(CU)_An Israeli start-up has developed a technology which it says could charge from a flat battery to full charge in just five minutes, and is therefore expected to eliminate “range anxiety”, particularly associated with electric cars.
Ultra-fast recharge specialists at the start-up, StoreDot, have developed a first-generation lithium-ion battery that can charge within 5 minutes, thereby challenging 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,” company founder Doron Myersdorf said.
The Israeli start-up had tested a range of batteries including those on phones, scooters and drones, before tackling electric vehicles. StoreDot is currently being backed by four key investors, namely, electronic giants Samsung and TDK, German automobile manufacturer Daimler, and United Kingdom’s British Petroleum.
According to Myersdorf, charging speed was not part of the original plan, as he set out to work on what was “considered impossible”, which was a lithium-ion battery that is 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,” he said.
Although the public’s opinion towards electric vehicles has significantly shifted over the recent past, however, the road is long. Charging stations, for instance, would have to adapt to new generation batteries, while electric cars itself are expensive. According to the International Energy Agency, in 2019, sale of EVs represented only 2.6 percent of global vehicle sales.
