A recharge as fast as a full tank? Ford thinks they have the solution

While most of the major manufacturers have made the transition to fully electric ranges By 2030-2040, all efforts are focused on solutions to increase the range of vehicles and reduce the time it takes to recharge their batteries as much as possible.

At Ford, we have identified a promising area of ​​innovation that we hear very little about: the charging cable. Associated with Purdue University (United States), the American manufacturer has filed for a patent for a cable with which the charging an electric car would take no more time than a full tank of gasoline, a few minutes. To achieve this performance, it is necessary to resolve the main obstacle, namely the heat which increases with the intensity of Electric power.

A phase change liquid

” Today, chargers are limited in the speed at which they can charge an EV battery due to the risk of overheating. To charge faster, more current must be passed through the charging cable Says Michael Degner, senior technical manager for Ford Research and Advanced Engineering. To get around this phenomenon, the Ford-Purdue team has developed a cooling technique of the cable which rests on a phase change fluid which changes from the liquid steamed. This transition allows more heat to be evacuated than conventional liquid cooling.

At Purdue University, Professor Issam Mudawar has worked on cooling techniques for electronic devices for more than three decades. The tests he carried out on this charging cable made it possible to reach an intensity of more than 2,400 amps, which is more than four times what a Tesla Supercharger of 520 amps. A result which is certainly very encouraging, but which does not bode well for application imminent concrete. Various prototypes of this cable will be evaluated during the next two years, Ford specifying that this cable of fast recharge “ will not be on the market for some time “.