do not fare well. To get around this, Nanoflowcell has equipped the flow cell with a 2000A supercapacitor, acting as a buffer to deliver instant power to the four-wheel motors, in response to the accelerator pedal.
Rivan RS 
Viraaj Bhatnagar
Uday Singh
Suraj Viswanathan
