Unbelievably fast electric car battery charger

Experts say one of the reasons holding back the widespread switch from fuel cars to electric vehicles is the time it takes. charge too long. For example, an electric vehicle can take up to an hour to charge its battery from 40% to 80%.

So, a team of experts from various research institutes in China set out to speed up lithium-ion battery charging by adding a copper coating and nanowires to the anode.

Most anodes are made of graphite and are made into a disordered composite. The team found that this was not an efficient way to transmit electric current. And yet, the size of the space between them is also an issue.

An illustration of an electric vehicle charging its battery. Photo: IBS

To overcome this, the team first ran theoretical models to optimize the spatial distribution of particles of different sizes and the porosity of the electrodes.

They then applied the information obtained from the model to tune the traditional graphite anode. The team of experts coated copper on the anode and then added copper nanowires to the electrode mixture. They further heated and then cooled the anode, before compressing the mixture into a more orderly material.

Experts fit the new anode into a standard lithium-ion battery, then measure the required charging time. As a result, they were able to charge the battery to 60% in just 5.6 minutes and to 80% in 11.4 minutes.

“The team did not test the 100% charge time because it is not recommended with such batteries. They also have not announced how much adding copper to the anode can increase the price of the battery” – according to the report. Tech Xplore.