This in turn could translate to adding 320 km of EV range in the time it takes to fully boil an egg.
One major bugbear about EV ownership is to be the comparatively long charging times, with even the fastest DC top ups right now still requiring the best part of half an hour to top up its batteries once more. Though this should soon be a problem of the past, as a Polestar 5 prototype recently managed to charge from 10% to 80% in just 10 minutes.
Now this amazing feat comes from Polestar and fast-charging battery pioneer StoreDot’s recent successful demonstration of its Extreme Fast Charging (XFC) technology in a car for the first time. During this demonstration charge, this fully drivable verification prototype EV managed to see a consistent charge rate starting at a whopping 310 kW, before rising to a peak in excess of 370 kW at the end of the charging process.
And as some EV nerds out there may already have realised, the fact that this Polestar prototype actually accepted more power at the end of its charging process is perhaps to be the bigger revelation over its short charging time. Such is as this new technology manages to offer a steady charging rate over a wide state of charge (SOC) range, which is a welcome change to the current commercial EV batteries that sees fast charging rates drop significantly as SOC increases.
Polestar proclaims for this world-first demonstration of a 10-minute 10-80% extreme fast charge using silicon-dominant cells in a driveable vehicle – rather than individual cells in a laboratory environment – to be among the fruits of its continued commitment in developing the best driving experience for the future, through innovative technology partnerships. The Sino-Swedish EV manufacturer further states that this specially commissioned 77 kWh battery pack – which has the potential to be increased to at least 100 kWh, is slated to be capable of adding 320 km of range to a mid-sized electric car in 10 minutes.
By reducing that time to just 10 minutes, Polestar makes the bold assertion for the charging time for an EV with XFC technology is much closer to what anyone would experience when filling a car with petrol. Thanks to the aforementioned consistent charge speeds on offer too with this technology, the automaker envisions for consumers to be capable in affording the luxury of just stopping for five minutes at 50% SOC and continue their journey with over 80% SOC.
Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar CEO, states of this lighting-fast charging demonstration: “Time is one of life’s greatest luxuries, and as a manufacturer of luxury electric performance cars, we need to take the next step to address one of the biggest barriers to EV ownership – charging anxiety. With this new technology, on longer journeys when drivers do stop they’ll be able to spend less time charging and be back on the road faster than before. In fact, that stop time will be more akin to what they experience with a petrol car today.”
Just to inject a little bit more nerdery to the proceedings here, it is worth mentioning that StoreDot’s revolutionary XFC technology utilises silicon-dominant cells with an energy density on par with state-of-the-art NMC cells, and interestingly enough does not require specialist cooling systems in the vehicle. The experimental XFC battery’s modules have a structural function which improves mechanical properties and cooling ability while maintaining or reducing weight levels, with high recyclability and serviceability also paramount in the design of the pack.
More importantly too for a prospective eventual production rollout, the test proves XFC technology works with today’s DC charging infrastructure, which continues to feature more high-power DC chargers of 350 kW or higher. This XFC test by Polestar and StoreDot battery engineers was designed to demonstrate proof-of-concept for XFC battery technology that could be applied to future Polestar vehicles.
Dr Doron Myersdorf, CEO of StoreDot, comments: “We are very excited to share this impressive achievement today and proud to be on this journey with Polestar. Polestar’s commitment acknowledges that extreme fast charging technology is necessary to make widespread electric car adoption a reality. This breakthrough revolutionises ownership by eradicating the barrier of range and charging anxiety once and for all as drivers will be able to travel long distances with the same freedom and convenience as traditional fossil fuel-powered vehicles.”
