London, UK
In a game-changer development for the electric vehicle (EV) domain, an electric car battery engendered by United Kingdom start-up Nyobolt has successfully charged from 10% to 80% in four minutes and 37 seconds in its first live demonstration.
As part of the ongoing industry-wide efforts to get EVs charging more quickly and expand their outreach, Nyobolt carried out the test in a specially-built concept sports car on a track in UK’s Bedford before the industry professionals.
This comes amid a global race to develop faster-charging batteries that are more powerful, lightweight and durable- all rolled into one.
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The Nyobolt supercharged EV battery
Nyobolt’s new EV battery has beats the existing Tesla supercharger which can charge a car battery to 80 percent in 15-20 minutes.
Albeit the Nyobolt battery achieved a range of 120 miles after a four-minute-charge, a Tesla charged to 80 percent would typically have a greater range of up to 200 miles.
Dr Sai Shivareddy, co-founder of Nyobolt, told the BBC he was pleased with the results but admitted that the tests had been “nerve-wracking”.
The sports car the Nyobolt battery was fitted to for over two days this week- had a few hitches along the way.
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The challenges being attributed to the jerks included the UK heatwave, a failure in the concept car’s cooling system, and a standard on-site charger that was not made by Nyobolt, preventing the firm from recreating laboratory results.
The company claims the battery can charge from 0 to 100 percent in six minutes at its full potential.
Nonetheless, Dr Shivareddy described the event as “a big milestone for electrification.”
The firm plans to partner with existing car brands, with the battery potentially inside EVs “at small scale” within a year, and does not intend to manufacture its own vehicles.
The powerful 350kW DC superfast chargers that the battery requires are publicly available in the UK but are not yet widespread.
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The firm also claims it has minimised degradation and the battery still charges to 80% after 4,000 cycles.
As per experts, it is important to eliminate "range anxiety” among people in order to increase the uptake of EVs.
Dr Edward Brightman, lecturer in chemical engineering at Strathclyde University, said, “Electric cars really aren’t limited by the batteries anymore,” emphasising that the real barrier to electric vehicle take-up still lay in the supporting infrastructure.
(With inputs from agencies)