Nonotechnology offers shorter electric car battery charge time

Battery assembly

Nano batteries to charge 40 to 60 times faster than today’s technology

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York has developed a new type of nanomaterial (material based on materials dimensionally smaller than one tenth of a micrometer). Due to the ultra small scale of this nanomaterial, a future generation of lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries of the sort used to propel the Nissan LEAF (along with laptops and mobile phones) could lead to shorter charge times for all of these device batteries.

The reason that current Li-ion batteries charge at the slow rates that they do is that faster charging (and discharging) would result in stresses in the battery which could cause premature failure. By slowing the charge/discharge cycle, internal stresses are reduced and battery life is not sacrificed. This is where the nanoscale of this new material becomes a factor.

Rensselaer calls the new material a “nanoscoop“. It earns this name due to its structure: a cone-shaped carbon nanorod base, topped with a thin layer of nanoscale aluminum and a “scoop” of nanoscale silicon. (Anything that compares itself to an ice cream cone is alright in our book.) These nanoscoops are then arranged side-by-side as would be the individual pieces of yarn in a piece of carpet fabric. Due to their structure, stresses of expansion and contraction are distributed differently than in current technology Li-ion batteries, allowing the faster charge/discharge cycles.

The technology is in its infancy and faces limitations. Currently, the size of the battery is small, so this will need to be improved. While tested to over 100 continuous charge/discharge cycles, this will also need to improve by probably a factor of forty (giving a useful life of over ten years) to be useful in an automotive application. The benefits, though, will be worth it.

Think of the possibility of charging your LEAF in minutes, not hours. Taking that drive up the coast could be as easy as driving your conventional gas powered car is today. And if the energy density and power are improved, we will be looking at significantly longer range capable EVs with charge times the equivalent of filling your gas tank. If these advances in technology continue, it’s really going to make it difficult for those that say EVs don’t make sense.

This entry was posted in Battery/Charging Experience, Industry News, Is the Nissan LEAF right for me?, LEAF 101, LEAF Information, LEAF Ownership. Bookmark the permalink.

1 Response to Nonotechnology offers shorter electric car battery charge time

  1. Pingback: New Lithium-Ion Battery Technology? — Living LEAF

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