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An electric car battery developed by UK start-up Nyobolt has successfully charged from 10% to 80% in four minutes and 37 seconds in its first live demonstration.<\/p>\n
It was achieved with a specially-built concept sports car on a test track in Bedford, and is part of industry-wide efforts to get electric vehicles (EVs) charging more quickly.<\/p>\n
By comparison, an existing Tesla supercharger can charge a car battery to 80% in 15-20 minutes.<\/p>\n
Experts say eliminating so-called “range anxiety” is key to increasing uptake of EVs – but also stress the importance of improving the charging infrastructure.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeveloping technology that enables people to charge more quickly, which chimes with the time it currently takes to re-fuel a car \u2013 is really important,” Paul Shearing, Professor of Sustainable Energy Engineering at Oxford University, told the BBC.<\/p>\n
But he added there needed to be more chargers of all types.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are going to want fast-charging infrastructure, independent of what car they\u2019re using \u2013 everyone wants to do this more quickly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The sports car the Nyobolt battery was fitted to – which was tested over two days this week – achieved a range of 120 miles after four minutes<\/p>\n
A Tesla charged to 80% would typically have a range of up to 200 miles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Dr Sai Shivareddy, co-founder of Nyobolt, told the BBC he was pleased with the results but admitted that the tests had been \u201cnerve-wracking\u201d.<\/p>\n
The demo was carried out live in front of an invited audience of industry professionals for the first time – with a few hitches along the way.<\/p>\n
Challenges included the UK heatwave, a failure in the concept car\u2019s cooling system, and a standard on-site charger that was not made by Nyobolt. <\/p>\n
These factors prevented the firm from recreating laboratory results, in which it says the battery can charge from 0% to 100% in six minutes.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, Dr Shivareddy described the event as \u201ca big milestone for electrification\u201d, and joked that his own car was still charging, having plugged it in when he arrived earlier that day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Nyobolt<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nDr Shivareddy says the public test of the technology was “nerve-wracking”<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n\n
Nyobolt says it does not intend to manufacture its own vehicles, and plans to partner with existing car brands, with the battery potentially inside EVs \u201cat small scale\u201d within a year.<\/p>\n
The powerful 350kW DC superfast chargers that it requires are publicly available in the UK but are not yet widespread.<\/p>\n
The firm also claims it has minimised degradation – it says the battery still charges to 80% after 4,000 cycles.<\/p>\n
A full cycle is a charge from 0-100%, but this does not have to come all at once. For example, two charges of 50% would count as one cycle. <\/p>\n
Apple says the iPhone 15 battery will have 80% functionality after 1,000 cycles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Nyobolt<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe internals of the Nyobolt<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n