August 30, 2022 – Government researchers claim they have found a way to cut the charging time of electric car batteries already on the road down to about a third of what it is today. It involves artificial intelligence.
In a presentation at the ACS Fall 2022 meeting held last week, lead researcher Eric Dufek of the Idaho National Laboratory said, “We’ve significantly increased the amount of energy that can go into a battery cell in a short amount of time.”
Moving the idea from the laboratory to the real world could take years. Automakers could use machine learning techniques to design batteries that will charge more efficiently. Engineers could also design charging stations with software that enables them to throttle charging speeds up and down to maximize efficiency with each battery. The ultimate goal, Dufek says, is to develop EVs that teach charging stations how to maximize their charging time.