Imagine you need to take care of an emergency and you own an electric car that is low on charge. A complete nightmare, isn’t it? Well, no more. An Israeli start-up has developed a ready-to-trade battery that reduces the minimum time taken to charge a car drastically. While electric cars are slowly but steadily taking over the market, they come with a set of problems that demand innovative solutions. To date, charging was one of the key concerns. These cars took too long to get charged and this alone prevented wider commercial use. However, this might change soon.
The start-up story
In 2012, the Israeli start-up StoreDot was born in an industrial district of Tel Aviv. They have developed a revolutionary battery that can recharge in just a few minutes. The rapid climate change over the last few decades has now snowballed into a massive global crisis. One of the ways to tackle it is using renewable energy instead of non-renewable resources. Electric vehicles are a vital part of the step in the right direction but most people grapple with the idea instead of embracing it. This is because they fear running out of charge in the middle of a long road.
StoreDot has already put its plan into action. Their “extreme fast-charging” (XFC) battery has already been used in phones, drones, and scooters successfully. The 1,000 batteries produced to showcase its technology to big companies have gotten them noticed. Daimler, BP, Samsung, and TDK have invested in StoreDot.
Collectively the start-up has raised $158m to date and was named a Bloomberg New Energy Finance Pioneer in 2020. StoreDot is aiming to deliver 100 miles of charge to a car battery, using available charging infrastructure, in just five minutes in 2025. The start-up has invested eight long years of research and the product is already industrialized at the Eve Energy plants in China.
How it is done
For the extreme fast-charging battery, StoreDot had to revise the usual materials and manufacturing methods to decrease some weight for the same capacity and increase safety.
The speed of recharging is limited along with the life of lithium-ion cells due to the composition of the cathode, made primarily of metal oxides. Its low conductivity decreases the ability to accumulate energy and the speed of recharging.
StoreDot developed cathodes that can combine organic polymers with metal oxides. This change ensured fast charging and high energy storage capacity. This is then combined with the absence of graphite in the anode. As a result, the risk of fire is reduced significantly and the life of the cells increases. The electrolyte or the liquid in which ions move is poorly flammable and fights the formation of dendrites.
Graphite is replaced with semiconductor nanoparticles which makes ions pass more quickly. The nanoparticles are based on germanium. It is easier to handle and is water-soluble. In a large-scale commercial manufacturing process, the germanium will be replaced with silicon. This will further reduce costs.
The debut in the market
“What we release is not a laboratory prototype, but something that can be quickly turned into reality in a production line. This shows that our technology is ready to debut on the market” said Doron Myersdorf, CEO of StoreDot. “The number one barrier to the adoption of electric vehicles is no longer cost, it is range anxiety. You’re either afraid that you’re going to get stuck on the highway or you’re going to need to sit in a charging station for two hours. But if the experience of the driver is exactly like fuelling [a petrol car], this whole anxiety goes away” said he.
By the end of 2021, if the price of electric vehicles does not increase, the new batteries might change the world of sustainable mobility completely. Who knows? Batteries might become the new oil.
The Swiss Institute for Disruptive Innovation strongly believes that great creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs look at the world in ways that are different from how many of us look at things.
That’s why they see opportunities that other people miss.
Look at what is right in front of us, but look in a way that escapes most people.
Thank you StoreDot to become an agent of change and pursue this sustainable development goal. We support you!