New technology allows charging in just 5 minutes

A new technology may bring in the near future the revolution in the charging of electric vehicles since even today the problem of relatively slow recharging remains one of the biggest obstacles to the full acceptance of electric vehicles by consumers.

This revolutionary technology belongs to NASA where it was originally programmed to be used on the International Space Station. But researchers discovered that it could be an excellent solution for electric vehicles since charging them could be done at a much faster rate.

In space, as you may know, extreme temperatures prevail and the technology of complex cooling technique helps to keep electrical systems at the right temperatures, as NASA said in a statement. The new technology can provide up to five times more electricity than other electric vehicle chargers currently on the market.

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The biggest problem faced by car chargers is the high voltage of the electric current that produces more heat resulting in overheating of the cables and the charger components in general. NASA’s innovative heat transfer system is called “subcooled flow boiling” and has the property of causing cooling on cables with a high load resulting in faster electricity flow.

NASA also says it’s technology evolved to help provide nuclear fission energy systems for missions to Mars and the Moon. Another purpose of this system was to support vapour compression heat pumps in the extreme conditions of the Moon and Mars.

As we mentioned above, the charging time of a modern electric car still falls far short compared to thermal cars and ranges in about 20 minutes at public fast charging stations. As far as the use of fast chargers at home is concerned, things are even more tragic since charging can take hours.

With NASA’s new technology, the charging of an electric vehicle can be reduced to just five minutes and this may solve the last obstacle to the global adoption of electric vehicles.

[via]