1 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:05,520 You might not think about it very often, 2 00:00:05,520 --> 00:00:09,760 but we are living through a golden age of technology. 3 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:14,320 Our homes and our pockets are full of inventions and gadgets 4 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,760 that 20 years ago would have been the stuff of science-fiction. 5 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:20,520 Alexa, how exactly do you work? 6 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,040 Hmm... I don't know that. That's what we're going to find out. 7 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:27,080 These things have become such an integral part of our everyday 8 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:30,840 lives that we've forgotten to remember how clever they are. 9 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:35,240 I'm Professor Hannah Fry and I want to open your eyes... 10 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:39,760 I'm having a great time. ..to the secret genius of everyday objects. 11 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:43,760 BEEPS The ones that we take for granted. 12 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:46,080 Items that owe their existence 13 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:49,360 to generations of scientific innovation. 14 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:53,800 THE Edison drove an electric car?! Yeah. This one. 15 00:00:53,800 --> 00:01:00,040 In every episode, I'm going to take one item and tear it apart, 16 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:02,360 bit... Ooh! 17 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:04,000 ..by bit... 18 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,400 So, now, there's some stuff you can see. 19 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:08,080 ..meet the people behind it... 20 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:10,320 Frankly, I thought many things were impossible. 21 00:01:10,320 --> 00:01:14,680 ..and unlock the remarkable... There is the clandestine listening device. 22 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:17,160 ..and sometimes hilarious stories 23 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:19,360 behind its invention. 24 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:21,200 Hello! Look at you! 25 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:28,440 This time, it's the electric car. 26 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:35,640 The days of the internal combustion engine are clearly numbered. 27 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:38,400 Today, the future of driving is electric. 28 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:42,120 It was in reverse. Sorry, my bad. 29 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:48,440 So, how did we get from camcorders to Elon Musk's supercars? 30 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:51,520 The first electric sportscar, capable of both turning 31 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:53,640 heads and pulling Gs. 32 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:58,280 Why did 19th-century meat packing almost de-rail the electric 33 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:02,200 car revolution? Henry Ford, bringing the car to the worker. 34 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:04,880 Oh, it feels so space age! 35 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:08,920 And how should you not drive a multi-million dollar 36 00:02:08,920 --> 00:02:11,000 prototype car of the future? 37 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,160 Oh, God! BLEEP Sorry... BLEEP I'm sorry. 38 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:15,560 I think... I think maybe you should drive. 39 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:30,280 Electric-car ownership in the UK 40 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,000 has increased 80-fold in the last decade. 41 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:39,960 It's maybe like a touch Del Boy, though. Just a hint of Del Boy. 42 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:43,960 To get to the bottom of the amazing past behind the electric-car 43 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:48,400 revolution, I've come to see iconic car-makers Mini. 44 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:52,680 Cars have been made at this Cowley factory for over a century. 45 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:57,360 The original Mini - made mini for fuel efficiency - 46 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:00,200 was a response to petrol rationing during the Suez oil 47 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:02,280 crisis in the 1950s. 48 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:08,600 Now, in response to the climate crisis, car-makers are ditching 49 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:12,400 petrol altogether and rapidly shifting gear to electric - 50 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:14,000 if you'll pardon the pun. 51 00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:18,920 Incredibly quick! Yeah. Really quick. 52 00:03:18,920 --> 00:03:20,680 This is Jack. 53 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:22,920 His job is to keep the production line moving. 54 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:27,280 Here, petrol and electric cars are made side by side. 55 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:31,320 Can you tell which ones are electric and which ones are combustion? 56 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:35,240 You'll recognise the electric Mini from the charging port. 57 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:37,360 Other than that, without opening the bonnet, 58 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:39,880 the rest of it is pretty much the same. 59 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:43,400 Mini can make up to one in three of their cars electric. 60 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:45,720 Are these cars almost finished now? They are. 61 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:49,120 Goes through various tests to make sure that the electrics are working. HORN TOOTS 62 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:51,440 Is that little toot as in, like, a celebratory toot? 63 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:54,200 That's more of an indication that it's coming off the line, 64 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:56,000 to warn others around us. 65 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,000 Oh, come on, Jack! Let me have my toot! 66 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,960 The last few years have seen electric vehicles - or EVs - 67 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:10,120 go from rare to everywhere - 0 to 60, if you like. 68 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:13,800 So what are the technological game-changers that have made this happen? 69 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:20,640 Electric cars rely on three extraordinary components, 70 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:24,920 which I'm going to unpack one by one. 71 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:27,600 And I'm going to start with the beating heart of every 72 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:29,960 electric vehicle - the motor. 73 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:37,400 These are the naked ones. These are the naked engines. The babies. 74 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:41,200 Absolutely. Electric motors have many advantages 75 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:44,600 over their combustion-engine counterparts. 76 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:48,560 I mean, they're quite a lot simpler than these ones over here. 77 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:51,920 There's probably about 90% less moveable parts in an electric 78 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:54,920 engine, as opposed to the traditional combustion. 79 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:57,600 Oh, wow! Does that mean there's less that can go wrong? 80 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:02,120 Yeah, definitely. Those moving parts can break, as they... Exactly. 81 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:05,440 An electric motor is the cleanest and simplest engine there is. 82 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,680 To understand why, we're going to need a quick physics lesson. 83 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:23,840 The thing about electric motors is that they are 84 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:28,360 so fantastically simple that you can make one yourself, 85 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:31,360 just using a few items from a hardware store. 86 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:36,280 On my shopping list today is a battery, copper wire, 87 00:05:36,280 --> 00:05:41,160 a magnet, paperclips, scissors, sandpaper and a Curly Wurly. 88 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:43,440 Er... That one's nothing to do with the experiment. 89 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:45,240 In an extraordinary stroke of luck, 90 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:48,520 somebody appears to have left a table in the centre of this 91 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:51,440 hardware shop, exactly the right size that I need. 92 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:53,640 Now, I need to create a coil. 93 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:56,080 I mean, ideally, you'd have much shorter nails! 94 00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:58,720 Looping the wire 95 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:03,280 and attaching it to a battery will turn the wire into an electromagnet. 96 00:06:03,280 --> 00:06:06,000 The more loops, the stronger the magnetic field. 97 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:10,480 Now, this wire has got an enamel coating on it, which is going to 98 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:13,400 make it not so good for conducting electricity, 99 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:15,560 so I need to take that coating off. 100 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:20,800 This is insulating tape. 101 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:22,400 I've got scissors right there! 102 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:27,440 The paperclips and tape are to hold the copper coil in place. 103 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:34,640 OK. We're almost there. 104 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:37,400 Electricity, magnetism, they sort of go hand in hand. 105 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:39,440 Where you find one, you find the other. 106 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:42,600 So, although this is an electrical circuit, there'll also be 107 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:45,840 a magnetic field that's been created around this coil. 108 00:06:45,840 --> 00:06:49,600 And if I now introduce a second magnetic field, 109 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:53,120 by way of magnets, one should repel the other. 110 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:56,960 And let's give it a little push. 111 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:06,600 And that's an electric motor! 112 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:13,320 With the copper coil turned into an electromagnet, 113 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:16,880 each side repels and then attracts the permanent magnet underneath, 114 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:19,200 forcing the coil to spin. 115 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:22,840 They can be a little bit more sophisticated, where you have an 116 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:26,040 alternating current, instead of just current flowing in one 117 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:28,080 direction, as we have with the battery, 118 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:31,600 but this is it. This is the principle. That's an electric motor. 