Storedot achieves 2,000 extreme fast charging (XFC) cycles
05 April 2024
StoreDot, a developer of silicon-dominant extreme fast charging (XFC) battery technology for EVs, has achieved more than 2,000 consecutive XFC cycles, with the silicon-dominant battery cells maintaining more than 80% of their initial capacity.
These results, showing high energy density, are from cells achieving at least 330 Wh/kg and 860 Wh/L at stack level. The cells were charged consecutively from 10% to 80% in 10 minutes, demonstrating a charge rate of 4.2C, while discharged at a rate of 1C.
Such achievement of battery cells capable of withstanding 2,000 cycles while meeting the 80% capacity retention benchmark, represents an industry milestone, with the results far surpassing current and upcoming EV durability regulations. These results leave margins for other ageing factors in the real world, translating to longevity and extended battery life, offering EV owners with a high market value.
In March 2022, StoreDot announced it had achieved 1250 cycles with smaller cells. Since then, the company has been scaling up and validating its technology while testing it with more than 15 EV car brands using EV cell capacity of 30Ah which has now exceeded the outstanding 2000 XFC cycles mark.
StoreDot recently announced its anticipated milestones for 2024. These include demonstrating the world’s first EV pack equipped with XFC technology, shipping prismatic B-samples to OEMs, signing strategic manufacturing agreements and expanding operations in the US on the path toward commercialization.
StoreDot is on track with production-readiness of XFC cells that can deliver 100 miles charged in 5 minutes this year. The company aims to deliver 100 miles charged in 4 minutes in 2026 and 100 miles charged in 3 minutes by 2028.
While I applaud progress in battery technology that allows fast charging and long cycle life, I have to wonder what type of grid connections will be needed to achieve this? Saying you have a battery that goes from 10 - 80% in 10 minutes or 100 miles in 4 minutes means nothing if that only happens at the one special charger in maybe 5 cities across the entire country.
What kind of charging infrastructure are we talking about here? 900V, 1000V, 500kW, 700kW???? So the battery will take energy fast, how do we deliver that energy? I notice that is never talked about when these claims are made.
Jason
Posted by: Variant003 | 05 April 2024 at 05:29 AM
The long cycle life might be worth more than the ultra high charge rate, as it should increase the resale value of the vehicle.
It looks like they can charge at 500 kW which is pretty fast and I'm not sure if any chargers are available at this rate - 350 I have heard of.
Note that filling a car with diesel is about 38 MJ * 40/60 = 25 MW.
Even if we say this is 1/3 as efficient as electricity, it is still >= 8MW.
- JM
Posted by: mahonj | 05 April 2024 at 09:33 AM
TBF issues charging BEVs due to power supply are those of success, as the charging times etc of batteries have improved.
In much the same way, the focus on power supply has moved from issues of building cheap renewables, to storing the energy and moving it around.
If there had not been fantastic progress in reducing renewables costs, we would not have encountered this next set of problems!
That does not mean that they are not real enough, of course.
I am rather less concerned about power surge issues from charging cars than electric trucks though, as there are many more of them with much smaller batteries, which tends to spread the load more.
Posted by: Davemart | 05 April 2024 at 01:44 PM