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Automotive

Nissan developing 10-minute EV charger

By Ben Coxworth
October 11, 2011
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Nissan has developed an experimental system that can fully charge an EV battery in just ten minutes (existing commercial charger is pictured)
(Photo: Nissan)
Nissan has developed an experimental system that can fully charge an EV battery in just ten minutes (existing commercial charger is pictured)
(Photo: Nissan)

If there are two obstacles that are still keeping the general public from embracing electric cars, those would have to be the vehicles' limited driving range and long charging times. Well, Nissan has achieved a major milestone regarding one of those two problems - last week, Japan's Nikkei news agency reported that the automaker has developed an experimental system that can fully charge an EV battery in just ten minutes.

The system incorporates a capacitor in which the electrode is made from a combination of tungsten oxide and vanadium oxide, instead of the traditional carbon. This change is said to drastically boost the power of the charger, which is what allows it to work so quickly. On the batteries that were tested, no significant effects were noted regarding their storage capacity or voltage.

The charger is apparently half the size of Nissan's existing fast charger, and is said to work with batteries from a variety of manufacturers. It may take up to a decade, however, before it's commercialized.

Source: NY Daily News

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AutomotiveNissanBatteriesElectric VehiclesCharging
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Ben Coxworth
Based out of Edmonton, Canada, Ben Coxworth has been writing for New Atlas since 2009 and is presently Managing Editor for North America. An experienced freelance writer, he previously obtained an English BA from the University of Saskatchewan, then spent over 20 years working in various markets as a television reporter, producer and news videographer. Ben is particularly interested in scientific innovation, human-powered transportation, and the marine environment.
19 comments
Slowburn
There is also the problem of the cost, and that the most expensive component will wear out in 4-7 years.
Kenneth Palmestål
The article text makes the impression that the problem of long charging time lies in the charger and that a new capacitor electrode there should solve the problem. Actually it is the car batteries that has a limited charging capacity and if they are replaced with capacitors the charging will be much faster. My guess is that is what Nissan develops.
Mark Smith
And the lack of a network to allow you to charge at a wide range of locations. Sounds extremely limited loactions.
Stewart Mitchell
In 10 year something better will turn up
Daniel Lafontaine
THere is an American charging company that can charge an EV in 20 minutes from zero to 80%. Charges a car practically like putting gas in your car too.
Tysto
@Sloburn: Nissan\'s recent studies show that fast charging doesn\'t do significant harm to their batteries, the batteries should last more than 7 years with minimal loss of capacity, AND you\'ll be able to replace a few cells at a time with new and improved versions as your battery degrades at a cost of a few hundred dollars.
@Mark Smith: Unlike for the adoption gasoline, people have a supply of electricity right in their houses, and the public fast chargers cost a few thousand dollars instead of hundreds of thousands for a gas station. The network will come rapidly as EVs gain popularity.
Electric cars aren\'t fully practical replacements for gas cars yet, but that day is coming sooner than you think.
bgstrong
A DECADE to develop ??? This will never see the light of day...
warren52nz
We\'re talking about HUGE current here. If everyone had electric cars and charged them at home we\'d need to beef up the grid significantly. In China they already have buses that use ultra-capacitors instead of batteries. Because they stop every minute or so, they have an opportunity for frequent charging and there are chargers at the bus stops. Capacitors have come a LONG way recently. YouTube has some good videos showing ultra-capacitors at work.
Burnerjack
Warren 52nz is EXACTLY CORRECT. No matter what the technology is based on, you CANNOT get around the absolute truth that the faster the charge, the greater the current and/or voltage level. If you want to stuff that battery in half the time, it will take twice the power. As it stands now, just the draw of summer air conditioning is enough to cause overloading and blackouts. We are talking about current loads that dwarf the AC loads.
Ed
Uh...fully charge batteries in 10 minutes? Can you imagine the amount of power that will need to go through that system to charge those batteries that quickly? And what about the batteries themselves? If there is just the slightest thing wrong with the batteries, the resultant explosion would be catastrophic!
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