119 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:32,960 I'm so... 120 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:37,120 I'm genuinely thrilled that that worked! 121 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:39,360 Look at it! That's pretty magical, isn't it? 122 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:46,680 The electric motor is ingeniously simple, but where did it come from? 123 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:50,600 Well, experimental motors 124 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:54,720 based on this principle have been around for almost 200 years. 125 00:07:56,320 --> 00:08:00,840 One of the very first was invented way back in the 1830s by this 126 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:05,240 clever but quite serious-looking chap, Thomas Davenport. 127 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:08,600 He demonstrated his motor by powering a printing press 128 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:11,240 and even a miniature railway. 129 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:16,040 But they didn't take off at first, and poor Thomas died penniless. 130 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:20,360 So when did the electric motor turn up in cars? 131 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:27,400 I've come to a track in Essex to visit one of the world's 132 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:29,800 earliest examples of an electric car. 133 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:33,000 When do you imagine it might have been made? 1990s, perhaps? 134 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:34,800 1970s? 135 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:37,040 Think again. 136 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:40,520 Hi, Bernard. Good morning, Hannah. Look at this... How are you? 137 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:42,640 ..magnificent beast! 138 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:44,600 Can I come on board? Please. Amazing! 139 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:47,560 This is a 1902 Columbia Electro. 140 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:52,080 Can we go for a drive? Yes, sure. 141 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:59,520 Built in the United States, it's got two electric motors, three speeds, 142 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:03,040 leather seats, but no Bluetooth connection, 143 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:05,320 and a tiller instead of a steering wheel. 144 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:09,880 It's quite a tight corner coming up. Oh, Lordy! 145 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:14,520 My driver is vintage-car collector and hat aficionado Bernard Holmes. 146 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:19,560 I notice you're not using the brake very much. No. 147 00:09:19,560 --> 00:09:22,120 The brakes are not very efficient, therefore 148 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:25,120 you've got to anticipate the problems ahead. 149 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:27,720 It's not because it might damage the vehicle, somehow - 150 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:30,600 it's because they don't work! Exactly. 151 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:33,200 Sure, I feel fantastically safe! 152 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:38,880 The Columbia uses almost all of its original parts, 153 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:40,720 including its electric motors. 154 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:47,600 The car's two motors provide a mighty 3½ horsepower, 155 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:50,640 which is about the same as a push-along lawnmower. 156 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:55,240 Today, Bernard's car is a museum piece, 157 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:59,880 but 120 years ago, cars like this were all the rage. 158 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:04,800 The first commercial car with an electric motor was 159 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:09,200 invented in 1884 by Thomas Parker. 160 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:12,360 The motors were clean, they were quiet, they were reliable 161 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:15,200 and, unlike their noisy petrol counterparts, 162 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:18,200 they didn't need to be started using a hand crank. 163 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:21,560 Very quickly, they took the world by storm. 164 00:10:21,560 --> 00:10:25,320 In fact, they were so popular that, by 1900, 165 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:29,680 electric motors powered around a third of all cars in the US. 166 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:35,640 Has it been roadworthy, the entire time? It has, yes. 167 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:39,880 It was first owned by Edison. What?! When it was new, yeah. 168 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:43,560 Really? Yes, and then he gave it to Henry Ford. 169 00:10:43,560 --> 00:10:49,520 No way! So, THE Edison... Yes. ..drove an electric car?! 170 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:52,000 Yes, this one. This one! 171 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:55,280 Now, that's what I call a lightbulb moment. 172 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:58,040 As the inventor of said lightbulb, Thomas Edison 173 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:01,840 was obsessed with all things electric. He was good friends with 174 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:06,840 Henry Ford, and they had even worked together to develop an electric car. 175 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:10,680 Would you like to get aboard? Yeah. Am I allowed to drive it? Yes! 176 00:11:10,680 --> 00:11:14,400 Am I really? Yeah. But it's very direct steering. 177 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:16,280 And don't use the brakes. Don't... 178 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:20,080 Yeah, try not to use the brakes, yes. Have you got life insurance? 179 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:25,760 Have YOU? OK, cut out. Yeah. Depress. 180 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:28,360 And a deep breath. And a deep breath! 181 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:29,920 Whoop! That's it. OK. And we're off. 182 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:32,320 All right. Ooh, gosh! It is sensitive. 183 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:34,600 Just take the brake off a bit. Thank you. 184 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:36,840 That's it. Wait, hang on, was I just... 185 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:40,600 Did I just take off with the brake on? It's quite a strange feeling, driving a car, 186 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:44,520 knowing that you can't brake! So how extraordinary, then, 187 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:49,080 that we're going back to where we were 120 years ago. 188 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:54,200 I mean, the technology has all been there for over 100 years. 189 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:57,080 Do you ever actually take it out on the road? Oh, yes. 190 00:11:57,080 --> 00:11:59,840 Do you pop to the shops to get some milk? Oh, occasionally! 191 00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:00,880 Do you really? Yes. 192 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:06,640 OK, so it looks like a glorified horse and cart, 193 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:08,080 but when you drive it, 194 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:11,480 it actually doesn't feel that dissimilar to a modern 195 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:15,280 electric car, and that I think is the intriguing thing about this - 196 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:19,560 that all of the ideas were there. 197 00:12:19,560 --> 00:12:23,760 By the late 1800s, it looked like cars powered by electric 198 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:27,520 motors were on the road to becoming a huge success. 199 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:31,600 But as the new century dawned, the electric motor would become 200 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:36,000 totally eclipsed by its rival, the petrol engine. 201 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:43,640 To blame was Edison's old buddy and car mogul, Henry Ford, 202 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:45,440 who was obsessed with creating 203 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:48,400 America's first affordable family car. 204 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:51,680 And despite his dalliance with electric motors, 205 00:12:51,680 --> 00:12:54,680 he thought the faster, cheaper petrol car that you could 206 00:12:54,680 --> 00:12:57,440 fill up with ease was a much safer bet. 207 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:01,160 Inspired by Chicago's meat-packers, 208 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:04,560 who had revolutionised the meat market with one of the world's 209 00:13:04,560 --> 00:13:09,280 first production lines, Ford created the car assembly line 210 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:13,040 and used it to build his iconic petrol-powered Model T. 211 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:18,520 Here's how they put them together at the Highland Park plant. 212 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:23,160 It cut the time it took to make a car from 12 hours to 90 minutes, 213 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:26,800 thus slashing the price by two-thirds. 214 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:32,280 By 1913, Ford's assembly line was turning out 1,000 cars a day. 215 00:13:32,280 --> 00:13:36,640 The cheap mass-produced Model T swiftly captured the market. 216 00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:39,600 Henry Ford bringing the car to the worker. 217 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:44,640 And EVs became a niche luxury product, marketed at women. 218 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:48,480 Electric motors did take off in all sorts of other areas - 219 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:51,400 everything from power tools to dishwashers. 220 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:53,280 We use billions of them every year. 221 00:13:54,760 --> 00:13:58,840 But on its own, the electric motor wasn't quite enough to ignite 222 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:00,760 the electric-car revolution. 223 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:07,000 It would take big developments in our next component. 224 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:09,240 It needed juice. 225 00:14:10,560 --> 00:14:14,520 This is the part that keeps our electric car running. 226 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:19,080 The portable electrical power source - also known as the battery. 227 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:26,320 I'm back on the Mini production line, 228 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:28,960 asking the important questions. 229 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:31,440 Have you ever bumped your head on one? No. 230 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:33,600 This is Leanne. 231 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:37,680 Her job is to fit a whopping great battery to each electric car. 232 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:39,840 As you bring it down, these should 233 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:42,320 line into the holes. Those bits? Yeah. 234 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:46,920 Oh, look at that! 235 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:49,680 But this is no standard AA. 236 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:52,200 This is a 200-kilo battery 237 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:56,920 made of 96 cells that use lithium-ion to generate power. 