Technology

"Extremely fast-charging" battery hits 60 percent in under 6 minutes

With a view to shortening an electric vehicle's plug-in time, scientists have developed a battery that charges "extremely fast"
With a view to shortening an electric vehicle's plug-in time, scientists have developed a battery that charges "extremely fast"

By rethinking a key battery component, scientists in China have come up with what's described as "extremely fast charging" technology that sees a lithium-ion battery hit 60 percent capacity in under six minutes. The breakthrough is billed as a significant one for the world of electric vehicles where recharge times lag far behind refueling times for conventional cars, and could make them a far appealing proposition on that front.

Led by researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China, the work focuses on one of the two electrodes in a lithium-ion battery, called the anode. This is of big interest to scientists in the field because redesigned anodes could offer great performance benefits, that include holding far more energy and charging up much more quickly.

One exciting possibility includes replacing the mix of graphite and copper with pure lithium metal, hailed as a "dream material" that could allow for up to 10 times the capacity of current devices. Other interesting examples include introducing experimental nanospheres into the anode to boost capacity, or doing away with the anode altogether to make for a smaller and cheaper battery.

The authors of this new study looked to improve on the standard anode by designing a new porous architecture with graphite particles of a certain size strewn throughout. The idea was to address the non-ordered nature of today's anodes, which feature spaces that mean the batteries don't lend themselves so well to fast charging, by using particle-level theoretical modeling to determine the optimal arrangement.

With the ideal distribution of different sized particles and spaces in the anode, the team also added copper nanowires and a copper coating and used heating and cooling treatments to form their novel component. As reported in TechXplore, this anode was incorporated into a standard lithium-ion battery and enabled it to be recharged to 60 percent in 5.6 minutes and to 80 percent in 11.4 minutes.

Described as an "extremely fast-charging lithium ion battery," the scientists see the technology as a promising stepping stone toward more desirable electric vehicles, pointing to the US Department of Energy's "Fast Charge Goal" of 10 mile (16 km) of travel per minute of charging.

The research was published in the journal Science Advances.

Source: TechXplore

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12 comments
harry van trotsenburg
Does this also stop the heating of the battery pack?
harry van trotsenburg
What are the consequences for the heating up of the battery pack?
Gordien
Stability of the materials - cost and reliability, might be the question. It's almost as quick as swapping out batteries. That's moving a lot of power in a short time - definitely not something to be done at home.
DaveWesely
I agree with Gordien that swapping batteries may be faster, but that means another whole level of infrastructure. As an EV owner, I can say speed of charge is not an issue unless you are on a long trip. So no, fast charging is not done at home. It would be nice if EVs were built with the capability to add batteries (range) for long trips.
blanky2
60% in 6mins...no specs for what current that requires, or has already been mentioned, what temp rise will occur. Domestic electrical supply in the UK is 13amp, so i'm very doubtful that will be sufficient. Also for a pack that charges that quickly, is battery life compromised as a result. ?o many unknowns, so few facts. Irrespective of facts and figures, the biggest problem will be infrastructure.
Seasherm
Swapping batteries could come to some fleet trucks eventually, but I doubt cars. Maybe we'll all be leasing battery packs in the future, so who knows.
I do know that there are some very interesting travel trailer ideas with batteries to make up for the weight of the trailer, or batteries and motor so the trailer doesn't add any load. also can drive it into a parking spot without the car. So, who knows, we might see trailerable batteries for longer trips.
jerryd
A123 LFP tech from 2002 and LG tech from 10 yrs ago in the Chevy Volt among many others that can do this. Even lead batteries can do that to 70%.
In 2 yrs any EV not charging to 80% in 12 minutes is incompetent.
Jim B
Indirect methanol fuel cells are the future. I saw a recent article about using graphene in them to make them more stable long term. Also there was the recent New Atlas article about using a turbo driven air cooled one in a small aeroplane.
christopher
Smells unmanufacturable to me: "ideal distribution of different sized particles and spaces in the anode", "added copper nanowires", "copper coating", "heating and cooling treatments" ... all for what looks like no practically useful advance over what we can already buy in the shops anyhow...
MausPerson
Wait until Governments fully realise the impact of lower fossil fuel use on their tax collection for road maintenance. Result doubling in electricity costs. Long way to go on this subject. The Chinese are trying to keep lithium technology for selfish reasons. The whole of life costs for electric far exceeds ICE vehicles Hybrids make more sense.