A breakthrough in electric vehicle fast charging battery design from Penn State has enabled a 10-minute charge time for a typical EV battery.
The record-breaking combination of a shorter charge time and more energy required for longer travel range came from heating the battery to a Goldilocks Zone which has proven difficult for engineers thus far.
Their findings are hoped to accelerate the sale of EVs, and were announced on October 12th, in the journal Nature.
“The need for smaller, faster-charging batteries is greater than ever,” said Chao-Yang Wang, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State and lead author on the study.
“There are simply not enough batteries and critical raw materials, especially those produced domestically, to meet anticipated demand.”
In August, California’s Air Resources Board passed an extensive plan to restrict and ultimately ban the sale of gasoline-powered cars within the state. By 2035, the largest auto market in the United States will effectively retire the internal combustion engine.
If new car sales are going to shift to battery-powered electric vehicles (EVs), Wang explained, they’ll need to overcome two major drawbacks: they are too slow to recharge and too large to be efficient and affordable. Instead of taking a few minutes at the gas pump, depending on the battery, some EVs can take all day to recharge.
“Our fast-charging technology works for most energy-dense batteries and will open a new possibility to downsize electric vehicle batteries from 150 to 50 kWh without causing drivers to feel range anxiety,” said Wang, whose lab partnered with State College-based startup EC Power to develop the technology.
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