Could we charge electric cars in just 15 minutes?

A new system could cut the time, cost, and complexity of installing ultra-fast EV charging stations

Spotted: With an expected 700 million electric vehicles (EVs) on the road by 2050, there’s a need for charging points that are as quick as refuelling. Current fast charging stations, Direct Current Fast Charging (DCFCs), can be labour-intensive, costly, and time-consuming to install and run: particularly when an area has low-power connections. This is why Houston’s Revterra is working on a 15-minute EV charging system that aims to eliminate these challenges.  

Revterra’s flywheel energy storage system (FESS) is ideal for facilitating DC-Fast Charging services in regions with inadequate or low-power infrastructure. It accomplishes this by serving as a buffer, storing electrical energy from utility grids as kinetic energy in charging stations. The drop-in technology works with any existing DCFS hardware.

The system works through a rotor – or flywheel – that is suspended within the system using magnets. Electricity from the grid spins the flywheel, which stores the electrical energy as kinetic energy. This flywheel can then be decelerated, to release the kinetic energy and charge an EV. 

The outcome is a technology that alleviates electricity grid demands, reduces peak-demand rates, all while accelerating the charging of EVs to unprecedented speeds. According to the company, the FESS is able to fully discharge in just 15 minutes, a huge reduction on the 60 minutes it typically takes to charge up an EV. 

Ben Jawdat, the CEO of Revterra explains: “There is an urgent need to reduce carbon emissions globally. Our goal at Revterra is to deploy scalable energy storage solutions that facilitate the shift to renewables and EVs while hardening our electric grid. Our systems enable these ambitions while utilising materials that are recyclable and based on a secure supply chain.” 

Springwise previously spotted other innovators in the archives making EV charging faster, from researchers developing a fast-charging EV battery to a company that has created a 10-minute charging battery.  

Written By: Georgia King