Future Car's Body is a Carbon Fiber Battery [Future Cars]

What if you could use carbon fiber as a battery? That's the idea scientists at the Imperial College of London are working on, aiming to build a car out of carbon fiber material that would not only function as a battery, but will be a strong and light substitute for the sheet metal on cars today.

Not only will it save weight and volume in a car, it would eliminate the need for wiring, letting engineers route electricity through the car's carbon fiber structure. The technology could be taken way beyond cars, also built into airplanes, cellphones, or anything that uses batteries. Just imagine a cellphone as thin as a credit card. Brilliant.

[DVICE]

Carbon fiber is secret ingredient in lightest soccer shoes ever [Shoes]

In a world of incredibly light 10-ounce soccer shoes, one of these weighs 5.8 ounces. The Adidas F50 Adizero is the latest in a string of sports innovations to debut at the World Cup soccer championship, this one on the feet of Argentine player Lionel Messi.


A lot of that weight was shed by removing the insole and strengthening the outer part of the shoe. That's complimented by the ultra-light carbon fiber upper, and plastic tech borrowed from another sport where lightness can make a big difference: cycle racing.


If it weren't for that mild-mannered Carolina blue color, I wouldn't mind wearing a pair of these babies. Look for the tech inside these tricky kicks to be available to the rest of us before too long, but don't expect it to be cheap.


[DVICE via Fast Company]

UPDATE: Boeing 787 Dreamliner takes off on first flight

Can the first airliner built of mostly plastic actually fly? The weather was good enough today in Everett, Washington for the twin-engine Boeing 787 Dreamliner to take off for the first time. The 210-330-passenger began its historic maiden voyage, 1:26 PM Eastern Time — in the classic airline tradition, it was almost a half hour later than scheduled.
Looks like fun. The webcast features a flight tracker, a map showing the location of the webcast's viewers, and control room messages throughout the five-hour flight between Everett, Washington and Boeing's Seattle facility. You can also hear the pilots talking with air traffic control.



Why should we care? 50% of this plastic plane is made of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic, and 15% of it is made of aluminum, making it a lot lighter than other airplanes, giving it 20% better fuel efficiency than comparably sized planes. It's not sacrificing speed for efficiency — it zips along at the same speeds as today's fastest airliners, Mach 0.85, or around 647mph. Delayed for two years because of a variety of problems, thank goodness this crate got off the ground without a hitch.
[DVICE via 787 First Flight]