Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF – Fri-Yay/Goodnews

~ John W. Howell

Today’s Good New story comes from the Good News Network. Here it is in its entirety.

Credit: EC Power.

Battery Tech Breakthrough Paves the way for Mass Adoption of Affordable/Fast Charging Electric Cars

By

Andy Corbley

–

A breakthrough in electric vehicle fast-charging battery design from Penn State has enabled a 10-minute charge time for a typical EV battery.

The record-breaking combination of a shorter charge time and more energy required for longer travel range came from heating the battery to a Goldilocks Zone which has proven difficult for engineers thus far.

Their findings are hoped to accelerate the sale of EVs, and were announced on October 12th, in the journal Nature.

“The need for smaller, faster-charging batteries is greater than ever,” said Chao-Yang Wang, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State and lead author on the study.

“There are simply not enough batteries and critical raw materials, especially those produced domestically, to meet anticipated demand.”

In August, California’s Air Resources Board passed an extensive plan to restrict and ultimately ban the sale of gasoline-powered cars within the state. By 2035, the largest auto market in the United States will effectively retire the internal combustion engine.

If new car sales are going to shift to battery-powered electric vehicles (EVs), Wang explained, they’ll need to overcome two major drawbacks: they are too slow to recharge and too large to be efficient and affordable. Instead of taking a few minutes at the gas pump, depending on the battery, some EVs can take all day to recharge.

“Our fast-charging technology works for most energy-dense batteries and will open a new possibility to downsize electric vehicle batteries from 150 to 50 kWh without causing drivers to feel range anxiety,” said Wang, whose lab partnered with State College-based startup EC Power to develop the technology.

“The smaller, faster-charging batteries will dramatically cut down battery cost and usage of critical raw materials such as cobalt, graphite, and lithium, enabling mass adoption of affordable electric cars.”

The technology relies on internal thermal modulation, an active method of temperature control to demand the best performance possible from the battery, Wang explained.

Batteries operate most efficiently when they are hot, but not too hot. Keeping batteries consistently at just the right temperature has been a major challenge for battery engineers. Historically, they have relied on external, bulky heating and cooling systems to regulate battery temperature, which respond slowly and waste a lot of energy.

Wang and his team decided to instead regulate the temperature from inside the battery. The researchers developed a new battery structure that adds an ultrathin nickel foil as the fourth component besides anode, electrolyte, and cathode.

Acting as a stimulus, the nickel foil self-regulates the battery’s temperature and reactivity which allows for 10-minute fast charging on just about any EV battery, Wang explained.

“True fast-charging batteries would have immediate impact,” the researchers write. “Since there are not enough raw minerals for every internal combustion engine car to be replaced by a 150 kWh-equipped EV, fast charging is imperative for EVs to go mainstream.”

The study’s partner, EC Power, is working to manufacture and commercialize the fast-charging battery for an affordable and sustainable future of vehicle electrification.

The good news here is that just maybe electric vehicles will be viable for the mass population.  Today’s JohnKu talks about technology. I hope you have a terrific weekend.

Mother of Invention by John W. Howell © 2022

When it seems doubtful,

The old saw kicks in hardest. . .

Necessity rocks.

88 thoughts on “Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF – Fri-Yay/Goodnews”

  4. Until we get to the point where I don’t have to worry about going for an 8-hour drive, I ain’t touching the things… This is a wonderful step in the right direction.
    Happy Friday, John.

    Liked by 4 people

  5. I’m with Dale. This is a good thing, but nothing happens overnight. I certainly wouldn’t want to call 911 for a loved one and be told the ambulance is being charged. I worry enough about keeping my phone charged in case of emergencies. Enjoy your Friday, John!

    Liked by 3 people

  7. This is a huge breakthrough. Thanks for sharing, John. Over here, we’re finding different manufacturers are using different charging plugs, which seems crazy. Hopefully, the next development will see one universal connector. Love the JohnKu. Have a wonderful weekend 💕🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    2. It’s all Bologna. Just give me 10 gallons and clean my windshield. I want no part of the electric-anything like this.
      Call me old fashioned. But we have enough coal/fossil fuels to last 100 lifetimes.
      My rant is over

      Liked by 1 person

  16. This is a step forward. When this technology becomes widely available, the problem will become charging stations! And of course, we still need power from some source for the charging.

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Human ingenuity is amazing, and it seems to step up just in time. Great news, John. Things are going to change rapidly in the auto industry over the next ten years. 🙂 Thanks for sharing the good news.

    Liked by 1 person

  18. It is a promising step. I don’t know what the immediate future holds for these vehicles actually becoming mainstream, but this certainly addresses a critical aspect that surely needed to be resolved in order for them to be more appealing. Good news, John.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. The progress is encouraging, but we’re a long way off before many of us will buy into the technology. I know I’d hate getting stranded in the middle of a corn or soybean field, waiting on help that’s being charged. And some states, particularly Montana and Texas, are so big that EVs aren’t practical without charging stations being spaced closer together.

    Liked by 1 person

  22. John, this is great news. Unlike the comment from Tom, it’s not a matter of fossil fuel availability it’s a matter of the global warming that fossil fuel is creating. Oh, wait a minute, it’s fossil fuel that generates the power to charge your EV. I guess I’m conflicted on this issue.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. I think there is an answer.
        Nuclear and oil.
        Perhaps I’m wrong
        It’s definitely not electric since it comes from OTHER sources
        Oh well, it’s late I think I’ll have a drink and ponder ……

        Liked by 1 person

  24. I’m glad to hear improvements are on the way. I only own a hybrid, but it seems the use of electric vehicles will continue to grow. Like all newer technology, I expect improvements will continue to happen.

    Liked by 1 person

  26. It sounds like their overcoming the major obstacles for ushering in the electric car era. Truth is, electric cars were out over a hundred years ago, but gas won out. Can you imagine where we’d be right now, if the reverse had been true?

    Liked by 1 person

  30. Most interesting, John. I do think electric cars are our future. I don’t own one, but my daughter and son-in-law do, and they love bypassing the gas stations these days. Thanks for sharing.

    Like

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