Swedish car maker Koenigsegg just unveiled its Quant electric car at the Geneva Motor Show. The company says the car can accelerate from 0 to 60 in 5.2 seconds, has room for four adults and can be charged from either an electrical outlet or by the sun. The solar power reported comes from a thin photovoltaic coating applied to the entire vehicle. But Koenigsegg is raising eyebrows and questions about two technologies it is using. The first set of questions relate to the PV coating, based on pyrite materials. The company claims the PV surface has photovoltaic converstion rate of 50% – far above other reported conversion rates. The second set of questions has to do with the Quants energy storage system, the Flow Accumulator Energy Storage. According to Wired, the company that makes the system for Koenigsegg, NLV Solar, isn’t revealing much:
NLV is pretty skimpy on details about FAES, saying only that it is an “electrochemical energy storage system” comprised of a series of 4-volt cells. Koenigsegg says FAES contains no heavy metals, which means it’s probably talking about a very sophisticated lithium-ion battery pack.