238 00:14:56,920 --> 00:15:00,000 One of these bad boys could run a mobile phone for eight 239 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:01,720 years from a single charge. 240 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:04,280 How many of these do you reckon do you a day? 241 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:08,360 Oh, quite a lot. Have you ever counted? No! 242 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:10,680 I checked, and it's well over 200. 243 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:16,760 So, does the lithium-ion battery tackle people's biggest 244 00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:18,760 fear about electric cars? 245 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:22,240 Whenever I tell people I drive an electric car, 246 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:25,720 the first question they always ask me is, what's the range like on it? 247 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:29,280 Cos I think that's everybody's concern about switching over. 248 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:32,240 What if you are on the motorway, your battery's about to die, 249 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:34,200 and there's nowhere to charge nearby? 250 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:40,120 I've come to the Warwick Energy Innovation Centre to see 251 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:42,000 a man about my range anxiety. 252 00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:45,800 So, OK, this is, like, pretty... Oh, my gosh! Heavy. 253 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:48,200 That's even heavier than I was expecting it to be! 254 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:51,600 So you don't want that for your mobile phone... No! 255 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:56,120 This is battery boffin Professor Louis Piper. 256 00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:59,080 Louis, this looks like a potted history of batteries through 257 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:00,240 the years. Precisely. 258 00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:03,120 So, we have the lead acid battery, which is your first generation 259 00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:06,600 of electric vehicles, that go right back to about 100 years ago. 260 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:09,520 We have a nickel-metal hydride battery here, which is... 261 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:12,600 If you remember around the late '90s, we have the revolution 262 00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:16,960 of hybrid vehicles, which have both petrol and electric. 263 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:21,240 And then we have the fully electric lithium-ion battery packs 264 00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:23,320 that we see here. The new ones. 265 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:26,040 When it comes to electric-car batteries, 266 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:28,120 it's all about energy density. 267 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:31,600 What gives you the most bang for your buck? 268 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:34,800 Nickel-metal hydride batteries are roughly equivalent to 269 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:39,680 a cup of petrol, and so then we move to... It's massive! It's massive. 270 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:43,240 A cup of petrol?! Exactly. Petrol's... 271 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:45,720 There's a benefit of why we burn it, yes. 272 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:48,720 So, the ideas... What's this? Like a teaspoon? Thimble, yeah. 273 00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:52,560 Really? Yeah, so now we move to the lithium-ion batteries - 274 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:54,960 around 60 litres of petrol. 275 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:58,360 They reach or exceed what would be in a typical gas tank. 276 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:01,840 So you're saying, thimble of petrol, cup of petrol, 277 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:04,160 60 litres of petrol. 278 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:08,000 Yes. Roughly. I mean, that's pretty mad! 279 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:14,160 Lithium-ion batteries have taken the electric-car world by storm. 280 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:17,200 Because of this incredible energy density, 281 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:21,200 they store a huge amount of power for their size and weight. 282 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:23,760 They're like the protein bars of batteries. 283 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:30,520 But what is lithium and why does it make such a banging battery? 284 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:32,760 If there's one thing I know about lithium, 285 00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:34,520 it's that it's quite reactive. 286 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:38,000 What would happen if you put one of them in the water? 287 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:42,520 Let's find out. All right, go on, then, let's do it. Let's do it. 288 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:48,480 Lithium is a soft lightweight metal, and it reacts furiously with water. 289 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:52,280 I mean, it's bubbling away quite enthusiastically. 290 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:55,440 It's this reactivity and low weight that makes it such 291 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:59,360 an energy-dense material, and great for batteries. 292 00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:01,800 This is the battery, essentially, 293 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:05,000 that has reignited the electric-car movement. 294 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:09,120 This is the building block you need for fully electric. 295 00:18:09,120 --> 00:18:13,320 The battery layers can be made into all sorts of shapes and sizes, 296 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:16,040 depending on the vehicle they're going into. 297 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:19,080 Louis has been experimenting with different designs. 298 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:22,960 So we have cylindrical, pouch and prismatic. 299 00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:27,280 A cylindrical format works on the basis of wrapping 300 00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:30,560 the layers in an Archimedean spiral... 301 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:32,360 You're making it sound fancy, there, 302 00:18:32,360 --> 00:18:35,080 calling it an Archimedean spiral. You just rolled it up. 303 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:39,120 So we have essentially a Swiss roll. Thank you! We have a lasagne. 304 00:18:39,120 --> 00:18:42,120 You don't impress me with your Archimedean spiral! 305 00:18:42,120 --> 00:18:45,920 And we have a folded lasagne. There you go! 306 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:48,920 For the car companies, the right shape is a delicate balance 307 00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:51,480 of packing in cells for maximum performance, 308 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:55,120 without compromising on safety, weight and affordability. 309 00:18:55,120 --> 00:18:58,080 Tesla have a strong preference for cylindrical formats... 310 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:00,160 Whereas Mini's more on this side. 311 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:04,040 It depends on which combination they feel is the most promising to 312 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:06,520 satisfy their end product. 313 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:10,120 Whether you're a savoury or a dessert person. Yes! 314 00:19:10,120 --> 00:19:12,640 Can it go further still? Yes. 315 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:15,600 We also have other lithium-ion chemistries where we know 316 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:17,920 we haven't pushed them far enough yet, 317 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:21,360 but you could push them further and we will be able to reach much 318 00:19:21,360 --> 00:19:23,280 higher energy densities and performance. 319 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:26,240 Do you know what I'm enjoying most about this conversation? Yeah. 320 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:27,960 Is just how much you like batteries! 321 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:30,840 Yeah. I'm with you. I'm with you all the way! 322 00:19:32,360 --> 00:19:35,480 Lithium-ion batteries are the lifeblood of every 323 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:37,000 modern electric car. 324 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:41,200 But to find out how we got them, we need to go back over 200 years 325 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:43,640 to the birth of the battery itself. 326 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:45,280 Sounds painful. 327 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:48,760 Batteries are absolutely everywhere, and they come in all shapes 328 00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:54,280 and sizes, but where did they come from and how did we get them? 329 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:58,840 Well, for that, we have to thank these guys over here. 330 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:00,240 I'm going to get the big guy. 331 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:05,120 OK. 332 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:05,120 CLEARS THROAT 333 00:20:05,120 --> 00:20:07,760 I'm just building myself up to it. 334 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:11,080 OK. All right. Come here, Mister. 335 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:12,120 Oof! Jesus! 336 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:16,960 I'm trying so hard... 337 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:18,160 Wriggler. 338 00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:23,360 OK. Stay still. S-s-stay still! 339 00:20:23,360 --> 00:20:28,640 Hello! Look at you! But we can also thank the Italian anatomist 340 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:33,240 Luigi Galvani, because in 1786, Luigi discovered that 341 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:37,400 if frogs' legs come into contact with copper and iron, 342 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:40,200 it will create an electrical circuit. 343 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:44,360 Enough, in fact, that the frogs' legs will start to twitch. 344 00:20:44,360 --> 00:20:47,280 Now, the only problem, I'm afraid, is that if I'm going to 345 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:53,240 demonstrate this, the frog does need to be recently deceased. So... 346 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:55,680 I'm not really going to do it. You'll have to deal with some 347 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:59,200 archive footage instead. Oh, my God! He's escaping! I didn't mean it! 348 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:07,280 Galvani thought that twitching was caused by electricity 349 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:10,480 emanating from the frog itself. 350 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:13,280 He called his discovery animal electricity. 351 00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:17,320 Now, Galvani didn't really understand the full 352 00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:21,560 implications of his experiment, but it caught the eye of another 353 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:25,600 scientific colleague, Alessandro Volta. 354 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:30,560 As one of the world's leading authorities on electricity, 355 00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:32,720 Volta was unconvinced the electricity was 356 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:35,640 coming from the animals themselves, 357 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:37,360 so he had a go himself. 358 00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:40,240 He fiddled around with the experiment, tried it with a few 359 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:42,720 different metals, different acids, 360 00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:46,000 until he didn't need the frogs' legs at all - 361 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:48,120 which means you guys are definitely safe. 362 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:53,840 Instead, Volta made a sandwich. No, not cheese and pickle. 363 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:58,240 He used copper, zinc and cardboard or cloth, soaked in saltwater. 364 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:04,360 So, zinc first, and then cardboard... 365 00:22:04,360 --> 00:22:07,400 Batteries work through chemical reactions. 366 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:11,600 One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. 367 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:14,920 When a wire is attached between zinc at the end of the sandwich 368 00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:16,400 and the copper at the other end, 369 00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:19,440 the saltwater reacts with the two metals, 370 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:23,880 causing electrons to move along the wire from the zinc to the copper. 371 00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:27,960 This movement creates an electric current. 372 00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:29,800 Let's see if this works. 373 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:31,880 Ah! 374 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,560 Look at that! 375 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:36,200 It's electricity! Ah! 376 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:41,080 It's like magic! 377 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:44,440 Volta had just invented the battery. 378 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:48,680 I just think this is extraordinary! I mean, this is just some... 379 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:51,680 Some junk that you'd find in your drawer 380 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:54,680 and it's giving out electricity. 381 00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:58,240 It was the first time that electricity had been stored up 382 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:01,640 and released in a steady continuous flow. 383 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:05,640 But that's not quite the end of the story. 384 00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:08,280 In fact, it gets a lot more gruesome. 385 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:13,520 Galvani's nephew - a physician named Aldini - 386 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:15,600 took things one step further. 387 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:18,080 In front of an audience, 388 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:23,160 he connected Volta's battery to the body of a recently deceased man. 389 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:27,040 And in front of all the onlookers, 390 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:31,640 the electricity made his limbs writhe around. 391 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:35,000 Now, Aldini wasn't trying to bring the man back to life or 392 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:41,600 anything, but legend has it he did inspire quite a well-known work 393 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:47,400 of science-fiction - specifically Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. 394 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:52,120 "I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open. 395 00:23:52,120 --> 00:23:57,640 "It breathed hard and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs." 396 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,440 For the next few decades, the scientists tinkered. 397 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:12,120 And by the late 19th century, we had the rechargeable lead acid battery. 398 00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:15,880 Based on Volta's sandwich, but with a few refinements, it began to be 399 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:19,200 used in everything from train lights to generators 400 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:22,000 and the first breed of electric cars. 401 00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:27,240 It has many virtues. 402 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:30,880 However cold the weather, it's always simple to start. 403 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:32,720 Here in Britain, there was 404 00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:35,920 one vehicle in particular that epitomised the early 405 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:40,480 boom in electric - something that the lead acid battery made possible. 406 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:45,600 It was, of course, the humble milk float! 407 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:48,160 How's that for some nostalgia? 408 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:54,600 Do you see what I mean? 409 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:54,600 HANNAH LAUGHS 410 00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:55,880 This is Wendy Davis, 411 00:24:55,880 --> 00:25:00,320 the fastest milkwoman in the west...of Buckinghamshire. 412 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:03,600 And for the best part of 100 years, her family have been 413 00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:06,880 delivering milk in a fleet of battery-powered floats. 414 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:12,360 The high average speed of the electric vehicle 415 00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:14,200 cuts delivery costs, 416 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:15,840 especially as easy starting 417 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:18,680 and rapid acceleration can be relied on at all times. 418 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:24,040 So, if you go to this house behind you, Hannah... That one? Yes. 419 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,320 ..with two pints of silver top, and if you're a proper milkman, 420 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:30,160 you'd put them all in one hand. Oh, OK. I'm clearly... 421 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:32,160 Clearly not a proper milkman! 422 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:34,640 Well done. Thanks. You can have a job. My first delivery. 423 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:37,000 But you need to be quicker. Oh! 424 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:38,440 Aye-aye, captain! 425 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:43,960 Wendy and her team deliver over two million pints a year 426 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:45,760 to the good people of Prestwood. 427 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:53,280 Each float powered by 48 lead acid batteries. 428 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,840 Well, they're easy to work on cos you can get to everything. Yeah. 429 00:25:56,840 --> 00:25:59,400 So you just lift the sides up, everything's there. 430 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:02,080 This is Pete. 431 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:05,680 It's his job to make sure that these floats never run out of juice. 432 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:08,840 Oh, they're massive! Yeah, they weigh about half a tonne. 433 00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:12,280 SHE GASPS So, both battery packs together, 434 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:14,200 about a tonne. 435 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,800 They're made from alternating plates of lead and lead oxide 436 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:19,760 immersed in sulphuric acid. 437 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:25,280 Like Volta's battery, a chemical reaction strips electrons from 438 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:27,680 the lead to produce electricity. 439 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,040 But unlike Volta's battery, connecting it to a power supply 440 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:34,360 puts the electrons back again, 441 00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:37,040 which means the battery can be recharged. 442 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,360 Every night after they go out, they come back, 12-hour charge, 443 00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:43,120 ready to go next day straight away. 444 00:26:43,120 --> 00:26:46,480 They'll do about 40-50 miles on a full charge. 445 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:49,080 Not very good escape vehicles... No, you won't get away. 446 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:52,040 ..if you were on the run. You wouldn't use it as a getaway. 447 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:55,880 No - it's interesting, I think that electric found a home 448 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:59,680 in milk floats, where it wouldn't work elsewhere. 449 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:02,120 Well, it's just because they're so basic. 450 00:27:02,120 --> 00:27:04,560 There's not a lot that can go wrong with them, really. 451 00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:06,920 This one could possibly do with a lick of paint. Well... 452 00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:09,840 No offence. Yeah. 453 00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:09,840 HE CHUCKLES 454 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:14,720 Electric floats like these proved such a success that by the 1950s, 455 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:17,880 Britain had the highest number of electric vehicles anywhere 456 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:23,280 in the world - thanks entirely to our 70,000-strong fleet 457 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:24,920 of milk floats. 458 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:26,440 Electric had found its niche. 459 00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:31,280 It was absolutely perfect for this very, very particular purpose. 460 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:34,880 It found its home - but across everywhere else, 461 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:37,240 petrol was still really dominating. 462 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:38,280 Cheers. 463 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:43,240 Ahh, that's... 464 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:46,320 It's quite... I think this is one that's been left out in the sun. 465 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:50,240 Electric floats flourished. 466 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:53,480 Day in, day out, it's always a pleasure to drive. 467 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,960 But electric cars just couldn't seem to get off the ground, 468 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:01,120 despite many attempts. 469 00:28:01,120 --> 00:28:03,440 The first view of a new generation of car 470 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:05,880 designed for towns and cities. 471 00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:08,640 Some people see in this machine an electric answer 472 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:09,920 to our traffic problem. 473 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:13,520 The makers have an eye on the woman driver. 