Researchers at University of Waterloo in Canada, have invented an EV battery that charges to eighty percent in fifteen minutes. What makes this particularly interesting is the battery is a lithium-ion one, and they have not changed the chemistry. The charge rate is also a great improvement over the industry standard of almost one hour, according to the team.
Eighty Percent in Fifteen Minutes for 800 Cycles
The Waterloo team also reports that their EV lithium-ion battery can withstand up to 800 charge-discharge cycles. Assuming a user charges their EV once a week on average, this means the Waterloo battery should last them16 years.
“We need to make EVs more affordable and accessible, not just for the wealthy,” a University of Waterloo spokesperson explains. “If we can make batteries smaller, that charge to eighty percent in fifteen minutes, and last longer, then we reduce the overall cost of the vehicle.”
A Key Difference in the Waterloo Battery Makes the Difference
Every commercial lithium-ion battery we know has an anode and a cathode. The anode is typically a metal oxide, while the cathode is usually porous carbon graphite. The Waterloo researchers invented a way to fuse the graphite cathode particles together. This improved the electrical and battery performance.
The electrical conductivity, and battery performance improved because the ions could move faster between the anode and the cathode. But this time, fast charging did not associate with customary battery degradation, or safety hazards either.
“We’re not reinventing the wheel in terms of materials in lithium-ion batteries,” the spokesperson explains. “We’re just finding a better way to arrange the particles, and provide new functions to the binders that hold them together. Here we think of state-of-the-art electrons, and ion and heat transfer properties.”
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