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   Generally, there’s a huge acceptance for electrically-driven mobility. More and more drivers are being convinced of the economic and environmental advantages of electric cars, however, many have voiced concerns about their limited driving range. Now the problem of limited battery capacity and long charging times appears to be solved.

Yesterday, MIT researchers unveiled a new invention that allows lithium-ion batteries to be charged and discharged extremely fast thanks to an improved flow of ions and electrons inside the battery. This invention could lead to smaller, lighter and more powerful rechargeable batteries which could be used in digicams, laptops, cell phones, iPods and electric cars.  

The MIT scientists managed to improve the mobility of the ions by “creating a new surface structure that does allow the lithium ions to move quickly around the outside of the material, much like a beltway around a city. When an ion traveling along this beltway reaches a tunnel, it is instantly diverted into it.” (from MIT news: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/battery-material-0311.html)

Moreover, the new batteries don’t degrade as much as conventional batteries when being repeatedly charged and recharged.

With the new technology, a small battery can be recharged in just 10 seconds instead of 6 minutes. Larger batteries, e.g. those of plug-in electric cars could be fully charged within 5 minutes instead of 6 to 8 hours. Consequently, drivers of electric cars will no longer have to worry about driving range because they would be able to recharge the car within a few minutes at a service station. Recharging the battery of an electric car would barely take longer than filling up the tank of a conventional car today.

The ongoing advancements in battery technology will eventually eliminate the psychological barrier to the success of battery electric cars. With the price of the large, high-capacity batteries gradually coming down - making EVs more affordable - and the benefits of grand-scale production setting in, electric cars will soon be perceived as a reasonable and practical alternative to cars running on gas.

MIT fast-charge batteries excite promise of quicker EVs (Boston.com)

BREAKING NEWS: New Lithium Ion Batteries Recharge in Seconds!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 12th, 2009 at 3:09 PM and is filed under Electric Cars & Auto Industry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.