474 00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:16,560 She'll find the car easy to handle and to park. 475 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:18,960 Mm, careful. 476 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:21,800 The reason none of these battery-powered beauties ever 477 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:24,040 took off goes back to a problem at the heart of 478 00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:26,640 the lead-acid battery - range. 479 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:30,560 Let's go back to Louis. 480 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:33,880 So, we have the lead-acid battery. 481 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:37,200 So, this is like a teaspoon? Thimble, yeah. Really? Yes. 482 00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:39,520 And that's not going to get you very far. 483 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:45,800 This brand-new electrically-powered vehicle is called, 484 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:47,840 quite simply, The White Car. 485 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:51,800 It's powered by a specially quick, chargeable 48-volt electric battery, 486 00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:57,200 which gives it a maximum driving time of between 40-65 minutes. 487 00:28:57,200 --> 00:28:59,760 Unable to compete with petrol on range, 488 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:02,080 it looked like the electric car was dead. 489 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:05,080 Full marks for style, though. 490 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:13,400 Luckily, a battery breakthrough was coming. 491 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:19,520 OK, so I know we've been talking about batteries for quite a while - 492 00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:23,000 but just stay with me, because this is one of my favourite bits. 493 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:26,760 That new battery - it didn't come from the car industry. 494 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:31,440 It came from the personal electronics revolution of the 1990s. 495 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:36,600 This is a telephone, a fax machine, and a photocopier. 496 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:39,120 I can't believe that technology is so small. 497 00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:42,080 Put these two together, and you get this - 498 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:45,240 a travelling video. 499 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:48,440 If you remember the '80s and '90s, then you will know that it was 500 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:51,360 a pretty wild time for portable devices, 501 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:54,080 because all sorts of companies were completely obsessed 502 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:55,760 with miniaturisation, 503 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:59,600 making things as small and portable as possible. 504 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:03,240 The only problem was that if you wanted something that lasted for 505 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:05,160 any reasonable amount of time, 506 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:07,360 it would look something like this. 507 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:10,680 I mean, this phone is about 80% battery. 508 00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:14,120 So, camcorders of around that era had batteries that would only last 509 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:17,000 about half an hour or an hour before they would cut out - 510 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:19,920 which is not ideal, if you want to capture life's 511 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:21,880 most important moments. 512 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:25,280 The public appetite for electronics that could be both small 513 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:29,840 and long-lasting drove an intense period of battery R&D. 514 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:33,360 And this was when scientists turned 515 00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:36,120 to the volatile metal called lithium. 516 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:39,520 The idea of a lithium battery had been around for a really long time, 517 00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:41,080 since the 1950s. 518 00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:45,400 But as a material, lithium has that habit of exploding, 519 00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:48,320 which doesn't make it ideal to put in products that you're 520 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:50,360 going to sell to the public. 521 00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:52,960 That changed in the mid-1980s. 522 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:56,200 A Japanese chemist called Akira Yoshino found a way 523 00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:59,760 to stop lithium self-destructing by introducing a special 524 00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:01,680 carbon-based material. 525 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:04,240 It held the volatile lithium ions in place, 526 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:07,040 stopping them from running amok and making a battery 527 00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:08,840 far less likely to go "bang". 528 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:16,040 In 1991, the first lithium-ion battery was released into the wild 529 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:18,480 in the form of this right here. 530 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:20,640 A little bit of history. 531 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:23,600 This is the Sony CCD-TR1... 532 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:29,520 ..and it's a camcorder from 1991. 533 00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:31,680 Hi! 534 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:34,960 This is just all that people did, was turn around to people's faces 535 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:36,320 and zoom in and out on them. 536 00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:37,360 Simpler times. 537 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:42,280 And thus, a revolution in the lithium-ion battery was born. 538 00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:48,040 With the new batteries, camcorders could now last for several hours 539 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:49,920 before needing a recharge. 540 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:55,600 The lithium-ion battery quickly found its way into everything 541 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:58,440 that needed to be picked up and unplugged, 542 00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:02,080 reducing its size, or massively extending its life. 543 00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:04,480 After three decades of development, 544 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:09,800 the average lithium-ion battery in your laptop can safely store 545 00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:13,320 as much energy as a hand grenade. 546 00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:15,240 Emphasis on the word "safely". 547 00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:21,080 While millions of us were exploring the joys of home movies, 548 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:24,640 over in the US, these new batteries had caught the attention of 549 00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:26,800 a couple of electric car innovators. 550 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:34,280 It was the late '90s, and electric cars with their 551 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:38,880 giant batteries and limited range still hadn't broken through. 552 00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:41,560 They were big, heavy, expensive. 553 00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:43,920 Everybody's experience was that electric cars 554 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,200 were just slow and stupid. 555 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:50,360 Engineers Tom Gage and Alan Coconi wanted to change that. 556 00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:54,800 Here it is. 557 00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:58,480 Oh, my God, I can't believe it. 558 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:00,040 HE LAUGHS 559 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:04,280 It's been two decades since Tom last saw this prototype. 560 00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:10,000 It's their hand-built, fully-electric sports car. 561 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,880 It looks like it did the last time I saw it. 562 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:15,120 It's just a beautiful shape. 563 00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:17,000 The T-Zero. 564 00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:21,000 Oh, man. Bringing back memories. 565 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:25,440 Tom and Alan thought that the new lightweight lithium-ion batteries 566 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:28,680 would be perfect for an electric sports car. 567 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:32,320 Alan was a remote-control airplane enthusiast all his life, 568 00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:35,200 and he'd observed that they were starting to use 569 00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:36,840 lithium-ion batteries. 570 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:39,760 And he said, "Well, what's to keep us from using thousands 571 00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:41,600 "of them to power a car"? 572 00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:44,640 The only problem was a lithium-ion battery that was big enough 573 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:46,320 for a car didn't exist. 574 00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:50,200 And so, they tried using a lot of the camcorder batteries - 575 00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:52,240 and I mean, a lot. 576 00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:55,120 We did the math about the size and the weight, and said, 577 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:57,160 "Well, we can fit about 6,800 of these in, 578 00:33:57,160 --> 00:33:58,800 "if we package them correctly". 579 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:06,680 Wiring together 6,800 lithium-ion batteries was a painstaking job. 580 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:10,000 It was a huge undertaking to figure out how to connect 581 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:13,080 all these cells correctly without making them go up 582 00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:15,240 in smoke and flame. 583 00:34:15,240 --> 00:34:19,200 And then finally came the day of the first test drive. 584 00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:23,080 Guy pulls up to me at a stoplight in a motorcycle, 585 00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:24,640 and I just couldn't resist. 586 00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:27,480 So, as soon as the light changed, I floored it. 587 00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:30,160 The car just took off like crazy. 588 00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:32,040 It was just unbelievable. 589 00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:35,160 He was caught off guard, and he went flying by me with 590 00:34:35,160 --> 00:34:39,000 a wheelie up in the air, and trying to recover his pride. 591 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:41,800 But I had won, clearly. 592 00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:48,840 The performance of the T-Zero was unprecedented. 