A US company has developed a new silicon-based battery that can be charged to 80% in 5.2 minutes

According to pv-magazine, the US startup Enovix recently demonstrated its technological achievements and launched a new silicon-based battery product. Officials said that this battery can charge electric vehicles in about 10 minutes, which is faster than refueling?

(Image source: Enovix)

According to reports, this new battery adopts a 3D battery architecture design, with EV-grade cathodes and anodes made of silicon, which can further reduce the battery charging time. At the same time, the battery also improves the energy density, and after more than 1,000 cycles of charging, it still maintains about 93% of the capacity. Officials announced that it has been proven that the battery can be charged from 0 to 80% in 5.2 minutes and to more than 98% in 10 minutes.

Silicon-based materials have outstanding energy storage potential and are believed to be able to replace current graphite as a new type of anode material. In theory, the lithium storage capacity of silicon anode batteries can reach more than twice that of current lithium batteries using graphite anodes, which is equivalent to nearly doubling the energy density of the battery. Once silicon-based materials can be officially used in lithium batteries, it will be of great help in improving battery capacity and charging speed.

(Image source: Enovix)

Enovix tested its fast charging capability on a 0.27Ah silicon-lithium battery and claimed to have overcome four major technical challenges, including battery expansion during the first charge, efficiency during the first charge, and short service life due to repeated charge expansion. It is not clear whether this battery can reach commercial and industrial mass production levels. Once it can be widely used in automobiles, electric vehicles will really have no range anxiety, and they will have long range and fast charging.

Nowadays, the short range and slow charging of electric vehicles have become one of the factors that restrict their development. As the number of electric vehicles on the market continues to increase, charging stations are becoming increasingly insufficient. Especially during peak holiday seasons, it may take several hours to queue up for charging. The range of mainstream pure electric vehicles is within 500~600km, and the actual driving mileage is even shorter, resulting in more serious range anxiety.

Major car companies and battery manufacturers around the world are actively developing new batteries to further improve the range of cars. Tesla's 4680 battery can help increase the range of cars by more than 16%, while also reducing costs. Guoxuan High-tech's new ternary semi-solid-state battery directly pushes the car's range to more than 1,000km. CATL will also bring Kirin batteries, which are also worth noting.

In the future, more long-range models will be launched, which will alleviate the anxiety about vehicle range to a certain extent. However, if you want to improve the user experience of electric vehicles, it is also very important to improve the charging speed. We hope that domestic battery manufacturers can also bring more advanced fast charging technology.