Researchers at Penn State have developed a fast charging technique to charge a battery in in electric vehicle in just ten minutes. By Nick Flaherty @ www.eenewspower.com
The fast charging technique uses a self-heating battery design to provide faster charging at 60ºC, while cooling the rest of the system to make sure that the battery doesn’t overheat.
“We demonstrated that we can charge an electrical vehicle in ten minutes for a 200 to 300 mile range,” said Chao-Yang Wang, chair of mechanical engineering, professor of chemical engineering and professor of materials science and engineering, and director of the Electrochemical Engine Centre at Penn State. “And we can do this maintaining 2,500 charging cycles, or the equivalent of half a million miles of travel.”
“Fast charging is the key to enabling wide spread introduction of electric vehicles,” said Wang. “The 10-minute trend is for the future and is essential for adoption of electric vehicles because it solves the range anxiety problem.”
Wang and his team realized that if the batteries could heat up to 60ºC for only 10 minutes and then rapidly cool to ambient temperatures, lithium spikes would not form and heat degradation of the battery would also not occur. “Taking this battery to the extreme of 60ºC is forbidden in the battery arena,” said Wang. “It is too high and considered a danger to the materials and would shorten battery life drastically.”
Read more: IN AND OUT WITH 10-MINUTE ELECTRICAL VEHICLE RECHARGE
