Nyobolt develops EV battery that charges in five minutes

A British company has developed a new type of electric vehicle (EV) battery that supports 350kW rapid charging.

The battery is fitted to a protoype sports car which, in testing, is able to charge from 10% - 80% in less than five minutes.

Nyobolt claims its technology avoids the typical levels of degradation that typically come with rapid charging lithium-ion batteries. Its cells have already successfully completed over 4,000 full DoD (Depth of Discharge) fast charge cycles, equating to over 600,000 miles of driving, while retaining 80% capacity.

Initial in-vehicle testing this month using powerful 350kW (800V) DC fast chargers has already confirmed that Nyobolt EV’s 50Ah 35kWh battery can be charged from 10% to 80% per cent in four minutes 37 seconds – with a full 100 per cent charge enabling the prototype to achieve a range of 155 WLTP miles. That is twice the speed of most of the fastest charging vehicles today. Furthermore, as the first four minutes are at a constant current of 500A, this would provide 120 miles of range.

“Despite some OEMs showing fast charge times in the region of 15 minutes, a closer inspection reveals the charge is usually across a limited SOC region specifically chosen to limit the amount of life taken out of the cell; for instance, between 20-80 per cent,” says Nyobolt’s co-founder and CEO, Dr Sai Shivareddy.

“Typically, the charge profile will only hold these peak charge levels for a short amount of the charge time. Nyobolt’s low impedance cells ensure we can offer sustainability, stretching out the battery’s usable life for up to 600,000 miles in the case of our technology demonstrator.”

Designed and engineered with CALLUM, the Nyobolt EV will be used to both validate the company’s battery performance in a high-performance environment, as well as allow car makers to witness an elevated customer experience where inconvenient charging downtime is a "thing of the past".

Whilst the priority use for this Nyobolt EV is showcasing and testing the battery technology, CALLUM’s team has engineered it so that low volume production – for road or track use – is possible. Nyobolt’s battery assembly plans are more advanced and could be in production at low volume within a year, ramping to 1,000 packs in 2025.