593 00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:51,720 The T-Zero is the first electric sports car, 594 00:34:51,720 --> 00:34:54,160 capable of both turning heads and pulling Gs. 595 00:34:56,600 --> 00:34:59,400 There's some video of us beating a Lamborghini. 596 00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:04,560 And a Ferrari. And a Porsche. And a Corvette. 597 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:10,680 And those nifty new batteries meant it could drive for 300 miles 598 00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:12,880 before needing a charge. 599 00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:16,280 It was a revelation to everyone who drove the car. 600 00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:19,560 This thing just opened so many people's eyes into 601 00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:20,800 what an EV could be. 602 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:26,640 Tom and Alan planned to put the car into production. 603 00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:30,400 We had a whole crew of craftsmen and engineers 604 00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:32,920 putting the things together and I realised, 605 00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:35,040 "Well, yeah, we can charge a lot of money for it, 606 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:37,200 "but can't charge enough to make actual profits." 607 00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:40,520 I think slowly it dawned on us that maybe this wasn't going 608 00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:41,920 to be a production car. 609 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:46,200 With a build cost of around a quarter of a million dollars, 610 00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:49,200 in the end, only one of these cars was made. 611 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:54,120 But that's not the end of this story. 612 00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:58,000 Tom's next dream was to build an affordable electric car, 613 00:35:58,000 --> 00:35:59,520 the eBox. 614 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:01,440 But he needed money. 615 00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:05,680 And so, he turned to a young investor with deep pockets. 616 00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:09,240 Yes, none other than Elon Musk. 617 00:36:09,240 --> 00:36:13,800 I told him about the T-Zero, and I think I gave him a test ride 618 00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:15,080 that very first meeting. 619 00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:16,600 He was pretty impressed. 620 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:19,120 I could tell he was less impressed with the eBox idea. 621 00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:21,880 We had a lot of back and forth with Elon, but eventually, 622 00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:24,560 he said "no" on the box, but he's interested in the T-Zero. 623 00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:27,440 And I said, "Well, the T-Zero is not for sale". 624 00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:30,920 Tom was no longer interested in commercialising his sports car, 625 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:34,400 so he introduced Elon to someone who was - 626 00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:38,280 Martin Eberhard, founder of a fledgling car company 627 00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:40,040 called Tesla. 628 00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:42,520 I don't know what all happened between Martin and Elon, 629 00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:44,560 but that's pretty much how they came together. 630 00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:48,120 So, you introduced Elon Musk to Tesla? Yes. 631 00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:50,520 And this is one of the highlights of my career, 632 00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:51,960 building this car. 633 00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:54,240 Looks great. 634 00:36:54,240 --> 00:36:56,680 Gotta get it running again. 635 00:36:54,240 --> 00:36:56,680 HE CHUCKLES 636 00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:02,240 Musk invested over $6 million into Tesla, 637 00:37:02,240 --> 00:37:05,320 licensed the T-Zero's lithium-ion technology, 638 00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:07,840 and brought out the Tesla Roadster. 639 00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:15,200 14 years after test-driving the T-Zero, 640 00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:18,360 Musk released the mass-market Model 3 - 641 00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:21,040 now the best-selling electric car of all time - 642 00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:23,920 helping him to become the world's richest man. 643 00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:32,280 It's kind of unbelievable to me that when I think of where we were 644 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:36,040 20 years ago, that now there could be a company like Tesla 645 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:37,640 that sold three million EVs, 646 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:40,800 and every other car company in the world is chasing after them. 647 00:37:47,440 --> 00:37:48,960 And that's it. 648 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:53,040 The epic story of how the lithium-ion car battery was born. 649 00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:04,400 I'm back at Mini, 650 00:38:04,400 --> 00:38:06,360 helping battery-fitter James. 651 00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:08,120 Well, not so much helping 652 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:09,680 as watching. 653 00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:11,640 So, is this all automatic now? 654 00:38:11,640 --> 00:38:14,560 Yes. You wouldn't want to have that fall on you. 655 00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:16,640 Thank goodness for robots. 656 00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:19,080 But I can't help thinking that these batteries have changed 657 00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:21,720 the landscape so fast, 658 00:38:21,720 --> 00:38:25,280 that car manufacturers are still catching up. 659 00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:27,480 One thing I'm noticing is that the batteries, 660 00:38:27,480 --> 00:38:29,400 they're, like, a T-shape. 661 00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:32,000 That's because we've designed the battery to fit 662 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,880 into the existing models. 663 00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:37,640 Underneath, you'll see a fuel tank and a transmission tunnel. 664 00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:41,000 And that's where we've designed this battery to go into. 665 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:43,480 So, it's the same little hole in the chassis? Yes. 666 00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:46,600 And you just pop the battery in there? Yep. 667 00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:52,800 I think when you're here, you get this real sense of just how quickly 668 00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:55,880 this move towards electric vehicles has been. 669 00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:58,800 And, you know, you kind of get the idea that it's caught them 670 00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:00,360 a bit by surprise. 671 00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:03,720 They haven't been building these electric cars from the ground up 672 00:39:03,720 --> 00:39:05,520 over the last decade or so. 673 00:39:05,520 --> 00:39:11,160 They're retrofitting an existing combustion-engine vehicle 674 00:39:11,160 --> 00:39:13,280 to cater for this new demand. 675 00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:18,000 And, in fact, it's telling that many have recently announced 676 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:21,560 that they are moving their electric car production to China. 677 00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:25,520 So, this was a last chance to see EVs coming off the line... 678 00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:29,160 ..at this iconic factory. 679 00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:38,160 Producing these batteries is a truly global effort. 680 00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:43,280 Raw materials are dug from all corners of the Earth. 681 00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:45,200 Lithium, from Australia. 682 00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:48,840 Cobalt, from West Africa. 683 00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:50,840 Nickel, from Indonesia. 684 00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:52,840 And graphite, from China. 685 00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:58,280 Now clearly, there is an environmental cost from all of 686 00:39:58,280 --> 00:40:01,000 the mining needed to produce these batteries - 687 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:03,600 which brings me to an important question, 688 00:40:03,600 --> 00:40:07,320 are electric vehicles really the environmentally-friendlier car 689 00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:09,240 that they're often held up as? 690 00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:13,760 Well, you'll be unsurprised to know that the answer is complicated. 691 00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:15,440 It depends on lots of factors - 692 00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:19,760 the source of the electricity and how far you drive, for instance. 693 00:40:19,760 --> 00:40:23,200 Electric cars are certainly clean and quiet. 694 00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:25,640 But the bottom line is, yes, 695 00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:28,280 they are greener than combustion engines. 696 00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:34,200 Because, although it takes more carbon emissions to build 697 00:40:34,200 --> 00:40:36,600 an electric car than a combustion one - 698 00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:39,040 largely down to that massive battery - 699 00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:42,360 in Europe, over the lifetime an electric vehicle is driven, 700 00:40:42,360 --> 00:40:47,360 the total emissions are just a third that of a combustion engine car. 701 00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:50,080 And as our electricity gets greener, 702 00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:52,840 those emissions will get even lower. 703 00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:56,880 Scientists are also working on reducing the environmental impact 704 00:40:56,880 --> 00:41:01,560 of batteries by making them less reliant on rare materials. 705 00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:05,000 It's, sort of, like a slow motion roller-coaster for these cars. 706 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:06,240 It is. 707 00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:10,160 Time for another celebratory toot. 708 00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:11,680 HORN TOOTS 709 00:41:15,600 --> 00:41:18,760 The elegant motor and supercharged batteries have driven 710 00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:20,480 the electric revolution. 711 00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:25,000 But when you bring in our next component, 712 00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:28,360 you get the rush of instant acceleration. 713 00:41:28,360 --> 00:41:31,960 It is the electric car's equivalent of a gearbox. 714 00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:34,000 This is the transmission. 715 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:39,520 Launch controls activated, right foot, fully down. 716 00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:42,240 And then, I just lift the brake? Yep. 717 00:41:42,240 --> 00:41:43,480 Oh, my God! 718 00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:50,280 A new breed of high-performance car is taking full advantage of 719 00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:54,960 the EV transmission's lack of gears and instant acceleration. 