Quick recharge batteries

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

verytalldave

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 26, 2007
Messages
3,590
Location
Bromley, Kent
Car
W203 C200K Cubanite
Heard on the news the other day on Radio 4 that some company has developed a battery that can be fully recharged in seconds/minutes. Certainly no longer than an average time of a stop for most at a petrol station.
If this is the case then maybe the days of the fossil fuel car really ARE numbered.
Anybody else heard of this?
 
I think so.
They did say that that it will take several years for the technology to be available for cars, but there was no technical reason why it couldnt be applied to cars and vans.
Thanks.
 
if that comes in sooner id get one for sure! however if it charges in seconds how long will the charge last for??? and i guess this would be different for each device!
 
if that comes in sooner id get one for sure! however if it charges in seconds how long will the charge last for??? and i guess this would be different for each device!

They did stress that it was only the charge time that was reduced.
The battery still took a full charge and lasted for as long as an ordinary battery.
I, like you would consider this if the charge time was reduced to something like a minute or two.

Potentially good news.:bannana:
 
Think about it.
How much energy would you need the battery to store.

Now, how do you get that energy in?

You are looking at either serious voltages or serious current (or serious both) to fully recharge an electric car battery system in a couple of minutes.

edit: back of a fag packet calculation says that full mains voltage (240) at thirty amps would fully recharge a 120 amp/hr battery in 3-4 minutes, assuming no losses (heat).
And that's just the capacity of a normal car battery.
 
Last edited:
edit: back of a fag packet calculation says that full mains voltage (240) at thirty amps would fully recharge a 120 amp/hr battery in 3-4 minutes, assuming no losses (heat).
And that's just the capacity of a normal car battery.

It's the heat issue they claim to have conquered, the batteries don't get hot while being recharged.

Use a 440 volt power supply, now how much charge can be stored in say, 10 minutes, which is about as long as it takes to refill a car tank.

440v at say 50 amps is a fair bit of power.
 
Hmmm...
Assuming the 440v is DC, I make that 22 kw (WOW!!) (zero losses)
A quick trawl round the interweb shows the Tesla capacity to be 53Kw/h, or the Nissan Leaf to be 24 Kw/h

So 2 1/2 hours for the Tesla, or over an hour for the Leaf on those figures (unless I'm wrong - I'm no electrician)

I'm not picking an argument, DM, just trying to get my head round it.
 
I'm not picking an argument, DM, just trying to get my head round it.

I didn't think you were, I'm interested too. I think most EV run at 480V for high power.

I have heard about this fast charging without heat but read that most manufacturers are opting for changeable battery packs at automated charging stations.
According to this the Nissan Leaf can be recharged in 28 minutes.

Renault: Electric Car Battery Swapping Too Costly For Now | NextCars.net | Future Cars, Fast Cars, New Cars, Cool Cars, Hot Cars

But this is the final concept.
2 minutes and you don't leave the car.

[YOUTUBE HD]KKA4GhVn0a4[/YOUTUBE HD]

Better Place Unveils an Electric Car Battery Swap Station | Autopia | Wired.com
 
Last edited:
Surely you need a massive supply of 'green' electricity to charge electric vehicles in order for them to make much sense. Unless you just want to relocate all the pollution/emissions to power stations.
 
Surely you need a massive supply of 'green' electricity to charge electric vehicles in order for them to make much sense. Unless you just want to relocate all the pollution/emissions to power stations.

You do, but at the moment power stations run 24hrs a day and waste a lot of energy at night.

Apparently charging cars overnight is good for green energy because it uses the power that would otherwise not be required so reduces daily cyclical spikes of demand.
In most walks of life power is required during the day, whereas with recharging cars the power is required at night.
 
Takes 2mins to charge it, who cares if they only do 150 miles on a charge. To fill the E320cdi takes about 5mins. This is better
 
You do, but at the moment power stations run 24hrs a day and waste a lot of energy at night.

Apparently charging cars overnight is good for green energy because it uses the power that would otherwise not be required so reduces daily cyclical spikes of demand.
In most walks of life power is required during the day, whereas with recharging cars the power is required at night.

Most electric cars would go on charge at the end of the working day though (5-6PM), so you'd need some kind of 'off peak' charging arrangement for this to work. And I suspect there isn't really much 'spare' electricity generated overnight ... surely you're just saving the residual power needed to keep turbines etc. spinning with little (or no) load) on them. Consumption would go up as soon as you drew power from them.

??
 
Most electric cars would go on charge at the end of the working day though (5-6PM), so you'd need some kind of 'off peak' charging arrangement for this to work. And I suspect there isn't really much 'spare' electricity generated overnight ... surely you're just saving the residual power needed to keep turbines etc. spinning with little (or no) load) on them. Consumption would go up as soon as you drew power from them.

??

Power stations take days to could down and do consume vast quantities of power even when the electricity they produce is not required, hence the use of quick start systems like Hydro for immediate input when demand peaks.

Renewables generate a similar amount day and night so the excess they generate at night can be used for vehicles on charge as the daytime requirement drops off.

You can see here that the night-time requirement is only about 60% of the daytime requirement.

National Grid: Electricity demand - Last 24 Hours

Current demand for the UK is 45Gw of power. Wind generation currently provides 5GW and is expected to rise to 32Gw by 2020.
That would be a useful amount to the overall requirement.
 
Last edited:
The Better Place battery swapping station looks good.

But the particular Nissan featured in the clip is unsuitable for UK roads due to the low-hung position of the (installed) battery pack under the car.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom