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    Nissan developing a 10-minute battery charger for electric vehicles

    By Mike Flacy | Digital Trends – Sat, Oct 15, 2011

    Announced earlier this week, Nissan has designed new battery technology for electric vehicles that cuts charging time from eight hours down to just ten minutes to fully recharge the battery. Assuming electric vehicle charging stations become more widespread across the United States, a driver could potentially take a long-distance trip from New York City to Los Angeles only having to stop for ten minutes at a time to recharge the vehicle. Researchers at at Kansai University in Japan claim that the breakthrough in this charging method comes from swapping out the electrode utilizing carbon inside a capacitor to an electrode using tungsten oxide and vanadium oxide. 

    The downside to the announcement is that perfecting and commercializing the technology is likely going to take up to a decade to reach consumers. While Nissan waits for the 10-minute battery charger, the company is aggressively supporting quick-charging stations that can recharge a battery to 80 percent capacity in approximately 30 minutes. Nissan is working with DBT, Europe’s largest charging station manufacturer, to build smaller DC fast chargers that will cost user $15,000 and become available during early 2012. DBT is also scouting locations for a U.S. manufacturing plant that will likely roll out the new charging stations to U.S. locations.

    The pharmacy chain Walgreens recently announced intentions to install 800 electric vehicle chargers at retail locations around the United States and DC fast charging stations will make up nearly 20 percent of those units. Some locations aren’t able to utilize DC charging stations due to limitations in the power infrastructure. Walgreens is hoping that consumers with electric vehicles will soon associate the store with charging and encourage more people to shop at its retail locations. The company is taking a “wait-and-see” approach on rolling out charging stations nationwide to get a better understanding of the popularity of the chargers.

     

    15 comments

    • no signature
      no signature  •  7 mths ago
      This is a start! Now, if they can just double the range of the vehicle ( I suggest looking at light weight materials in the construction of the car), and more charging stations. Eventually, this is going to reach a critical mass, and when it does, the petroleum companies and the petroleum exporting countries are going to be in trouble; but they are not giving any of us a break.
      • TubeTopToney
        TubeTopToney 7 mths ago
        I suggest looking at the new Tesla...
      • Phillip M
        Phillip M 7 mths ago
        $50k well that is not in my budget.
      • JohnnyA
        JohnnyA 7 mths ago
        Tesla needs to come out with a cheap car that gets good mileage (which I am sure they can).. The new Tesla S can get up to 300 miles per charge.. While the Mitsubishi and Nissan EVs get less than100 miles per change.. Insane!!
    • Harry
      Harry  •  7 mths ago
      "Well, here's another fine mess you have gotten me into". All we get are fools like Perry whose head is still in 1950. The Japanese will again take the market for electric cars and we will still be led by a bunch of fools.
    • Paul
      Paul  •  7 mths ago
      10 years? Why. They could do this in one if they really wanted to.
    • dan
      dan  •  7 mths ago
      glad someone is inventing this stuff,all the usa invents is more funk!!
    • phillythekid
      phillythekid  •  7 mths ago
      ...the biggest phobia about electric vehicles is distance...even though a majority of urban driving is under 25 miles a day..kids to school..shopping etc...we have this need to jump in a car and drive 1000 miles if necessary...in most cases it doesn.t happen anyways....most families have 2 cars...have one gas..and the other electric...
      • Chris
        Chris 7 mths ago
        Not a phobia to me. I regularly hit 100 miles of commuting a day so I could never own one. And that 100 miles they say the leaf can go is with no A/C. Try that on a hot and humid day.
    • Ken F
      Ken F  •  7 mths ago
      What we really need is a better battery. And possibly one that can be replaced quickly.
    • FRANK S
      FRANK S  •  7 mths ago
      You still have to burn fossil fuels or utilize nuclear reaction to produce the electricity. But at least it's a start in the right direction.
    • Arvid
      Arvid  •  7 mths ago
      Does Nissan know that any vanadium compound is toxic?
    • Zorgs
      Zorgs  •  7 mths ago
      or get stuck in traffic for 3 hrs or
    • Arnold
      Arnold  •  7 mths ago
      The Nissan Leaf has a 24kWh battery. To fully recharge it in ten minutes, you would need to deliver 144 kW (24X6) of output just for just that one car. That is about the average consumption of 420 typical households (based on 18,000 kWh/year typical household usage) or about 35 AlGore mansions (221,000 kWh/year) . You better build more power plants and figure out what they're going to burn to make all that electricity.
      • d c
        d c 7 mths ago
        That's true for fast charge. It's going to take industrial voltage sources. Even 1000 volt souce, 20 AMP, still takes longer than an hour. Make it 1000 volt 50 AMP = 30 minutes. Will be lots of safety implications that need to taken care of.

        As to your other point, not true. No new power plants will be needed for LEAF. At normal household overnight usage, the energy grid can easily absorb a couple space heaters (4x1kw each worth for 6 hours) of demand to charge your LEAF. A full charge works out at $.20 per kWh, full charge is 24 kWh * $.2/kWh = $4.80 for "full" tank. And you will get discount for non-peak heavy usage. There is enough power station capacity, because power stations run way undercapacity during off hours, because, as you know, excess power plant electricity can not not be stored, so the system has to have overcapacity built it to cater to worst case peak demand. Power companies will love it for LEAF owners to take up off hours slack in capacity.
      • Arnold
        Arnold 7 mths ago
        DC,
        I agree that the 6 hour rate would be much more managable, but if electric cars become more widespread, even that 4kW consumption rate will collectively take it's toll on the power grid, just as it does when the weather gets too hot and many use AC.
    • wrymouth
      wrymouth  •  7 mths ago
      Big oil won't like this.
    • Jessie
      Jessie  •  7 mths ago
      Sounds like a bunch of #$%$ to me.....Heck try and get your cell phone to charge in ten minutes.....
    • philmiami
      philmiami  •  7 mths ago
      People that wrote this and comment about it never ever have dealt with high voltage, and NOT the 240V on your dryer or oven (try 480V,4160V,13.2K volt and beyond). You can not imagine what it can do in an accident. Google ARC FLASH and watch the videos. Most people only have ever dealt with 12V DC on their car battery, cell phones are 5V DC. Get a shock from 125V DC and tell me how you feel.....it hurts, and it hurts bad. Besides, the oil and coal used to make this "green" electrical infrastructure will be more than double the output of CO2 now....all people do is see right in front of them, like a horse with blinders on. Not everyone can look at the whole picture and follow something from start to finish. "Green" is the GREEN you are putting in someone else's pocket, not your own.
    • Zorgs
      Zorgs  •  7 mths ago
      hope i don't get battery run out when there is a snow
    • OBAMA'S FLAG
      OBAMA'S FLAG  •  7 mths ago
      
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