HERZLIYA (Israel) • From flat battery to full charge in just five minutes - an Israeli start-up has developed technology that it says could eliminate the "range anxiety" associated with electric cars.
Ultra-fast recharge specialists StoreDot have developed a first-generation lithium-ion battery that can rival the filling time of a standard car at the pump.
"We are changing the entire experience of the driver, the problem of 'range anxiety'... that you might get stuck on the highway without energy," StoreDot founder Doron Myersdorf said.
The innovation could eliminate the hours required to recharge an electric car, he said.His company is backed by four key investors: German car manufacturer Daimler, British Petroleum and electronics giants Samsung and TDK.
Mr Myersdorf, who set up the company in 2012, tested the battery on phones, drones and scooters, before tackling the big prize of electric vehicles.
But Mr Eric Esperance, an analyst at Roland Berger consulting firm, cautioned that while ultra-fast charging would be a "revolution", many stages remain.
In 2019, the Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to scientists John Goodenough, Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino for the invention of lithium-ion batteries.
"This lightweight, rechargeable and powerful battery is now used in everything from mobile phones to laptops and electric vehicles," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on awarding the prize.
Mr Myersdorf said charging "speed was not part" of the original design that won the Nobel, so he worked on what was "considered impossible": a lithium-ion battery good to go in minutes.
"We wanted to demonstrate that you can take a lithium-ion battery, replace some of its materials and then charge it in five minutes."
The engineer switched the original graphite in the battery's negative anode with silicon.
"We are taking that amazing innovation of the lithium-ion battery and upgrading it to extreme fast charging capability," he said.
Batteries are assembled in a laboratory equipped with large glass boxes, sealed to keep oxygen out.
StoreDot chemists build 100 batteries a week, sent to companies for possible use in their products.
While the design cycle of a vehicle is "typically four to five years", they are looking to speed up the process. "We are working on taking this solution to the market in parallel, by designing the manufacturing facilities that would be able to mass produce this battery," Mr Myersdorf said.
The Nobel jury had praised the lithium-ion battery for being able to "store significant amounts of energy from solar and wind power, making possible a fossil fuel-free society".
As public opinion prioritises the climate change crisis, manufacturers are gearing production towards less polluting vehicles.
But the road is long: On the ground, charging stations must be adapted for the new generation batteries, costing from US$1,500 to US$10,000 (S$2,000 to S$13,350), depending on capacity.
Electric cars are also still expensive, and in 2019 they represented only 2.6 per cent of global sales, according to the International Energy Agency.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
