Electric Vehicles Can Be Charged More Than 98% In Just 10 Minutes

Enovix’s 3D Silicon Lithium-ion battery.
Enovix

When it comes to Electric Vehicles, the main concern is range anxiety in terms of mileage per charge & charging time.

Now a U.S. company seems to have a solution for charging time.

Enovix, the developer & manufacturer of 3D silicon lithium-ion batteries, announced that it has demonstrated the ability of its 0.27 Ah electric vehicle (EV) test cells to charge from 0% to 80% state of charge in just 5.2 minutes to charge, and has reached more than 98% charging capacity in less than 10 minutes.

Harrold Rust, Co-Founder, CEO & President of Enovix, noted that achieving fast charge times could accelerate mass adoption of EVs, adding, “We have demonstrated a level of performance that meets and exceeds many OEM roadmaps. EV manufacturers are looking for batteries that support longer ranges, while the public & private sectors are working to improve EV driver access to fast charging. We are proud to support these goals to contribute to the electrification of the automotive industry and show that our batteries are an exciting option to power fast-charging, long-range electric vehicles.

This performance exceeded the United States Advanced Battery Consortium’s (USABC) goal of achieving an 80% charge in 15 minutes.

“Our unique architecture enables a battery that not only charges in less than 10 minutes, but also maintains high cycle life,” said Ashok Lahiri, co-founder & CTO of Enovix. “We can improve battery performance today by using the same chemistry, but more importantly, we can accelerate industry roadmap.

Enovix’s proprietary 3D cell architecture increases energy density & maintains high cycle life. The company’s original goal was to provide designers of category leading mobile device with high-energy batteries to create more innovative & efficient portable products. Enovix is also developing its 3D cell technology and production process for the electric vehicle & energy storage markets to enable widespread use of renewable energy.

As part of the company’s 3 year Department of Energy grant program, which combines a 100% active silicon anode with EV-class cathode materials, the company recently announced that its cells have exceeded 1,000 cycles and retained 93% of their capacity.

Tests also showed that Enovix batteries showed minimal loss of capacity after 6 months at elevated temperatures. This pairing predicts more than 10 years of life for Enovix batteries.

Competition is fierce

The goal of reducing the plug-in time of electric vehicles is a common goal of research groups & private companies working in this field.

Swiss multinational ABB claims to have the world’s fastest electric vehicle charger, capable of power-up to four vehicles simultaneously.

The Terra 360 is a modular charger and works with dynamic power distribution. With a gasoline fueling station design and a charging time of just 3 minutes for a range of 100 km.

In addition, Penn State engineers have developed lithium iron phosphate batteries that offer a range of 402 km (250 miles) and a charging time of 10 minutes. And they claim that the new battery is cheaper than its competitors.

A research team from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) of Centre for Energy Storage Research, led by Dr Hun Gi Jung had developed a silicon battery that can increase the battery capacity 4 times compared to graphite anode batteries and also achieve over 80% charge capacity in just 5 minutes.

In addition, the next-generation SCiB rechargeable batteries from Japanese tech giant Toshiba can be fully charged in just 6 minutes and offer a range of 320 km.