People who build conventional cars think their business model is safe because who would drive an electric car that takes an hour or more to recharge when you could drive a car with an internal combustion engine and never spend more than five minutes filling the tank? Range anxiety is seen by many as the number one reason people don’t want to buy an electric car, but it really is about convenience.
Those who advocate for hydrogen fuel cell powered cars use the same argument — it only takes 10 minutes of so to refuel with hydrogen. What sort of idiot would waste an hour or more charging a battery when filling a hydrogen storage tank takes so little time?
Both groups may be about to have their worlds turned upside down by StoreDot, an Israeli company that claims it has new a new battery that can go three hundred miles on a charge and then be replenished in only five minutes. If true, the electric car revolution just took a giant leap forward.
First, a word of caution. The news is filled with stunning advances in battery technology that are coming from laboratories around the world. Billions is being spent on battery research every year. People like John Goodenough have devoted their entire lives to finding better batteries.
StoreDot demonstrated its new battery to the public at the CUBE Tech Fair in Berlin last week but mostly what the company has done is create a very cool video that shows how its new flash battery works. According to the company, it uses “proprietary organic compounds” and no graphite. It claims the electrolyte is non-flammable.
“Fast Charging is the critical missing link needed to make electric vehicles ubiquitous. The currently available battery technology dictates long charging times which makes the EV form of transportation inadequate for the public at large,” says StoreDot co-founder and CEO Dr. Doron Myersdorf. “We’re exploring options with a few strategic partners in the auto space to help us boost the production process in Asia and reach mass production as soon as possible.”
The possibilities are mind boggling. Tesla’s Supercharger network would be rendered obsolete overnight. Wireless charging strategies would cease to be relevant. Electric cars would be as convenient to use as conventional cars. The switch to electric cars would be moved forward by a decade of more, with all that implies for lowering carbon emissions and ending the hegemony of the fossil fuel industry. For those reasons alone, let’s hope the StoreDot technology is more than just hype.
Source: The Drive
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