One of the biggest problems with electric cars is still the charging time. According to US researchers, there is a method that is much faster than before.
Many customers may now be able to cope with the range now offered by many e-car manufacturers – but less so with the charging time. For owners who charge their Stromer every night in the garage at home, this is of course not an issue – but those who want to cover longer distances can run into problems. Because with an increasing number of e-vehicles, the rush to the charging stations also increases and there can be extreme waiting times at peak times – such as last summer in Croatia or in the Christmas holidays in the UK. In addition, when it is cold, the charging capacity at fast charging stations sometimes drops considerably, as the ADAC recently found out in a test. Researchers from the USA have now allegedly developed a technology with which particularly fast charging should be possible.
Charge an electric car to 70 percent in ten minutes: nickel foil is said to increase the speed enormously
The approach of the researchers from the Pennsylvania State University, which they published in the fall of 2022 in the journal Nature published: Instead of installing ever larger batteries in electric cars, it is better to install smaller batteries – and to charge them particularly quickly. Because there are not enough raw materials for large batteries, the scientists believe that making batteries smaller is unavoidable. With the new technology, it is said to be possible to charge an electric car battery to 70 percent in just around 10 minutes. Currently, charging usually takes much longer – which is why many e-car owners are dealing with “range anxiety”, like a couple in Florida recently.
Charge an electric car to 70 percent in ten minutes: It should work if the temperature is optimal
An ideal temperature window is important both for drawing power from a battery and for charging: not too hot and not too cold. Only then can the current flow at high speed. And this is exactly where the researchers have, according to one University notice developed a corresponding solution: The result was a new battery structure which, in addition to the anode, electrolyte and cathode, contains a wafer-thin nickel foil as an additional fourth component.
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Charge an electric car to 70 percent in ten minutes: Researchers promise cheaper electric vehicles
“Our fast-charging technology works for most energy-dense batteries and will open up a new way to downsize EV batteries from 150 to 50 kWh without drivers experiencing range anxiety,” said Chao-Yang Wang, professor of mechanical engineering at Pennsylvania State University and lead author of the study. “The smaller, faster-charging batteries will drastically reduce battery costs and consumption of critical raw materials such as cobalt, graphite and lithium, enabling mass adoption of affordable electric cars.”
