From a flat battery to a full charge in just five minutes – an Israeli startup company has developed a technology that it says could eliminate the “range confusion” associated with electric cars.
StoreDot’s ultra-fast rechargeable experts have developed a first-generation lithium-ion battery that will be able to compete with a typical car’s charging time at the pump.
“We’re changing the overall driver experience, the‘ field distraction ’problem … that you could get stuck on the highway without energy,” StoreDot founder Doron Myersdorf said.
The innovation could eliminate the hours needed to recharge an electric car, he said.
Hundreds of proteins are being tested by manufacturers.
His company, based in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, is backed by four major investors: German carmaker Daimler, British Petroleum UK and electronics giants Samsung and TDK.
Myersdorf, who founded the company in 2012, has tested the battery on phones, drones and scooters, before facing the grand prize of electric vehicles.
But Eric Esperance, an analyst at consulting firm Roland Berger, warned that while ultra-fast cost would be a “reversal”, there are still many levels.
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“We are still a long way from the business car market,” he said AFP.
In 2019, John Goodenough of the USA, Stanley Whittingham of Britain and Akira Yoshino of Japan were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 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 Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences said in its award.
Myersdorf said that adding “speed” was not part of the original Nobel-winning design, so he worked on what was “considered impossible”: a lithium-ion battery good to go in minutes.
“We wanted to show that you can take a lithium-ion battery with you, replace some of its products and then charge it in five minutes,” he said.
The engineer replaced the original graphite in the negative anode of the battery with silicon.
“We’re taking that amazing innovation of the lithium-ion battery and upgrading it to really fast charging capability,” he said.
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Batteries are collected in a laboratory with large glass boxes, sealed to hold out oxygen.
StoreDot chemists covered in goggles and white coats charge 100 batteries per week, sent to companies for use in their products.
The team is already working on a second generation of batteries to cut costs.
Although the vehicle design cycle is “usually four to five years”, they are looking to speed up the process.
“We are working on bringing this solution to the parallel market, by designing the manufacturing facilities that would be able to produce this battery,” Myersdorf said.
The Nobel jury praised the lithium-ion battery for being able to “store a lot of energy from solar and wind power, enabling a society without fossil fuels”.
As public perceptions move toward prioritizing climate change emergencies, manufacturers are preparing production toward less polluting vehicles.
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But the road is long.
On the ground, charging stations would have to change for the new generation batteries, costing between $ 1,500 and $ 10,000 depending on capacity.
Electric cars are still expensive, and in 2019 accounted for only 2.6 percent of global sales, according to the International Energy Agency.
For Myersdorf, the faster the world switches to electric vehicles, the better, signifying a “major impact on the planet”.
But recycling lithium-ion batteries remains a problem, with Esperance noting that each has a lifespan of between 3,000 and 3,500 charges.
“We need to set up a recycling system, as there is for lead-acid batteries,” he said. “Today, this network is just being set up.”
Both lithium extraction and recycling is an ecological, political and economic challenge for technology to overcome.