9-minute battery charging could accelerate electric vehicles’ prospects

Researchers in the US may have smashed one of the key roadblocks holding back electric vehicles, by finding a way to add enough energy in under nine minutes to do 200 miles. By heating up typical lithium ion batteries Chao-Yang Wang from Pennsylvania State University and colleagues suppress chemical problems hampering fast charging. ‘We are pushing the boundary and striving to achieve five minute charging to 80% energy without damaging the battery,’ Wang tells Chemistry World. ‘This will allow us to achieve parity with gasoline refuelling.’