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Researchers led by professor Harold Kung ^[4] at Northwestern University have just developed a breakthrough battery technology that could allow electric cars to run 10 times longer and recharge 10 times quicker. The new lithium ion batteries ^[5] use several techniques to pack more power capacity into batteries while vastly improving both their charge speed and their ability to hold a charge over time. The result is a battery that could be ready for use in 3 to 5 years that could keep your cell phone charged for a week and recharge in 15 minutes, or give your electric car ^[6] a 500-mile range with 10-minute charging. We already know Nissan is set to release a quick-charger ^[7] that powers up current EVs in 10 minutes, so we’re excited to see how these two breakthrough technologies will interact.

These are game-changing numbers, and it seems that the technology isn’t different enough from current batteries to make its success all that improbable. You can read a full explanation of the new batteries here ^[8], but basically the researchers arranged the current materials in a lithium ion battery differently to maximize their potential. They sandwiched clusters of silicon between graphene sheets to stabilize it and maximize charge capacity, which allows for a greater number of lithium ions in the electrode. Then the researchers created tiny holes in the sheets to give the lithium ions a “shortcut” to the anode, which gives the batteries their quick-charging capabilities.

Harold Kung, the professor of chemical and biological engineering who published the results in the journal Advanced Energy Materials ^[9], said that “[e]ven after 150 charges, which would be one year or more of operation, the battery is still five times more effective than lithium-ion batteries on the market today.” We can’t wait to see this technology come to market along with all the other recent battery breakthroughs.

+ Northwestern University ^[8]

Via AutoBlog Green ^[10]