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The Israeli startup StoreDot is working on a new technology intended to significantly speed up the loading of electric batteries while increasing their duration of life. StoreDot estimates that their battery does not lose performance, even after more than 1,500 recharge cycles.
At the moment, this ultra-fast technology can charge the equivalent of 160 km in just five minutes. The idea is to achieve an equivalent recharge in three minutes by 2028, then in just two minutes by 2032.
StoreDot is an expert in what is known as the fast charge extreme (XFC) for electric vehicles. This demonstration is not only of practical interest, but also, and above all ecological, since the longer the batteries will operate, the less they will have to be changed and therefore thrown away. The ultimate goal of this research is therefore to reduce the environmental impact of the future overproduction of batteries for electric vehicles.
Its development program has already made it possible to produce batteries capable of exceeding 1,200 consecutive fast charge cycles without damage or loss of performance, unlike lithium ion batteries fast charge currently in use. StoreDot even estimates that this performance can remain relatively high up to 1,700 cycles.
Patented active nanoparticles
These performances are due to a technology based on patented active nanoparticles which accelerate the diffusion ions and which replace theanode traditional in graphite lithium-ion batteries, all powered byartificial intelligence. Here, the algorithms make it possible to automatically disconnect an overheated cell before reconnecting it once the problem has been resolved. This avoids damaging it too much and damaging the surrounding cells. It also significantly reduces the risk of fire.
The problem of the lifespan of batteries electricity is fundamental, on the eve of a historic shift from thermal to all (or almost) electrified. This is why many companies and manufacturers are currently working on alternatives to the traditional lithium-ion battery.
The Chinese GAC has even become the first manufacturer to market a model equipped with a battery based on grapheneextracted from graphite, itself derived from carbon. Its main advantage is to be faster to recharge, but also more resistant and therefore less subject to wear. For its part, the American startup Our Next Energy (ONE), for example, has developed a battery capable of traveling more than 1,200 km on a single charge. It also hopes to be able to market its first products by the end of 2023.
StoreDot wants to charge an electric car in 5 minutes
Article of Marc Zaffagni on 08/25/2015
After the smartphones that it promises to recharge in less than a minute, the start-up Israeli StoreDot wants to adapt its bio-organic battery technology to electric vehicles. The company assures that it would take only five minutes to charge its battery called FlashBattery which would offer a autonomy of 480 kilometers.
Along with range, recharging time is one of the two main obstacles that still need to be removed so that electric cars can be posed as viable alternatives to the internal combustion engine. The first manufacturer(s) to create “The” battery technology capable of meeting either of these requirements will hit the jackpot. In recent months, several companies working on promising solutions have raised significant funds. Among these is StoreDotan Israeli start-up that promises to charge an electric car in a record time. According to him, his FlashBattery will be able to offer a range of 480 kilometers after only five minutes of charging.
The promise seems bold given the current performance in this area. And yet, StoreDot has just raised 18 million dollars (15.5 million euros at the current price) to finance the development of this technology after having already collected 42 million dollars (36 million euros) from powerful investors such as Samsung. The start-up estimates that its technology could be marketable by 2020. But what exactly is it? Futura-Sciences has already devoted an article to StoreDot and interviewed its founder and CEO Doron Myersdorf. The technology was originally developed for smartphones.
It is based on a nanostructure made of bio-organic materials that increase the ability of electrodes and electrolyte performance. More precisely, they are quantum dots formed from nanocrystals of 2.1 nanometers in diameter made from peptides of synthesis. In addition to outstanding performance, StoreDot also praises the ecological aspect of its innovation which substitutes organic compounds for metals heavy and toxic currently used in lithium-ion batteries or in cadmium. A little over a year ago, the company unveiled a prototype battery that recharged in 30 seconds. It then gave itself two to three years to produce a battery having the format and the capacity of a standard model which could be charged in 60 seconds.
Several promising technologies in competition
Visibly confident in the capabilities of this technology, StoreDot wants to apply it to electric cars. And to announce therefore that its FlashBattery equipped with 7,000 cells would only require five minutes to be fully recharged. What’s more, the composition and architecture of this battery would quadruple the number of charge-discharge cycles of existing batteries, bringing it from 500 to 2,000. It remains to be seen whether StoreDot will be in pole position to market its process. Because other start-ups, also with significant financial support, are also in the race.
We have already mentioned in these columns the work of Sakti3 which develops a state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery solid likely to double the battery life of smartphones and electric cars. The British company Dyson has invested 15 million dollars (14 million euros) in this spin-off founded in 2007 by a team of researchers from the University of Michigan (United States).
The same year, the company Seeo was born by carrying a technology for lithium ion batteries able to double the autonomy. Called DryLyte, the process relies on a non-flammable solid electrolyte made from a polymer with nanostructure. At the end of 2014, Seeo, which is also a spin-off from the Lawrence Berkeley laboratory, raised 17 million dollars (14.7 million euros) notably from Samsung Ventures and Google.org. The batteries DryLyte are currently undergoing a nine-month evaluation program conducted in the United States by manufacturers automobiles Ford and General Motors.
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