As the battery life of electric vehicles (EVs) continues to increase, people ’s anxiety about mileage may gradually fade away. However, compared with gasoline cars, the time required to charge EVs is still a headache. However, fast charging technology is expected to solve this problem and will attract the attention of large EV battery suppliers.
In fact, when facing the problem of faster charging, car manufacturers are not idle. Among them, Audi's 2019 E-Tron supporting 150kW charging piles will arrive in the US market next year; Porsche Taycan sports cars can support 300kW charging piles at the maximum. Porsche said that through their 800V architecture, Taycan will be able to provide about 60% of the range in 4 minutes.
Now LG Chem, the battery supplier for Porsche and Audi, is betting on another battery technology. The company joined the investment in Enevate and was informed that Enevate is a startup focused on the development of silicon-led lithium-ion batteries. Its system is called HD-Enetry technology, and it is said that it only takes 5 minutes to fully charge the battery to 75%; if it is 15 minutes, you can see 90% of the charge.
Enevate said that their batteries can charge up to 8 times faster than traditional batteries and more than 5 times faster than "fast" lithium-ion batteries. At the same time, its energy density is 4 times that of conventional batteries. This may mean that future EV batteries are smaller but support longer range.
In addition, Enevate's battery can operate at temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees. Cold weather is one of the biggest challenges that EVs currently face. As the temperature decreases, its efficiency decreases significantly. Enevate points out that their batteries can also be charged faster under regenerative braking conditions, replenishing energy by slowing down the vehicle or generating electricity when going downhill.
These are enough to attract the attention of several well-known investment companies, including Samsung Ventures, an electronics giant's venture capital firm. LG Chem is also involved now, but the company did not disclose the funds it invested in, but according to Enevate, the South Korean company is their key player.