Move over, Elon Musk and Tesla (TSLA) , the speed demons at Polestar (PSNY) are making 'supercharging' look like a long, tired out ordeal.
In a demonstrated fast charge test, engineers from Polestar and StoreDot managed to charge a prototype Polestar 5 fitted with experimental batteries from 10% to 80% in just 10 minutes.
The Polestar prototype's blazing-fast charging speed can be attributed to a specially commissioned 77 kWh battery made by EV battery maker StoreDot. Though the battery is small in comparison to batteries in most modern EVs, Polestar says that the battery can be increased to at least 100 kWh.
In comparison to the lithium-ion batteries found in most EVs, including Tesla, StoreDot’s solid-state batteries use silicon anodes instead of graphite. By using silicon, the battery can store 10 times the amount of lithium ions that graphite can, albeit in a smaller package. In essence, these efficient batteries can charge faster and last longer.
Polestar
As a result, the charging speeds the battery was able to handle were much faster than that of Tesla's 250 kW supercharging. According to Polestar, charging speeds started at 310 kW when it was 10% full, and increased to 370 kW when the battery was 80% charged.
According to Polestar battery systems chief engineer Jens Root, this test shows that any "standard" EV can charge at these speeds without any special modifications, noting that the polar still had the original cooling fan and cooling pump.
Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath, on the other hand, looked at how this can impact charging infrastructure for the future.
“Time is one of life’s greatest luxuries, and as a manufacturer of luxury electric performance cars, we need to take the next step to address one of the biggest barriers to EV ownership – charging anxiety," Ingenalth said. "With this new technology, on longer journeys when drivers do stop they’ll be able to spend less time charging and be back on the road faster than before. In fact, that stop time will be more akin to what they experience with a petrol car today.”
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Theoretically, for one to fully take advantage of this fast charging, one would need a charger that is capable of charging at 350kW. Currently, Electrify America offers 350kW of charging on its "Hyper Fast" charging locations that is available in very select locations nationwide.
Polestar's Polestar 5 is set to be released as a 2027 model. Storedot has previously said that it is on track to reduce the charging rate down to just 100 miles in 3 minutes by 2028, and is aiming for a dizzying two minutes in 2032.
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