For Mercedes-Benz, Sustainability Means Solar Paint, & More

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Mercedes-Benz unleashed its 2040 imaginative and prescient for the way forward for the electrical car expertise final week, unveiling a few of its analysis tasks full with eye-catching autonomous driving options, AR, one thing known as neuromorphic computing, and different electronics-related enhancements. Sustainability can be entrance and middle, together with considered one of our favourite matters, photo voltaic paint.

Sustainability & Neuromorphic Computing

If neuromorphic computing doesn’t ring a bell, be a part of the membership. A fast search of the Intertubes yields an explainer from a analysis paper not too long ago revealed within the journal Nature Communications. The authors begin off with a warning, although. “Brain-like energy-efficient computing has remained elusive for neuromorphic (NM) circuits and hardware platform implementations despite decades of research,” they state.

That seems like a lifeless finish for researchers, however the authors have come across a promising path in direction of a breakthrough, and the sustainability prize is an enormous one.

“Neuromorphic (NM) computing that mimicks certain neuro-biological architectures of the human brain, is an alternative to the conventional von Neumann computing architecture, and therefore, can be designed to be highly parallel and very low power consuming with the potential to perform certain complex operations faster and in a smaller footprint,” the authors enthuse.

That caught the attention of Mercedes-Benz they usually went all in. With all these new digital gizmos, automobiles might want to have “significantly higher energy requirements,” the corporate advises by the use of explaining its curiosity. They tapped Canadian College of Waterloo as a analysis companion on the neuromorphic venture, anticipating a 10-fold enhance in velocity and effectivity along with the sustainability advantage of sucking up much less power.

Extra Sustainability: Paint-On Photo voltaic Cells

Many automobiles spend their day in daylight, absorbing photo voltaic power hour after hour, solely to waste it as warmth. That’s an ideal alternative for photo voltaic panels. The concept of building solar panels into cars has sucked a couple of automaker into failure, however it has gained traction with the emergence of thin film solar cells that may match the curves of a car physique.

Since Mercedes-Benz is eyeballing next-level sustainability, it isn’t stopping at skinny movie. The corporate is aiming for photo voltaic cells that hover in a paint-able resolution.

Solar paint crossed the CleanTechnica radar again in 2018, when the US Division of Power unveiled a paint-able solar solution deploying perovskite photo voltaic cells. No phrase but if perovskites are the actual photo voltaic materials in Mercedes-Benz’s sights, however that will be a very good guess.

The sustainability issue is powerful with paint-on perovskite photo voltaic cells. They’re comparatively cheap and relevant to a variety of surfaces. They are often deployed in high-volume, fast-throughput roll-to-roll manufacturing techniques generally in use immediately, or sprayed on a automobile as physique paint, because the case could also be.

“At 5 micrometers thin, these are significantly thinner than a human hair, weigh just 50 grams per square meter and are packed full of energy,” Mercedes-Benz notes. The corporate advises that the common German driver would be capable of cowl solely 62% of the common each day drive with electrical energy from the paint-on photo voltaic cells, whereas Los Angeles drivers can pull off 100% with some leftover.

The Elusive Artificial Spider Silk

Discovering bio-based substitutes for petrochemical-based supplies is yet one more a part of the sustainability plan. Mercedes-Benz has put a number of wheels in movement aimed toward decreasing if not eliminating petrochemicals from its provide chain.

The corporate has additionally leveled up the bio-based angle. As an alternative of utilizing agricultural crops as feedstock for its new materials, the corporate is deploying a silky bio-yarn comprised of silk proteins contributed by genetically modified micro organism.

“The synthetic spider silk has the same functional properties as conventional silk. It is 100 percent biodegradable, lightweight and very strong, making it an extremely high-performance material,” the automaker explains. For now the applying is pretty modest. In the event you occur to catch sight of the VISION EQXX or the Idea CLA Class, search for artificial spider silk for the seize loops and door pockets.

Mercedes-Benz can be attempting to maneuver away from the animal provide chain as properly. A “realistic leather alternative made from recycled plastic and biotechnology-based materials” is within the analysis stage, so preserve an eye fixed out for that. Used tires and biomethane from agricultural waste are the important thing elements.

“The material is breathable, waterproof, lighter than real leather and has a reduced CO2 footprint,” explains Mercedes-Benz, “The part derived from recycled polymer can be fully recycled.”

Cleansing Up The Sustainability Unfastened Ends

Electrical automobiles are a step in the suitable course from a sustainability perspective. Nevertheless, like some other car they nonetheless emit tiny particles that fly off of brakes and tires. The cumulative influence from hundreds of thousands of automobiles is a big concern.

Mercedes went to work on the brake downside and got here up with a brand new type of braking system. That can be nonetheless within the analysis section, however someday sooner or later you could be driving round in an electrical car with no brakes contained in the wheels.

“Instead, (the brake) is integrated into the electric drive unit at the front or rear axle. It occupies very little space – and according to the latest research, is subject to minimal wear, doesn’t rust and is virtually maintenance-free,” the corporate explains, including that there aren’t any particles of brake materials shedding from the automobile.

The brand new braking system relieves a “significant” quantity of weight from the wheel and tire, doubtlessly serving to to scale back tire put on and tear as properly.

The corporate can be launching a model new energy conversion system, aimed toward growing EV vary choosing up the tempo of constructing bi-directional charging, too. The concept is to take a seat programmable micro-converters inside every battery cell.

“Current research shows it is possible to provide a constant HV (high voltage) output of 800 volts, regardless of the state of charge (SoC) and state of health (SoH) of the individual cells,” Mercedes-Benz notes. “The output voltage of the battery is no longer dependent on the number of cells connected in series.”

Mercedes-Benz can be attending to the large image of sustainability, with a deal with cities. In any case, what good is a sustainable automobile while you’re caught in visitors?

In a press launch outlining its 2040 imaginative and prescient (here’s that link again) the corporate describes the way it has been creating city plans that incorporate extra park-and-rides, parks, and bike lanes together with different methods for decreasing car congestion.

Hopefully they’ll take their imaginative and prescient to the suburbs as properly. When that fleet of self-driving shuttle buses rolls down the highway, I’ll be the primary to hop in.

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Picture (cropped): Mercedes-Benz has some new sustainability tips up its sleeve, together with bio-based materials and physique paint made with photo voltaic cells (VISION EQXX courtesy of Mercedes-Benz).