Expectations have been high for Polestar’s collaboration with the Israeli battery company StoreDot, and now the first tests have been carried out outside the laboratory – in a prototype of an upcoming Polestar and on an ordinary charging post.
According to a press release from Polestar, the car charged from 10 to 80 percent in 10 minutes. It started with a charging speed of 310 kW and ended at 370 kW at the end of charging.
– With this new technology, you will spend less time charging and be back on the road faster than before on longer trips. The stopping time is more similar to what you experience with a petrol car today, says Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath.
40 miles in 5 minutes
When StoreDot presented its technology during Polestar Day in Los Angeles last fall, there was no question of setting the list low:
– The goal is that charging for 400 kilometers of driving should be done in five minutes. It is the best we can currently envision with this technology, announced StoreDot CEO Doron Myersdorf.
Now the tests on a ready-to-drive car confirm that there is reason for optimism.
Polestar says the technology will be tested further, but the company hopes to introduce these batteries when the Polestar 5 grand tourer model goes on the market in 2025.
Higher energy density
The battery chemistry is a so-called NCM mixture of nickel, cobalt and magnesium, which costs more than the mixture we find in LFP batteries. It allows for an energy density of 330 Wt/kg, today’s Tesla batteries have a density of 270.
StoreDot uses silicon in the anode material of the battery, which usually creates challenges because silicon expands when it bonds with the lithium ions. But the company has developed a material (of polymer, among other things) with a structure that holds the silicon in place.
– Even if the expansion means that we have to compromise and cannot get maximum energy out of the silicon, we get a solution that provides approximately 20 percent more energy, says Meyersdorf.
The result is a battery that not only charges quickly, but that retains its capacity over time – and can be quickly charged more than 1,000 times before it loses appreciable power.
Read all of Motor’s car tests:
Expensive
But there is a small catch with the technology:
It is expensive.
And initially reserved for the more expensive cars.
Likewise, Polestar and StoreDot have done the tests with a specially ordered 77 kWt battery pack, which can potentially be increased to at least 100 kWt, with the same heat pump and fan solution as in the current Polestar 2 batteries.
But in addition to the charging speed, this technology also has the advantage that the car can be charged efficiently even if it is connected to the post with, for example, 60 percent left on the battery.
NESTE ÅR: Polestar 5, en grand tourer, skal etter planen lanseres i 2025." alt="" />“Closer solution”
Many an electric car owner has experienced that it can take longer to charge from 80 percent to full, than from 10 to 80 percent.
– With this battery, it doesn’t matter when you start charging. Whether it’s at 10 or 60 percent, you get the same speed. This makes it easier to fill up the tank of a petrol car. We believe this test is a big step towards a solution to both range and charging concerns among users, says chief engineer Jens Groot in Polestar’s battery division.
More consumer cases on Motor.no:
Tags: Polestar smashes charging record technology
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