Sitting next to the Quant F in Geneva, is the redesigned nanoFlowcell Quantino, which sits under the company’s Quant range. While the Quantino may be quite a sleek-looking electric vehicle, it’s the flow cell technology that supplies power to the electric motors, that’s truly noteworthy.
To elaborate, the nanoFlowcell is unlike a lithium-ion battery or lead-acid cell, which stores direct current – it’s an electrolyte-fuelled flow cell vehicle, in that it stores liquid electrolytes instead to generate electricity (like a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle). The fluid is said to be non-flammable, non-toxic, produces zero emissions and inexpensive.
Fuelling (or charging) up the car is similar to a petrol-driven vehicle, but the electrolyte liquids are stored in two separate tanks. One has a positive charge, while the other has a negative charge. A special membrane is used to divide each other from mixing. From this, an ion exchange takes place, which then sees the generation of an electric current.
Receiving all that electrolyte-generated current are four electric motors. In total, the motors are able to produce 108 hp and 200 Nm of torque. According to the company, it will do 0-100 km/h in under five seconds and will hit a top speed of over 200 km/h. NanoFlowcell claims that the Quantino can do over 1,000 km on one full tank (159 litres) of electrolyte liquid.
Meanwhile, the Quantino also possesses a 48V low-voltage system which translates to a number of benefits. Some of these include the very long travel range and impressive propulsion, as mentioned. Additionally, high-voltage systems in electric vehicles, require protection against contact and flash shock. This, however, is unnecessary for low-voltage systems.
As for the design of the Quantino, it has a “flow” silhoutte that “expresses the flow cell technology.” At the front, the vehicle sports full-LED headlamps, a low-slung bumper
