Promising

Polestar 5: Prototype charges 10 to 80% in 10 minutes

(Bild: Polestar)

A bottleneck in dealing with electric cars is the time it takes to charge the battery. Now Polestar, together with fast-charging battery pioneer StoreDot, has drastically reduced this time. Not in a production car, but also not just in a laboratory battery, but in a fully road-ready prototype of the Polestar 5.

The car was charged from 10 to 80 percent in just 10 minutes. The charging power started at 310 kW and reached a peak value of over 370 kW - and that at the end of the charging process.

This is the world's first demonstration of such extremely fast charging with silicon-dominated cells in a roadworthy vehicle - not with individual cells in a laboratory environment, Polestar emphasizes.

(Bild: Polestar)

The specially commissioned 77 kWh battery, which can potentially be increased to at least 100 kWh, could in future increase the range of a medium-sized electric car by 320 kilometers within 10 minutes, the Chinese-Swedish brand is certain.

The XFC test was developed by engineers from Polestar and StoreDot to provide proof of concept for the XFC battery technology that could be used in future Polestar vehicles.

(Bild: Polestar)

StoreDot's XFC technology uses silicon-dominated cells with an energy density comparable to state-of-the-art NMC cells. These do not require any special cooling systems in the vehicle. The modules of the experimental XFC battery have a structural function that improves the mechanical properties and cooling capability. At the same time, the weight is maintained or even reduced. High recyclability and ease of maintenance are of paramount importance in the design of the packs.

Highest charging capacity at the end
With current commercially available batteries for electric vehicles, fast charging rates can vary greatly depending on the state of charge of the battery and can sometimes drop significantly as the state of charge increases. During this test, Polestar saw an increase in charging speed from 310 kW at 10 percent to over 370 kW at 80 percent state of charge. This proves that the technology provides a constant charging speed without significant variations in speed or efficiency whenever the driver pauses within this range.

(Bild: Polestar)

The charging characteristics have the added benefit of being able to charge efficiently even at higher charge levels. With current technology, the fuller the battery, the lower the charging capacity.

Nothing is yet known about the series production of the new batteries. In addition to Polestar, other companies such as the British oil company BP, Daimler and Samsung StoreDot are also involved.