720 00:41:56,160 --> 00:41:58,120 Too much! Oh, my gosh. 721 00:41:58,120 --> 00:41:59,760 This is so much fun. 722 00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:02,040 The power just is continuous. 723 00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:04,600 It doesn't have any delay at all. 724 00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:10,640 This is the fully-electric Porsche Taycan Turbo S... 725 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:15,800 ..and this is racing champion 726 00:42:15,800 --> 00:42:17,720 Esmee Hawkey. 727 00:42:17,720 --> 00:42:19,680 I think it's her turn to take the wheel. 728 00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:24,200 And we're off! 729 00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:24,200 SHE LAUGHS 730 00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:32,640 I cannot believe this is your job. 731 00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:36,320 This car is fast. 732 00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:39,360 122! 733 00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:44,400 You are wild! 734 00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:50,280 Wow! Incredible acceleration. 735 00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:54,360 Is it faster for you? Like, do you notice that it's quicker? 736 00:42:54,360 --> 00:42:58,360 Yeah, it's just so much more responsive, and it's just... 737 00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:00,400 ..the speed is phenomenal. 738 00:43:00,400 --> 00:43:02,640 Your head hits the back of the headrest. I know! 739 00:43:02,640 --> 00:43:04,920 And you're like, "Jesus"! Oh, I noticed! 740 00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:07,760 Honestly, Esmee, women drivers. 741 00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:09,120 What are they like? 742 00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:11,720 They're extremely fast, that's what they're like. 743 00:43:14,200 --> 00:43:17,880 So, why does the transmission in an electric car mean 744 00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:19,800 such fast acceleration? 745 00:43:23,240 --> 00:43:27,400 Let's ask engineer and Billy Idol lookalike Patrick Sheen. 746 00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:31,160 You're here to help us solve the mystery... Yes. 747 00:43:31,160 --> 00:43:34,640 ..of why electric cars are so much faster accelerating. Exactly, yeah. 748 00:43:34,640 --> 00:43:37,200 So, most electric cars have a single-speed gearbox. 749 00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:40,320 There's no, sort of, sequential gearbox system. 750 00:43:40,320 --> 00:43:43,360 OK, for the automotively challenged among you, 751 00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:45,600 the gearbox - or transmission - 752 00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:50,000 that's the thing that transmits the power from the engine to the wheels. 753 00:43:51,440 --> 00:43:55,880 In an electric car, it's basically a giant wheel with a smaller cog 754 00:43:55,880 --> 00:43:58,960 that turns it - sort of like a bike with just one gear. 755 00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:03,240 Look, here it is on our Mini. 756 00:44:03,240 --> 00:44:07,160 It's that circular bit on the side of the motor. 757 00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:08,880 Sorry, Patrick, you were saying? 758 00:44:08,880 --> 00:44:11,160 Most electric cars have a single-speed gearbox. 759 00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:13,840 There's no clutch, there's no valves, and all this, kind of, 760 00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:16,520 extra infrastructure that comes from the combustion engine. 761 00:44:16,520 --> 00:44:17,640 So, it's a lot simpler. 762 00:44:17,640 --> 00:44:20,960 So, between power being generated and the wheels moving, I mean, 763 00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:23,240 you just basically put your foot down, and that's it? 764 00:44:23,240 --> 00:44:24,480 Gone. It's right there. 765 00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:26,440 Launch controls activated. 766 00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:27,880 And we're off! 767 00:44:29,240 --> 00:44:32,760 Electric cars reach full power almost instantly... 768 00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:35,160 120, Jesus! 769 00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:39,560 ..because of what's not happening when your foot hits the floor. 770 00:44:39,560 --> 00:44:41,800 Whereas in a combustion engine... 771 00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:43,800 You've got to put your foot down on the clutch, 772 00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:46,240 pop it into gear, come off the clutch. 773 00:44:46,240 --> 00:44:49,200 The reason why all combustion-engine cars - 774 00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:52,520 even automatics - need a whole fleet of gears, 775 00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:54,200 but electric cars don't, 776 00:44:54,200 --> 00:44:57,600 goes back to the simplicity of the electric motor. 777 00:44:57,600 --> 00:45:00,640 The main, sort of, key difference mechanically - 778 00:45:00,640 --> 00:45:02,520 an electric motor wants to spin. 779 00:45:02,520 --> 00:45:05,480 It's intrinsic that it rotates. 780 00:45:05,480 --> 00:45:09,120 So, the electromagnets generate an opposing force against each other, 781 00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:10,880 and that causes a rotation. 782 00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:15,600 Ah, yes, I think I've seen that somewhere, Patrick. 783 00:45:15,600 --> 00:45:18,200 In a combustion engine, what we're having to do is, first of all, 784 00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:20,680 we're putting air into it - so we put the air in, the fuel in, 785 00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:22,280 we then squash that all together. 786 00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:26,720 It goes bang, and then, we have to push a piston down and convert 787 00:45:26,720 --> 00:45:29,640 linear motion into a rotational force. 788 00:45:29,640 --> 00:45:31,480 Up and down, into turning? Exactly. 789 00:45:32,920 --> 00:45:34,560 It sounds inefficient, doesn't it? 790 00:45:34,560 --> 00:45:37,200 Yeah. The fact that there's noise at all means that some energy 791 00:45:37,200 --> 00:45:39,080 is being wasted in sound. Precisely. 792 00:45:40,720 --> 00:45:44,040 The electric motor's simpler mechanism means that it can revolve 793 00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:47,040 incredibly fast, almost instantly. 794 00:45:47,040 --> 00:45:49,840 So, no need for gears. 795 00:45:49,840 --> 00:45:52,600 The revolution range, or the speed range of these electric motors 796 00:45:52,600 --> 00:45:55,760 can go all the way up to about 20,000 revolutions per minute. 797 00:45:55,760 --> 00:45:57,520 So, it's very, very high speed. 798 00:45:57,520 --> 00:45:59,120 And let's give it a little push. 799 00:45:59,120 --> 00:46:01,920 20,000 revolutions per minute. 800 00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:03,720 Don't think mine got up to that. 801 00:46:03,720 --> 00:46:06,800 And internal combustion engine generally can't go anything 802 00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:09,000 past around 7-8,000 rpm. 803 00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:12,800 So, as soon as you get to that limit, you need another gear 804 00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:15,680 in order to change, whereas the electric cars can just keep going 805 00:46:15,680 --> 00:46:17,280 and going, and going and going. 806 00:46:19,600 --> 00:46:25,000 The simple motor and single-speed transmission create instant power. 807 00:46:25,000 --> 00:46:28,120 But the incredible acceleration of the electric car transmission 808 00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:31,480 has been known about for over 100 years. 809 00:46:31,480 --> 00:46:34,920 In fact, the very first Porsche was electric - 810 00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:38,680 the P1, designed by Ferdinand Porsche in 1898. 811 00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:43,520 In the first motor races, electric cars held their own, 812 00:46:43,520 --> 00:46:46,240 often beating petrol cars to the podium. 813 00:46:47,480 --> 00:46:50,920 One of the most legendary was La Jamais Contente - 814 00:46:50,920 --> 00:46:52,520 "The Never Content". 815 00:46:54,760 --> 00:46:58,880 It was raced in 1899 by Belgian driver Camille Jenatzy. 816 00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:02,440 It beat the land speed record, 817 00:47:02,440 --> 00:47:05,800 becoming the first car to exceed 60mph. 818 00:47:07,680 --> 00:47:10,880 And, over the EV resurgence of the last decade... 819 00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:15,880 ..modern electric cars have been rapidly improving in their 820 00:47:15,880 --> 00:47:18,320 0-to-60 performances. 821 00:47:18,320 --> 00:47:21,880 So much so that every year since 2020, 822 00:47:21,880 --> 00:47:24,520 electric cars have held the crown 823 00:47:24,520 --> 00:47:28,080 as the fastest-accelerating road cars in the world. 824 00:47:30,480 --> 00:47:32,240 So, let's put this to the test. 825 00:47:32,240 --> 00:47:35,120 I've got a racetrack, I've got some fast cars. 826 00:47:35,120 --> 00:47:39,080 Time to pit the acceleratory power of the electric car transmission 827 00:47:39,080 --> 00:47:42,240 against the multiple gears of a petrol car. 828 00:47:42,240 --> 00:47:46,520 This over here is Porsche's iconic 911. 829 00:47:46,520 --> 00:47:51,640 It's got a combustion engine inside that puts out 480 horsepower, 830 00:47:51,640 --> 00:47:55,640 and it weighs 1,600 kilograms - 831 00:47:55,640 --> 00:48:00,440 which is 700 kilos lighter than the electric equivalent. 832 00:48:00,440 --> 00:48:02,440 Those batteries are pretty heavy. 833 00:48:02,440 --> 00:48:06,040 Let's see which one's fastest off the start line. 834 00:48:06,040 --> 00:48:07,760 OK, you ready? 835 00:48:07,760 --> 00:48:09,120 You ready? 836 00:48:15,480 --> 00:48:16,960 Oh-ho-ho! 837 00:48:28,960 --> 00:48:30,520 OK, so for the launch, 838 00:48:30,520 --> 00:48:35,080 you can see the electric transmission just really kicking in, 839 00:48:35,080 --> 00:48:38,160 and it accelerates away from the 911, 840 00:48:38,160 --> 00:48:40,000 just digs in much quicker. 841 00:48:40,000 --> 00:48:41,680 And it's streets ahead. 842 00:48:44,120 --> 00:48:47,960 That 911 does 0-60 in 3.3 seconds - 843 00:48:47,960 --> 00:48:50,320 compared to the electric Taycan, 844 00:48:50,320 --> 00:48:52,280 which does it in 2.8. 845 00:48:52,280 --> 00:48:54,640 That might not sound like much of a difference, 846 00:48:54,640 --> 00:48:56,600 what's half a second between friends? 847 00:48:56,600 --> 00:48:59,520 But that is enough to put the electric Taycan among 848 00:48:59,520 --> 00:49:02,840 the fastest-accelerating cars in the world. 849 00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:11,120 It seems pretty clear that the age of the electric car is here. 850 00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:13,120 But in terms of the infrastructure, 851 00:49:13,120 --> 00:49:15,360 there is still a long way to go. 852 00:49:15,360 --> 00:49:17,280 If we're all going electric, 853 00:49:17,280 --> 00:49:21,600 then surely we need millions more charging points. 854 00:49:21,600 --> 00:49:23,280 Or do we? 855 00:49:23,280 --> 00:49:27,400 What if you didn't need to plug in your car at all? 856 00:49:27,400 --> 00:49:30,920 What if you could power it with electricity that was guaranteed 857 00:49:30,920 --> 00:49:33,920 to be zero-carbon and completely free? 858 00:49:33,920 --> 00:49:36,720 Sounds too good to be true - but it might not be, 859 00:49:36,720 --> 00:49:39,880 because the future is looking sunny. 860 00:49:41,920 --> 00:49:45,080 I'm in the Netherlands to meet a man behind a car company 861 00:49:45,080 --> 00:49:46,400 called Lightyear. 862 00:49:46,400 --> 00:49:48,400 And no, his name isn't Buzz. 863 00:49:50,960 --> 00:49:52,480 Hi, Tom. Hey, Hannah. 