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Fully Charged in Just 6 Minutes – Groundbreaking Technique Could Revolutionize EV Charging
(scitechdaily.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Tesla semi is meant to be able to charge at 1mw, which makes sense considering the size of the battery, bigger battery means more cells and more space for cooling. The truck is also meant to support 1mw with the new v4 chargers. So if you believe Tesla (which is hard because of Musk), it is coming.
Charging that rapidly is only possible for some but not all 100% of the battery as you have to slow down as you approach 100%. 350kw chargers slow down around 80% (I've gone as high as 85% before I've seen the slow down). This happens at all charging speeds to protect the battery, even 7kw chargers slow down for the last couple of percent.
However charging to 100% of the time on ultra rapid chargers is monumentally dumb as it's considerably more expensive per kWh than slow chargers, slower for that last 20%, blocks chargers for longer, and isn't good for the long term health of the battery. It is as quick to charge twice to 80% than it is once to 100% on the same charger for 60 to 70% more range from charging twice. This is true because you avoid slowing down at the end of the charge.
You're speaking with current lithium battery technology in mind. Supposedly, scientists in the article figured out a new technology that can be charged in 6 minutes. No word on whether it's still necessary to slow down at the end, or charging efficiency. Time will tell I guess
It's highly unlikely that they solve what is essentially a heat distribution problem with new battery materials. If you stick a huge number of cells in a giant cooling system then you can charge even lithium considerably faster than we do now for all of the 100%.
We are limited by the space, how good the battery pre condition charging is,maintenance schedule of the car and charging point.
My car has a separate fluid cooling system for ultra rapid charging that has its own maintenance schedule, if this system was bigger and didn't have to go a minimum of 12 months between changes then it could be charged for longer at higher speeds.
If my car had a bigger battery with more cells in a suitable arrangement then again I could charge faster for longer as the charge is spread out across the battery. However eventually you'll hit the point that you are only charging a few of the cells as the rest are full and you have to slow down or the battery will get too hot.
I just don't see them completely solving the heat problem, just improving the current percentages.