Fast Charging Electric Vehicles are on the Way

The race to go electric is speeding up.

Electric vehicles that can be almost fully charged in 10 minutes may arrive in the next five years, according to new research. A team from the Idaho National Laboratory says they have found a way to turn a battery from dead to 90% charged in that time span without damaging the battery.

“We’ve significantly increased the amount of energy that can go into a battery cell in a short amount of time,” said Eric Dufek, Ph.D., who leads the team. “It would allow vehicle charging to be very similar to filling up at a gas station.” 

The development comes as governments are pushing to ditch gas-powered vehicles. 

President Joe Biden has already said the feds want at least half of all new passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2030. Regulators in California recently took the initiative a step further, announcing that new gas car sales will be banned in the Golden State five years later.

Automakers are heeding the call. General Motors announced early last year that it will only sell zero emissions vehicles by 2035. Ford later said it intends to make electric cars 40% of its annual vehicle sales by 2030. The company has since rolled out a slew of electric versions of existing vehicles like the popular F150 truck.

The new charging time for EVs would be quicker than it takes to charge an iPhone and many other devices, the Washington Post points out.

The development would solve what the Post’s Pranshu Verma describes as “one of the major challenges facing politicians and car companies attempting to increase electric vehicle adoption: a skeptical consumer base willing to find any reason to not make the switch.”

Charging an electric vehicle often takes up to an hour, according to the newspaper.

Dufek and his team say they’ve also found a way to speed up the charging process without doing long-term damage to batteries. They used an algorithm to analyze the charging process and the impact on battery quality.

Defective Car? Know Your Rights

Whether it is gas-powered or a plug-in, major vehicle manufacturers continue to struggle to ensure that the cars they produce are actually safe to drive. Automakers recall millions of vehicles every year, citing serious defects that pose significant safety threats.

It is important for car owners in California to know that they have some valuable rights and options under the state’s lemon law. 

The law generally forces carmakers to perform a wide range of repairs on vehicles while they are under warranty. It also requires manufacturers to buy back covered vehicles that they are not able or refuse to fix. That includes compensating the owner for the car’s purchase price, along with financing fees, rental car costs and other related expenses.

Talk with a California Lemon Law Attorney

If you have been stuck with a defective or malfunctioning vehicle, a California lemon law attorney at Bickel Sannipoli APC can help you fight back.  

Call us at (888) 800-1983 or contact us online to speak with a California lemon law attorney.