864 00:49:52,480 --> 00:49:54,080 How're you doing? Look at this! 865 00:49:54,080 --> 00:49:55,960 Great to meet you. Lovely to meet you. 866 00:49:55,960 --> 00:49:58,080 Welcome to Lightyear. Oh, my goodness me. 867 00:49:58,080 --> 00:50:00,320 This looks very futuristic. 868 00:50:01,360 --> 00:50:03,560 This is the Lightyear 0. 869 00:50:03,560 --> 00:50:07,280 And, yes, those are solar panels on the roof and bonnet. 870 00:50:07,280 --> 00:50:10,880 But this isn't a sneak peek at James Bond's new ride. 871 00:50:10,880 --> 00:50:14,520 This is the world's first solar-powered production car, 872 00:50:14,520 --> 00:50:17,600 meaning very soon, you'll be able to go out and buy one. 873 00:50:17,600 --> 00:50:20,200 What was the big idea, what was your big motivation behind this? 874 00:50:20,200 --> 00:50:22,520 The biggest motivation? Our planet. 875 00:50:24,040 --> 00:50:27,520 This is head of development, Tom Selten. 876 00:50:27,520 --> 00:50:29,880 Electric vehicles are great, don't get me wrong. 877 00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:32,360 But charging infrastructure, you need still a lot 878 00:50:32,360 --> 00:50:34,080 of electricity to power those cars. 879 00:50:34,080 --> 00:50:37,000 So, what we think is that it's best actually to make the car 880 00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:39,360 as energy-efficient as possible. 881 00:50:39,360 --> 00:50:41,600 And that is it generates electricity itself. 882 00:50:41,600 --> 00:50:43,880 Some people, I think, when they think of solar panels, 883 00:50:43,880 --> 00:50:46,280 they would imagine the really ugly things that get stuck on 884 00:50:46,280 --> 00:50:48,320 the top of the house. Flat panels, yeah. 885 00:50:48,320 --> 00:50:50,920 How hard was it to not do that? 886 00:50:50,920 --> 00:50:54,280 It was initially a problem because if you curve a solar panel, 887 00:50:54,280 --> 00:50:57,520 then every, sort of, point is pointed different towards the sky, 888 00:50:57,520 --> 00:51:00,280 right, and by definition, if it's differently pointed, 889 00:51:00,280 --> 00:51:02,760 it generates a different amount of electricity. 890 00:51:02,760 --> 00:51:05,720 So, we also develop the electronics to actually cope with that. 891 00:51:05,720 --> 00:51:08,400 So, weren't you not just tempted to just do a flat bonnet, 892 00:51:08,400 --> 00:51:11,160 and a flat roof? Yeah, but it's all about aerodynamics, right? 893 00:51:11,160 --> 00:51:14,000 So, if you look at the vehicle, you really see two teardrops. 894 00:51:14,000 --> 00:51:16,160 So, a teardrop is a really aerodynamic shape. 895 00:51:16,160 --> 00:51:18,040 I've noticed there's a few things missing. 896 00:51:18,040 --> 00:51:20,560 One of these is the rear-view cameras, 897 00:51:20,560 --> 00:51:22,160 which we placed on the side. 898 00:51:22,160 --> 00:51:23,960 Also really obvious here is the wheel spat. 899 00:51:23,960 --> 00:51:26,880 If you see this wheel cover here, it actually gets you 900 00:51:26,880 --> 00:51:30,280 10km range extra. Oh, really?! Yeah. 901 00:51:30,280 --> 00:51:32,360 Oh, my goodness! So, why not do it, right? 902 00:51:32,360 --> 00:51:35,880 We are the world's most efficient production car to date. 903 00:51:35,880 --> 00:51:39,480 It's crazy, it feels like the car propels itself, because it has 904 00:51:39,480 --> 00:51:42,840 so much - so less drag, actually. 905 00:51:42,840 --> 00:51:45,480 When you say "when I'm driving" - does that mean I get to drive it? 906 00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:47,160 I think so, that's the invitation. 907 00:51:47,160 --> 00:51:49,200 Yeah, let's definitely do that. 908 00:51:49,200 --> 00:51:51,360 SHE WHISPERS: I'm going in. 909 00:51:51,360 --> 00:51:52,720 Ooh! 910 00:51:52,720 --> 00:51:54,880 Oh, it feels so space-age. 911 00:51:56,880 --> 00:52:00,520 What's your first impression? It's very...different. 912 00:52:00,520 --> 00:52:02,760 Different? It is different. 913 00:52:02,760 --> 00:52:05,280 Your first drive in a solar car. I know. 914 00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:07,080 Off you go. 915 00:52:07,080 --> 00:52:08,440 Here we go. 916 00:52:12,160 --> 00:52:14,200 Smooth, huh? Yeah, very smooth. 917 00:52:14,200 --> 00:52:15,640 Watch out for bicycles here. 918 00:52:15,640 --> 00:52:17,800 We're still in the Netherlands. Yeah. 919 00:52:17,800 --> 00:52:19,920 Today, we've been lucky with the weather - 920 00:52:19,920 --> 00:52:22,960 but obviously, you can't always rely on sunshine. 921 00:52:22,960 --> 00:52:25,600 So helpfully, there is a backup charging port. 922 00:52:25,600 --> 00:52:30,160 When it's sunny like this, how often do you need to charge it? 923 00:52:30,160 --> 00:52:32,800 Yeah, it depends on the amount you drive, 924 00:52:32,800 --> 00:52:36,520 but you can charge up to 40-70km a day. Oh, wow! 925 00:52:36,520 --> 00:52:38,440 So if you're using this for your commute, then, 926 00:52:38,440 --> 00:52:41,280 you just never have to plug it in? If you commute just 40km a day, 927 00:52:41,280 --> 00:52:43,920 you basically don't need to charge the whole summertime. 928 00:52:43,920 --> 00:52:47,480 If you live in Spain, this car can generate up to 11, 929 00:52:47,480 --> 00:52:50,360 maybe even 12,000km a year. 930 00:52:50,360 --> 00:52:53,760 And if you drive just 10,000km a year, then yeah, 931 00:52:53,760 --> 00:52:55,960 you don't need to... Oh, my goodness. 932 00:52:55,960 --> 00:52:57,080 Don't need to charge. 933 00:52:57,080 --> 00:52:59,200 But then, that's, like, completely free. 934 00:52:59,200 --> 00:53:01,400 What's the speed limit, by the way? 935 00:53:01,400 --> 00:53:02,920 I think it's 50 here? 936 00:53:02,920 --> 00:53:05,040 Oh, good, I was doing 70. 937 00:53:02,920 --> 00:53:05,040 THEY LAUGH 938 00:53:05,040 --> 00:53:06,880 Oh, I'm on the wrong side of the road! 939 00:53:06,880 --> 00:53:09,840 At this point, Tom was starting to get a little bit nervous 940 00:53:09,840 --> 00:53:13,000 about my driving - and probably with good reason. 941 00:53:13,000 --> 00:53:16,920 I genuinely cannot tell how wide this car is. 942 00:53:16,920 --> 00:53:19,000 Before you see what happens next, 943 00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:22,000 I think I need to stress that driving a prototype car 944 00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:26,520 without wing mirrors is as hard as I'm about to make it look. 945 00:53:26,520 --> 00:53:29,120 We need to build our technology, ooh, from scratch. 946 00:53:29,120 --> 00:53:30,280 BLEEP! Oh, God, sorry! 947 00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:32,200 I'm BLEEP sorry, I'm sorry. 948 00:53:32,200 --> 00:53:33,920 I'm sorry. Oh, my God. I'm sorry. 949 00:53:33,920 --> 00:53:35,560 We need to... Oh, my God, I'm sorry. 950 00:53:35,560 --> 00:53:37,000 Let's see what happened. 951 00:53:41,600 --> 00:53:43,720 I crashed their car. 952 00:53:43,720 --> 00:53:45,280 He's angry, our engineer. 953 00:53:45,280 --> 00:53:47,360 Huh? Are you angry? 954 00:53:47,360 --> 00:53:49,560 Are you cross with me? 955 00:53:49,560 --> 00:53:50,840 Is it bad? 956 00:53:51,920 --> 00:53:54,280 Is it bad? The front? Yeah. 957 00:53:54,280 --> 00:53:55,320 Erm, well... 958 00:53:55,320 --> 00:53:57,240 SHE GASPS 959 00:53:55,320 --> 00:53:57,240 ..it's crashed a little bit. 960 00:53:57,240 --> 00:53:59,240 Where? Oh, my gosh. 961 00:54:01,000 --> 00:54:02,360 She should be fine. 962 00:54:02,360 --> 00:54:04,720 Oh! It's a tiny little scratch! 963 00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:08,040 That's actually quite bad, I'm sorry. 964 00:54:08,040 --> 00:54:09,440 I'm really sorry, I'm sorry. 965 00:54:09,440 --> 00:54:11,440 Ah, I need to give him a huge present, then. 966 00:54:11,440 --> 00:54:13,320 Well, there goes my no-claims bonus. 967 00:54:13,320 --> 00:54:17,040 OK, so basically, the car's quite wide, and it was really hot 968 00:54:17,040 --> 00:54:19,680 cos we weren't allowed to have the aircon on because of "sound". 969 00:54:19,680 --> 00:54:24,600 And I'm on the wrong side of the road, and I clipped a kerb, so... 970 00:54:24,600 --> 00:54:26,000 I'm sorry. 971 00:54:26,000 --> 00:54:29,200 I think...I think maybe you should drive? 972 00:54:29,200 --> 00:54:31,840 Tom very kindly agreed not to sue, 973 00:54:31,840 --> 00:54:35,240 and also to drive me back to the factory so we could take a look 974 00:54:35,240 --> 00:54:36,840 at the new cars being built. 975 00:54:36,840 --> 00:54:39,440 Even if it was a bit of an awkward journey. 976 00:54:44,040 --> 00:54:46,840 "Please observe - engineers in their natural habitat. 977 00:54:46,840 --> 00:54:49,040 "Do not tap on the glass, they are easily frightened. 978 00:54:49,040 --> 00:54:51,600 "Do not feed them pizza, they may follow you home." 979 00:54:51,600 --> 00:54:53,520 THEY LAUGH 980 00:54:53,520 --> 00:54:56,960 In terms of price, though, how much is this car? 981 00:54:56,960 --> 00:55:00,840 As this car is really exclusive, it's 250,000 euros. 982 00:55:00,840 --> 00:55:03,840 It's super expensive because we only built 200. 983 00:55:03,840 --> 00:55:07,800 But if we scale this up, then there is, sort of, 984 00:55:07,800 --> 00:55:11,800 an exponential decrease in pricing, 985 00:55:11,800 --> 00:55:14,640 because you're not only going to build one car, but you're going 986 00:55:14,640 --> 00:55:17,280 to build 100,000 cars. 987 00:55:17,280 --> 00:55:20,840 Lightyear are following the same business model as Tesla - 988 00:55:20,840 --> 00:55:24,800 build and sell an expensive luxury car, and then, use the revenue 989 00:55:24,800 --> 00:55:27,680 to develop a cheaper mass-market version. 990 00:55:27,680 --> 00:55:30,480 When's your second car going to be out? 991 00:55:30,480 --> 00:55:32,200 2025. That's what we aim for now. 992 00:55:32,200 --> 00:55:34,480 OK. It's not far away. It's not far away. 993 00:55:34,480 --> 00:55:35,760 No, we are full speed. 994 00:55:37,440 --> 00:55:40,120 Lightyear's ultimate ambition is to build a car that 995 00:55:40,120 --> 00:55:41,920 you never need to plug in. 996 00:55:44,280 --> 00:55:47,800 Let's face it, the greenest way to travel is never going to be 997 00:55:47,800 --> 00:55:50,240 solo journeys by car. 998 00:55:50,240 --> 00:55:52,760 But we do live in a world that's built for cars, 999 00:55:52,760 --> 00:55:57,200 so an affordable, solar-powered one is an intriguing prospect. 1000 00:56:01,920 --> 00:56:06,880 Electric cars have been around far longer than I realised. 1001 00:56:06,880 --> 00:56:09,360 Over 120 years. 1002 00:56:09,360 --> 00:56:11,880 THE Edison drove an electric car? 1003 00:56:11,880 --> 00:56:13,760 Yeah, this one. 1004 00:56:13,760 --> 00:56:18,120 But it's only now, thanks to decades of innovation, 1005 00:56:18,120 --> 00:56:20,560 that they are finally coming of age. 1006 00:56:20,560 --> 00:56:22,640 And not before time. 1007 00:56:23,760 --> 00:56:26,840 We've had the dominance of petrol-powered cars for, 1008 00:56:26,840 --> 00:56:28,920 what, over 100 years now? 1009 00:56:28,920 --> 00:56:30,520 There's nowhere for them to go. 1010 00:56:30,520 --> 00:56:33,960 There's no real way that they can be substantially improved. 1011 00:56:33,960 --> 00:56:38,480 And yet, we're now at the stage where these lithium-battery cars 1012 00:56:38,480 --> 00:56:41,760 are as good as the petrol alternatives. 1013 00:56:41,760 --> 00:56:44,840 And yet, there's all this headroom, there's all of these ways 1014 00:56:44,840 --> 00:56:47,040 that they can end up improving. 1015 00:56:47,040 --> 00:56:49,800 And that, to me, says that in the future, 1016 00:56:49,800 --> 00:56:52,240 electric cars aren't just going to be the more 1017 00:56:52,240 --> 00:56:54,120 environmentally-friendly option. 1018 00:56:55,480 --> 00:56:57,840 They're also just going to be better. 1019 00:56:59,360 --> 00:57:02,560 Next time, it's the fitness tracker. 1020 00:57:02,560 --> 00:57:06,080 I'll find out how 1970s car crashes 1021 00:57:06,080 --> 00:57:07,640 help us to count every step. 1022 00:57:07,640 --> 00:57:10,680 That would really hurt a lot. 1023 00:57:10,680 --> 00:57:13,320 Why World War II dogfights 1024 00:57:13,320 --> 00:57:15,560 let us track our oxygen levels. 1025 00:57:15,560 --> 00:57:17,520 I mean, I know what you're thinking. 1026 00:57:17,520 --> 00:57:18,880 Tom Cruise, right? 1027 00:57:18,880 --> 00:57:22,200 Rick Dabate now guilty on all three counts. 1028 00:57:22,200 --> 00:57:26,160 And how our fitness trackers are even catching killers. 1029 00:57:26,160 --> 00:57:29,080 They plan to use Connie's Fitbit as evidence. 1030 00:57:31,280 --> 00:57:33,760 To explore the interesting dilemmas behind some 1031 00:57:33,760 --> 00:57:35,640 familiar pieces of technology, 1032 00:57:35,640 --> 00:57:38,480 and hear some of my own thoughts, go to... 1033 00:57:41,160 --> 00:57:43,520 ..and follow the links to the Open University.