New Quant Flow-Cell Car Concepts Arrive, Still Dodgy On Details

The company NanoFlowcell offered an attention-getting list of claims for the Quant F prototype it revealed at the Geneva Motor Show this past week.

They included an unlimited power source, zero emissions, acceleration from 0 to 62 mph in 2.8 seconds, and a top speed of 186 mph.

Last year at Geneva, the company made its debut with an e-Sportlimousine powered by flow-cell technology. This year, it showed two new vehicles: the Quant F and the Quantino.

Compared to the e-Sportlimousine—otherwise called the Quant E—the Quant F gets a two-speed automatic transmission, but it is effectively a redesign of the Quant E.

Once fitted with a functioning flow cell, it will be used for further testing, the company says.

It claims that the Quant F will offer a total of 1,075 horsepower, or 1090 PS. That’s more than a 250-hp boost over last year’s e-Sportlimousine.

The new model has one electric motor for each wheel, and its maximum system voltage has been raised from 600V to 735V—with a nominal current of 92 amps.

The Quantino is a much smaller vehicle (around 150 inches long), with four 25-kW motors that adds up to 136 horsepower.

The company notes that it is working on a lower-voltage (48V) version of the cell system for the Quantino. Top speed would be nearly 125 mph.

In both cars, power is delivered by one three-phase induction motor per wheel, coordinated with a torque-vectoring system.

The company claims a range of nearly 500 miles with the Quant F, and more than 620 miles for the Quantino.

Smaller Quantino closer to production?

Meanwhile, the Quantino functions as a design concept to show the potential direction of a production sports car equipped with the NanoFlowcell technology.

But what is that technology? The concept cars have electric powertrains, and that part is easy to grasp.

But instead of large battery packs, each uses electricity from a flow cell, in which two ionic liquids are circulated (or 'flow') past a membrane.

In the Quant F, for instance, there are two 250-liter tanks on board to hold those flow-cell solutions.

Based in Liechtenstein, NanoFlowcell now operates a facility in Weissach, Germany, that has “more than 100 R&D professionals” working on the project, it says.

That’s in addition to a laboratory in Zurich, where it says development chief Nunzio La Vecchia and his team are “examining important aspects of quantum chemistry on the basis of molecular engineering.”