Energy

Hybrid ultracap battery promises 72-second city EV charging

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Morand's eTechnology storage relies on hybrid ultracapacitor cells from fellow Swiss company Sech SA
Morand
Morand's eTechnology storage relies on hybrid ultracapacitor cells from fellow Swiss company Sech SA
Morand
Morand eTechnology pack
Morand
Morand says a 7.2-kWh eTechnology pack has been tested to charge to 80 percent in just over a minute
Morand
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An electric car that can charge in as little time as it takes to pump a gas vehicle has long been the dream of existing and would-be EV drivers. But what if it could charge even more quickly? The average gas fill-up takes two minutes, according to the American Petroleum Institute, with other estimates coming in higher. A new electric energy storage technology being developed by Swiss tech startup Morand could offer electric city car charging times in slightly more than half that two-minute time. A cross between traditional batteries and ultracapacitors, the company's eTechnology units offer potential game-changing charging rates, coupled with the possibility of much longer lifespans than lithium-ion batteries.

Morand is the namesake of former F1 driver and team manager Benoît Morand, who was integral in developing the Hope Racing Oreco 01 Hybrid, the first hybrid prototype to start at the 24 Hours of Le Mans over a decade ago. Along with a small team of other former F1 engineers and managers, Morand has set out to apply hybrid and electric technologies derived from the upper echelons of motorsport to more practical everyday solutions.

Morand has been hard at work developing what it calls eTechnology, describing it as an energy storage solution that combines characteristics of an ultracapacitor with those of a chemical battery. In part of its test and evaluation program, the company says a 7.2-kWh eTechnology prototype was able to recharge to 80 percent in just 72 seconds, 98 percent in 120 seconds, and 100 percent in 2.5 minutes at up to 900 A/360 kW. It says independent testing was performed by Geo Technology.

Morand says a 7.2-kWh eTechnology pack has been tested to charge to 80 percent in just over a minute
Morand

Of course, 7.2 kWh is a far cry from the 100-kWh+ battery packs that feature in some of the market's longest-range electric vehicles. Morand has focused on smaller-capacity applications, such as drones and ebikes, explaining that eTechnology is best-suited to applications requiring fast, semi-frequent charges of five minutes or less. The example automobile with 7.2-kWh battery would be a small city car like the Citroën Ami and its 5.5-kWh battery pack.

As far as ebikes go, Morand estimates that a bike with a 6-Ah battery could charge in six minutes at a lower rate of 3.2 kW. That would be a game changer for ebikes, which typically take hours to recharge. With a ~six-minute charging time, a rider could plug in and get back all or most of the bike's range on a short break, without the need to buy and carry a spare battery. That could make ebikes a more viable option for replacing cars on longer-distance daily commutes and errands.

Morand eTechnology pack
Morand

Among the other advantages Morand cites for eTechnology are efficient operation in extreme temperatures and the potential for a far greater number of charge/discharge cycles. It claims that it has safely tested the units to more than 50,000 cycles, tens of times more than traditional battery packs.

Morand says it is working with a manufacturing partner on low-volume production and planning to ramp up production to make eTechnology more cost competitive with lithium-ion batteries. It's also looking for investors to supply it with capital for scaling production.

Source: Morand

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8 comments
EVUK
Has everyone forgotten the promised Maxwell-Tesla hybrid ultracapacitor game-changer? For whatever real reasons all supercap-related EV promises and plans always disappear into the EV abyss. Anyone remember the Zenn/Eestor story that began circa 15 years ago? Here's part of it from 2013:
https://longtailpipe.com/2013/12/24/zenn-buys-large-chunk-of-eestor-as-old/
Paul G
Chase
Every hope that tech like this could one day make it into an EV hinges on a necessity for every charging station that can charge them at-pace needing to have a local battery pack several times larger than the largest battery pack they will charge. Trying to charge these batteries directly off the grid is a sure fire recipe for causing electrical transformers to have a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly.
Shaikh Foysal
Someday these 72 seconds will be long for humans. Thank
jerryd
SC and chemical batteries are not doable and anytime you hear that, it is a scam.
They don't say anything about the size, weight as SC weigh 30x more than li-ion. I'd bet they are high C rate lithium of some type with several that will do that assuming you have the cooling.
And where are you going to find a 3.5MW SC to charge a 77kwh pack?
Present cells can easily do 10 minute 75% charge to 90% is all we need and 12 minute charging will be common in 2 yrs .
Username
A car with a 1000 mile range would not need the ability to fast charge. The obsession with comparing EV usage to ICE usage is holding back progress.
Karmudjun
How can one imagine the electrical infrastructure necessary to provide a 7.2 kWh in 5 minutes? Much less in 2 minutes?
I am all for Carbon neutral - even carbon negative - but our economy is not going to manage these technologies at scale without massive amounts of infrastructure innovation and investment. Conservatives see that as wasting their tax dollars, our grandchildren will see the lack of investment in innovative technologies as squandering THEIR opportunities. Meanwhile the USA still supports big oil with subsidies. So - when will the infrastructure innovations appear? When will military vehicles move from fossil fueled to renewable systems with military reliable infrastructure? That is when it will all start happening for the World!
TpPa
No stating of mileage - range. Charge in one minute, but you have to stop every five minutes to re-charge, or do they have as good or better range.
Cobrarog
Why are we still reading about dreams of dangerous, explosive, Lithium batteries when Solid State, fast charging, long-range batteries are on the cusp of the near future?