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Electric car batteries have been produced that can fully recharge in just five minutes

In what could be a revolutionary change to the electric car industry, a battery has been produced that only needs five minutes to juice up.

An electric car battery which takes just five minutes to fully charge has been produced in China by Israeli company StoreDot, and this innovation could make the vehicles far more attractive to consumers. This charging demonstration required much faster chargers than those widely available at the moment, but the manufacturers’ aim is to be able to deliver 100 miles’ worth of charge to a car battery in five minutes by 2025, using the existing available infrastructure.

The battery works by replacing the graphite electrodes found in most batteries, which are prone to becoming congested when charged to quickly, with semiconductor nanoparticles that transmit ions more easily. This latest product uses germanium to achieve this effect, but the manufacturer targets the use of the silicon as a more affordable substitute in the future.

The CEO of StoreDot, Doron Myersdorf, explained the demand for this technology by saying that “the number one barrier to the adoption of electric vehicles is no longer cost, it is range anxiety. You’re either afraid that you’re going to get stuck on the highway or you’re going to need to sit in a charging station for two hours. But if the experience of the driver is exactly like fuelling [a petrol car], this whole anxiety goes away.”

This exciting development could therefore greatly increase the attractiveness of electric cars, which are already experiencing a healthy sales boom. In December, the Tesla Model 3 was the UK’s most popular car by new vehicle registrations, beating out petrol and diesel rivals. Such sales are only set to increase, as the UK government planning to end sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, so innovations such as this that can make the transition easier are certainly welcome.

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