--- title: "New Electric Car Battery Charges in Just Five Minutes" description: "A Chinese company has developed an electric car battery that charges in 5 minutes. Learn why this battery can't be used in cars yet." date: "2021-01-19" modified: "2021-01-27" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/electric-car-battery-charges-five-minutes" categories: - "Advanced Transport" tags: - "car battery" - "electric cars" - "the digest" --- # New Electric Car Battery Charges in Just Five Minutes ![For the first time ever, a company in China has manufactured a car battery that can be charged completely in just five minutes, The Guardian reports.]() *\Image: StoreDot\* ## Hot Minute A factory in China has manufactured a car battery that can be charged completely in just five minutes, [*The Guardian* reports](). The batteries were developed by Israeli company StoreDot and built by Chinese manufacturer Eve Energy. There is one big catch, however: While the batteries can technically be fully charged in just five minutes, electric car chargers currently in use today wouldn't be powerful enough to juice them up in that amount of time. Next generation chargers, however, could unlock their potential — if we bite the bullet on a costly and widespread infrastructure buildout. ## Range Anxiety Tesla has spearheaded efforts to develop a network of fast chargers capable of charging at faster rates than competing chargers. Catching up will require significant amounts of investment, but the *Guardian* reports that StoreDot is already working with oil and gas company BP to upgrade its 18,200 gas stations to include fast chargers over the next decade. "The number one barrier to the adoption of electric vehicles is no longer cost, it is range anxiety," StoreDot CEO Doron Myersdorf told the British newspaper. "You’re either afraid that you’re going to get stuck on the highway or you’re going to need to sit in a charging station for two hours. But if the experience of the driver is exactly like fueling \[a gasoline-powered car\], this whole anxiety goes away." ## Nanoparticle Electrodes The batteries use semiconductor nanoparticles rather than graphite to allow ions to pass back and forth more quickly. To bring the cost of these electrodes down to those used in existing lithium ion batteries, StoreDot plans to build these semiconductors out of silicon. Durability could be a concern. According to Myersdorf, the batteries only maintain 80 percent capacity after 1,000 charge cycles. **READ MORE:** [Electric car batteries with five-minute charging times produced]() \[*The Guardian*\] **More on electric cars:** *[VW Shows Off Futuristic Car Charging Robot Prototype]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()