Polestar Demos Extreme Fast Charging 'Breakthrough'

Polestar demonstrates new super-fast battery-electric vehicle charging that claims a 10% to 80% charge time of just 10 minutes.

Israeli battery specialist StoreDot releases a demo video where the companies successfully charged a 77-kWh battery pack powered by extreme-fast-charging (XFC) high-energy (300Wh/kg) silicon-dominant battery cells, installed in a fully driveable verification Polestar 5 prototype.

The vehicle saw a consistent charge rate of more than 310kW for the entire test and a peak of more than 370kW. All cell parameters including temperature, voltage and charged capacity were monitored throughout, with the battery pack never exceeding the target operating temperature set by engineers with both teams.

StoreDot claims the technology can be retrofitted into an existing BEV and paves the way to extreme fast charging of a car using available charging infrastructure, rather than using proprietary chargers.  

It says a key advantage of the silicon-based anode technology is the ability to continue pushing both energy density and charging rate boundaries for several more battery generations. In contrast, conventional graphite anodes already are approaching their theoretical performance limits, restricting further advancements.

Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of Polestar, says: “By eliminating charging times that were previously an obstacle, StoreDot’s XFC battery cells combined with our cutting-edge product development and battery engineering have unlocked new frontiers for electric mobility. This technology will reshape consumer expectations and accelerate mass EV adoption by making EV ownership a seamless experience for the mass market.”