UK start-up Nyobolt has demonstrated the revolutionary performance of its fast-charging EV battery, which takes under five minutes to charge.
Founded in 2019 by University of Cambridge battery scientists Professor Clare Grey CBE and Dr Sai Shivareddy, Nyobolt collaborated with CALLUM, a British design and engineering firm, to test the fast-charging EV battery in a high-performance environment.
To do this, CALLUM developed a concept Nyobolt EV to validate the battery’s performance, revealing it can charge from 10 to 80% in a staggering four minutes and 37 seconds.
The fast-charging EV battery could revolutionise the uptake of EVs, as charging times and range anxiety are two prominent concerns among motorists considering the switch to electric mobility.
Unprecedented EV charging speeds
The 50Ah 35kWh electric car battery was tested using powerful 350kW (800V) DC fast chargers, demonstrating that the battery can reach 80% charge in just over four and a half minutes.
As the first four minutes of charging are at a constant current of 500A, this provides 120 miles of range.
At full charge, the prototype EV can achieve a range of 155 WLTP miles.
Longer-lasting batteries
Nyobolt’s technology effectively addresses the degradation issues that usually accompany supercharging lithium-ion batteries.
Their 24.5Ah cells have surpassed 4,000 full Depth of Discharge (DoD) fast charge cycles, which translates to over 600,000 miles in a Nyobolt EV pack while maintaining over 80% battery capacity.
This performance far exceeds the warranties of most larger EV batteries available today.
Independent testing by OEMs has verified that Nyobolt’s 2.6Ah cells can endure over 4,400 cycles with a 12C charge and 1C discharge at 23°C.
Notably, the internal resistance of these cells increases by only 50% after 4,400 five-minute charge cycles, which is lower than the industry standard for the end-of-life values for EV cells, typically doubling the initial resistance.
Scaling up production to commercialisation
Nyobolt’s battery assembly plans are highly advanced, aiming for production at low volume within a year and scaling up to 1,000 packs by 2025.
Their flexible manufacturing model supports volumes of up to two million cells annually. The batteries will comply with the EU’s Battery Regulation once in production.
Furthermore, Nyobolt’s EV architecture suggests potential retrofitting to existing EV platforms, promising significant improvements in charge time and battery life cycle.
Nyobolt is actively engaging with eight additional vehicle OEMs to adopt its technology.
Beyond automotive applications, Nyobolt’s fast-charging technology will debut this year in robotics and is also poised for use in heavy-duty commercial vehicles, minimising downtime and boosting productivity.
The UK start-up’s technology could prove instrumental in incentivising motorists to make the switch to EVs, with the UK targeting all new cars and vans to be zero emission by 2035.
