The new study shared on Joule showed that a ten-minute charge on lithium-ion batteries could fuel 200 miles of range on an electric car.

One of the main issues that electric cars have is charging time. This usually pushes away customers that have ICEs, since the time to fill the vehicle with common gas is not even compared to EVs, even with ‘Fast Charging’ devices.

Now, in a new study by researchers from Penn State University showed that this new power of charge is, as VICE reported, “achieved by quickly charging at a high temperature and then storing the charge more slowly at a cooler temperature. The researchers found that this approach allowed the batteries to avoid performance loss usually created from “battery plaque,” called lithium plating or solid-electrolyte-interphase (SEI) growth, which typically grows on batteries over time when exposed to heat.”

This discoverY happened when a thin nickel foil was added to the battery. This new part absorbs the initial brunt of charging heat. In the meantime, the battery is warming and transferring the heat to itself. A great note for the process is that, with the fastest charging, the cooling time was also reduced. According to the researchers this happens because the battery had not had enough time to produce enough internal heat.

Xiao Guang Yang, the coauthor and assistant research professor, stated:

“We demonstrate that charging a battery at a high temperature (60 degrees C) is, in fact, highly beneficial in the context of extreme fast charging, as long as we limit the time of exposure. (…) We believe that this is a revolutionary approach and completely changed the conventional wisdom regarding the optimal temperature for lithium-ion batteries.”

This is for sure a game-changer for EVs. If it really works properly, there will be no actual excuses not to choose electric cars. But what are your thoughts? Let us know!