- UK-based WAE Technologies claims its new battery algorithm software could reduce electric car charging times by up to 25%.
- The solution can also improve electric vehicle range by 10%.
- This new technology could further improve the speed of the fastest EV chargers.
Are electric car charging times about to get a boost?
Technology and engineering business WAE Technologies have announced new claims about its battery management software for electric vehicles, codenamed ‘Elysia’. This, it claims, can bring charging times down by 25%. Understandably, the company has not delved into what algorithms in particular make up this battery software in order to bring these benefits.
With the average electric car charging from empty to 80% in around 35 minutes on a rapid charger, Elysia’s solution could shave just under 10 minutes off that time. The company says this would apply even on an EV already out of the factory, showing how improved battery performance doesn’t always need to come from the chemical level. Tesla has performed similar steps in the past, pushing an over-the-air update that improved charging efficiency on its cars.
Whilst these low times are already impressive, allowing you to charge up your EV in the time it takes you to grab a coffee, shorter times are no bad thing. It’ll help with those who still have doubts about the speed of electric car charging, especially ahead of incoming bans on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.
This software benefits the wider electric car charging infrastructure, in addition to individual EV drivers:
“By reducing the time spent on a rapid charger by 10 mins for a typical electric vehicle, Elysia can increase the number of cars each charger can service in a day. The benefit here being twofold: happier electric car owners and more efficient utilisation of the existing rapid charging network.”
Joe Jones, Commercial Lead of Elysia, WAE Technologies
The company also claims that in addition to faster charging times, the software can improve battery range and lifespan. Of course, these decreased times are dependent on car manufacturers adopting such algorithms.
Is there a faster solution?
The concept of battery swapping hasn’t been given up on just yet. The up-and-coming Chinese EV manufacturer NIO is still investing heavily in its ‘power swap’ stations, with over 1,300 such stations in China and 13 in Europe. These allow EV drivers to automatically transfer a fully charged battery into the vehicle in three minutes – just as fast as you can fill an internal combustion engine (ICE) car up.
