Charging your EV could soon only take 12 minutes
The latest charging tech could be truly game-changing
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The Audi e-tron launched just the other week in San Francisco and the all-electric SUV could have an ace up its sleeve somewhere down the road. Its standout feature is already its 30-minute charge time to 80% when using a 150kW charger but Audi has now claimed that the charging time will reduce to just 12 minutes by 2020.
150kW chargers are currently being rolled out across Europe which should reduce the ‘coffee break’ 45-minute charge to the aforementioned half hour. This charging network now has the ability to step up its game to a thunderous 350kW power output.
Although the current crop of EVs can’t quite meet that level of charging clout, Audi has set out its stall as being the first to have the batteries capable of 350kW charging by 2020, as reported by Autocar.
Starting with the e-tron, Audi will soon add to its EV range with the e-tron Sportback but it will be the the third car – the e-tron GT – that will be capable of this 12-minute charging time.
It’s pretty crazy that in only a couple of years, an 80% charge will be completed in not too much more time than a current fuel stop. Think about it – by the time you’ve nipped to the toilet, grabbed a Wispa, had a flick through the car magazines and paid for your fuel, charging an electric car may take the same (or even less) time.
We’ll obviously need to wait and see whether charging times can get down to that level at the rate that Audi has claimed, but if this actually happens, the list of reasons to not buy an EV will be getting smaller and smaller.
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Comments (41)
The car without the sound of oil is a car without soul
That doesn't matter to soulless and boring idiots who actually buy those things. That's the problem.
I`m actually happy that they managed to fix the issue of long waiting times for full recharges, but... wouldn`t a quick battery refill have a negative effect on the Battery`s life? I heard Fast charging can damage it seriously.
That's absolutely my fear, too...
it'll just kill it. in theory you shouldn't use or charge for more than 5-10% of the batterys capacity at a time.
That's still 11 minutes more than with gas cars, and how much range will it get out of that?
WLTP range is 249m so 80% would be 199.20
I think
You gas up your car in 1 min? Do they use .a fire hose?
This sounds great! If they can get 300 miles of charge time down to 15 min it would be a game changer.
If you want this to be a cable normal people can handle, the max current will be about 100A. With 350kW of power, that means it's operating at 3,500V. So, this won't be something you can have at your home, and highly unlikely you'll be able to have it at work. This will only be for motorway service stations or similar places.
It's a good thing to have, but it's only needed for longer trips - it won't be something used by most drivers on a daily basis (charging at home overnight works for most people's commutes).
You dont have as well a fuel pump at your home. Of course this is for stations only. At home you could charge it in a more extended period of time over night. This is more for the case of doing a trip and need to recharge.
Mostly because you don’t need to lol cuz even old ass trucks from the 90’s with a tune and gears go further on a fill up