Anyone who has an interest in electric vehicles (EVs) knows the common knocks against them by heart: long charging times, limited range, charging station availability, and so on. To make the EV more palatable to the American public, researchers at Penn State University have had a breakthrough — reducing lithium-ion battery charging times to 10 minutes.
Lead author Xiao-Guang Yang and his colleagues published a report in Joule, a journal focused on the science of sustainable energy. There are still some hurdles to clear but the long-held dream of a practical EV on par with the convenience of a gasoline engine could be closer at hand than people think.
In a home with standard 120 Volt electrical outlets, you’ll get about two to five miles of range per hour, while charging through a more powerful 240 Volt outlet delivers ten to twenty miles per hour of charging. Currently, fast-charging stations are much quicker but can take twenty minutes to provide just 60-80 miles of additional range. Faster charging hasn’t been able to progress due to the damaging effects of lithium plating (metallic lithium that forms around the anode of the battery) which forms when a lot of electricity is delivered very quickly.
The key to solving this problem, according to the paper, is rapidly heating the battery to 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius) in 30 seconds and maintaining that temperature during the charging cycle. The solution came in the form of an inexpensive nickel foil installed on the batteries. Operating at higher temperatures for only a short time, in this case 10 minutes, prevents the formation of lithium plating.
With this system in place, the team found that after an astounding 2,500 charging cycles, their battery still had 91.7% capacity. That equals half a million miles in driving distance with hardly any more time involved in charging than it takes to refuel a gasoline-powered vehicle.
Still, hurdles remain before this can get out to the general public. For starters, getting the battery up to temperature and stabilizing it there raises environmental concerns. If the batteries get too hot, they can degrade or in rare instances, explode. But if they are too cold, lithium plating will occur.
Another issue is that a new type of fast charging station would be needed, or existing ones upgraded. Finally, all battery manufacturers would have to standardize nickel foil plating into their designs. It is not unreasonable, though, to think that these could be solved in a reasonable amount of time given the fast-paced technology being developed today.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.