Area of Interest (AOI 1): Extreme Fast Charging (XFC) Systems for Electric Vehicles. The objective of this area of interest is to develop and verify vehicles equipped with extreme fast charging (XFC) technology, which can recharge a battery in half of the time compared to current fast charging rates.

Projects should detail technical approaches to drive system and battery development that can enable XFC, charger installation and demonstration, infrastructure impact studies, and reduced vehicle charging time proposition analysis.

The DOE is especially interested in projects that encourage the development of plug-in electric vehicle systems which can recharge rapidly at high power. Developing these systems should allow plug-in electric vehicles to be charged much faster than current vehicle charging, enable greater use of electricity for transportation, and encourage widespread use of plug-in vehicles that can demonstrate zero emissions operation.

Baseline requirements:

• Identify a current baseline plug-in electric vehicle, and describe how the proposed project will incorporate XFC technology and lead to a value added for the demonstration vehicle in terms of reduced charging time.

• Identify specific vehicle types(s) (including light, medium, or heavy duty vehicles) and electric drive systems that will be developed and demonstrated.

• Demonstrate the ability of the proposed technology to decrease charging times relative to currently available technologies while maintaining currents to less than 400A.

• Assure that the battery state of charge increases by at least 50% with a 3C or greater rate of charging.

• Describe planned charger location(s), including infrastructure requirements and impacts at these sites.

• Include and describe partnerships with state governments, local governments, metropolitan transportation authorities, air pollution control districts, private or nonprofit entities, and component and/or subcomponent suppliers or combinations of these entities integrated within the project team to support the overall system design and demonstration effort.

• Include partnerships for the supply or co-development of components and/or subcomponents such as, but not limited to: battery packs, power electronics, controllers, chargers, sensors, cabling, and connectors.

Area of Interest (AOI 2): Batteries for Extreme Fast Charging (XFC). The objective of this area of interest is to research, develop, and gain a better fundamental understanding of next generation fast charge battery cells capable of achieving 500 cycles (with less than 20% fade in specific energy) consisting of a 10-minute fast charge protocol, while achieving or improving state-of-the-art cell specific energy and cost.

One known market barrier for EV adoption is their relatively slow recharge times compared to refueling internal combustion engine vehicles. Current state of the art in battery technology either significantly sacrifices battery range, cost, or battery cycle life when higher charge rate conditions are applied. The development of batteries capable of XFC while maintaining an acceptable driving range and cost is expected to have a significant impact on EV adoption.

State-of-the-art high-energy battery cell technology (greater than 200 Wh/kg and less than $150/kWh) is capable of 2C (30 minutes) charging with minimal consequences, but charging at rates higher than this can significantly reduce battery life and performance due to lithium plating and increased battery temperatures.

Specific technical interests for achieving the objectives include, but are not limited to the following:

• Novel electrode and cell architectures

• Novel electrolytes

• Active material modifications

• Improved additives