This Electric Car Battery Takes Only 5 Minutes To Recharge

Dhir Acharya - Mar 09, 2021

When this battery becomes ready for commercial use, it will help people avoid waiting for hours before they can take their cars on the road again.

The battery is a very important component of an electric vehicle, which is why manufacturers and researchers have been working hard to improve the technology for EV batteries. In the latest attempt, an Israeli startup has created technology that could help us stop worrying about the range of an electric car.

Specifically, ultra-fast recharge specialists StoreDot have created the first generation of lithium-ion batteries with a recharge time on par with a car’s filling time at the pump.

Doron Myersdorf, the founder of StoreDot, said:

“We are changing the entire experience of the driver, the problem of 'range anxiety'... that you might get stuck on the highway without energy.”

The technology can help people avoid waiting for hours for their car to be recharged. There are hundreds of prototypes being tested by manufacturers.

StoreDot is backed by four major investors, including Samsung, TDK, the UK’s British Petroleum, and German automobile manufacturer Daimler. It was founded in 2012 and has tested the battery on drones, phones, and scooters before taking on electric vehicles.

However, before the technology can be widely used, there are many stages to achieve.

In 2019, John Goodenough from the US, Stanley Whittingham from Britain, and Akira Yoshino from Japan were awarded the Nobel Chemistry Prize for inventing lithium-ion batteries. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said:

“This lightweight, rechargeable and powerful battery is now used in everything from mobile phones to laptops and electric vehicles.”

According to Myersdorf, speed wasn’t part of the original design that won the Nobel Prize, so he started working on a lithium-ion battery that can be ready within minutes. He said:

“We wanted to demonstrate that you can take a lithium-ion battery, replace some of its materials and then charge it in five minutes.”

The company is working on the 2nd generation of the battery

To achieve this, the engineer used silicon instead of graphite for the battery’s negative anode. Batteries assembled in a lab equipped with large glass boxes to keep oxygen out. Currently, the team is already developing the second-gen battery to reduce costs.