October 18, 2022 Volume 18 Issue 39
 

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New tech charges almost any EV battery in 10 minutes

This 10-minute fast-charging battery was developed for electric cars, with the black box on the top containing a battery management system to control the module. [Credit: EC Power. All Rights Reserved]

 

 

 

 

A breakthrough in electric vehicle battery design has enabled a 10-minute charge time for a typical EV battery. The record-breaking combination of a shorter charge time and more energy acquired for longer travel range was announced Oct. 12 in the journal Nature.

"The need for smaller, faster-charging batteries is greater than ever," said Chao-Yang Wang, the William E. Diefenderfer Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State and lead author on the study. "There are simply not enough batteries and critical raw materials, especially those produced domestically, to meet anticipated demand."

If new car sales are going to shift to battery-powered electric vehicles (EVs), Wang explained, they'll need to overcome two major drawbacks: They are too slow to recharge, and they are too large to be efficient and affordable. Instead of taking a few minutes at the gas pump, depending on the battery, some EVs can take all day to recharge.

"Our fast-charging technology works for most energy-dense batteries and will open a new possibility to downsize electric vehicle batteries from 150 to 50 kWh without causing drivers to feel range anxiety," said Wang, whose lab has partnered with State College-based startup EC Power to develop the technology. "The smaller, faster-charging batteries will dramatically cut down battery cost and usage of critical raw materials such as cobalt, graphite, and lithium, enabling mass adoption of affordable electric cars."

The technology relies on internal thermal modulation, an active method of temperature control to demand the best performance possible from the battery, Wang explained. Batteries operate most efficiently when they are hot, but not too hot. Keeping batteries consistently at just the right temperature has been a major challenge for battery engineers. Historically, they have relied on external, bulky heating and cooling systems to regulate battery temperature -- components that respond slowly and waste a lot of energy, Wang said.

Wang and his team decided instead to regulate the temperature from inside the battery. The researchers developed a new battery structure that adds an ultrathin nickel foil as the fourth component besides anode, electrolyte, and cathode. Acting as a stimulus, the nickel foil self-regulates the battery's temperature and reactivity which allows for 10-minute fast charging on just about any EV battery, Wang explained.

"True fast-charging batteries would have immediate impact," the researchers said. "Since there are not enough raw minerals for every internal combustion engine car to be replaced by a 150-kWh-equipped EV, fast charging is imperative for EVs to go mainstream."

The study's partner, EC Power, is working to manufacture and commercialize the fast-charging battery for an affordable and sustainable future of vehicle electrification, Wang said.

The work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Air Force, and the William E. Diefenderfer Endowment.

Source: Penn State

Published October 2022

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