NEW YORK, March 28 — Innovation in the automotive sector is the focus at the Grand Prix ACF AutoTech, an industry startup challenge set up by the Automobile Club de France. This year’s winners will be announced on April 14, 2022. In the meantime, here’s a look at the six finalists, each working on innovations from efficient batteries to cleaner and more traceable materials, and each anticipating the needs of the automotive industry in the years to come.
Swappable battery packs for light vehicles
Indian startup Racenergy is developing small removable rechargeable battery packs for tuk-tuks, the light three-wheeled vehicles that are particularly popular in India. Its objective is to set up a vast network of exchange points for batteries of this kind, first in India, then around the world.
Learn more about Racenergy: racenergy.in
High-performance Li-ion batteries
French startup E-Mersiv develops high-performance batteries that use a dielectric fluid for heat exchange that is up to 100 times more efficient than water. This ensures maximum safety, reliability and performance (with optimised consumption and lifespan).
Learn more about E-Mersiv: e-mersiv.com
‘Clean’ lithium
For its part, Geolith specializes in environmentally responsible lithium extraction. Thanks to its clean technologies, the French startup extracts lithium from brine, even at low concentrations, using microfiber-based materials with selective absorption properties, which act as a kind of filter to capture the lithium, eliminating any non-essential residue. This lithium is then guaranteed to be clean and waste-free.
Learn more about Geolith: geolith.fr
Monitoring battery health
Based in California, Serinus Labs is a company that has developed a small gas sensor that can report on the health of, and detect defects in, lithium-ion batteries, all using very little power. It was designed to be able to accurately detect the slightest amount of gas escaping from the battery and thus help optimize its performance and improve its safety.
Learn more about Serinus Labs: serinuslabs.com
Tracing materials from source to product
In the Netherlands, Circularise is facilitating the transition to a circular economy by digitizing and tracking materials on a public blockchain in a transparent way. The startup is working with Porsche, for whom it has already enabled the traceability of certain materials, CO2 footprint tracking and other sustainability measures.
Learn more about Circularise: circularise.com
Pressure-sensitive surfaces
France’s Nanomade has developed a technology capable of making any surface interactive, whatever the material. It is based on a special ink that transforms this surface into a hyper-sensitive zone. This sensor — which is in the process of being approved for the aeronautical and automotive industries — responds to the level of pressure and to any force applied to it. This can lead to infinite fields of application in vehicle interiors.
More about Nanomade Lab: nanomade.com
The full results of the ACF AutoTech 2022 Grand Prix will be announced on Thursday, April 14. — ETX Studio
