Gearfuse Technology, Science, Culture & More
Perhaps you’re sick of seeing rabbits in battery commercials, but Panasonic is trying something new in Japan. This morning the company demonstrated a race car that runs on 192 pieces of their Oxyride AA-sized battery (yes, the ones you use in flashlights and older CD walkmans). And this amazing little car was able to attain a maximum speed of 122km/h (75.8miles/h), and an average 109.5km/h when running back and forth on a 1km track. We’ve got a video here, and a closer look at the battery unit after the jump.
— Sam Chan
Electric cars, with the exception of fuel cell cars, will always be a joke until someone invents a better battery or power supply.
What a great idea. Now if you run out of power on the road, you can just stop at your local convenience store and buy some batteries to refill the tank. I bet it’s tricky changing the batteries in this thing so make sure there’s a detailed diagram although I’m sure the spring thing will be helpful.
Why not use replaceable batteries that can be swapped over when low or empty, then recharged at the battery “station” similar to how calor deals with gas bottles?