Comments on: Toshiba’s new rapid-charge battery holds promise for electric cars

By: jayjc08

jayjc08 — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 13:01:20 +0000

I guess the general goal would be to charge your batteries in less than five minutes.

If you could charge up in less than three minutes, and have a range of about 200 miles, then battery technology is feasible in the future over hydrogen and other fuels. Electric cars still make the best sense, just the batteries that are holding them back…

By: Patriot

Patriot — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:40:39 +0000

jdasch1, it’s called A123 systems. They’ve had this technology in the works for some time. They just dont have toshiba’s muscle to push R&D faster.

By: Payton Byrd

Payton Byrd — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:36:29 +0000

It takes 30 times as long to charge the Tesla Roadster with it’s current battery compared to this new battery. Think about what this means for parallel hybrids. Given the same battery footprint as currently allocated in the Volt, it would mean that you could go much further on a full charge from the deep cycle gains as well as how much more rapidly the batteries will charge under regenerative braking and when the engine runs the generator.

By: jdasch1

jdasch1 — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 04:19:33 +0000

Borat- gasoline powered cars have been catching fire for over a hundred years now. So saying an electric car won;t catch fire sometime is not realistic. This battery sounds awesome. 5 to 10000 cycles of discharge and recharge….get out of here!!!! Thats unheard of technology. BUY THEIR STOCK if its true. And yes, some people like myself have 800 amp service at my home, so bring on the rapid charge option!! My current Electric truck takes only a 40 amp service and charged just fine overnight…but 30 minutes for a full charge would be totally awesome.

By: 928dreamer

928dreamer — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:37:20 +0000

This is fantastic news for EV manufacturers. This actually shows that EVs are viable as a future transportation option. If you can “refuel” your EV in 90 sec at your local refueling station, this would be no different than driving a 20MPG car with a 10 gal tank. Not ideal, but not unmanageable. In a few years when the range is up to 300 miles then it will be on par with current fossil fueled vehicles.

I really don’t think that the infrastructure will be that hard to incorporate into current gas stations. You can have diesel pumps, unleaded pumps, and an area to charge your EV. Things are looking up for EVs.

By: Borat

Borat — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 01:44:26 +0000

I still having bad vibes after my laptop caught fire from crummy battery. Lets hope does not happens to cars.

By: Blakkarr

Blakkarr — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:21:40 +0000

Same, Madcapp,

I’m not sure Toshiba will stick it out if things are not a rosy as they would like. But We will see, especially if they sign on partners to share the load of producing and developing further a clearly desirable product.

By: Madcapp

Madcapp — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:53:24 +0000

Here’s hoping it works out better than HDDVD.

By: leftwingagenda

leftwingagenda — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:01:48 +0000

charging logistics aside, this battery sounds awesome…i hope it’s not all hype and the numbers are realistic…

By: Nick Aziz

Nick Aziz — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:05:58 +0000

This type of rapid charging is only going to be possible via charging stations. If you take Tesla’s pack as an example, the 3.5-hour charge is possible via a 220V/70A setup. For a house to do that, you need 200A service unless you want a brown-out in your home. Anything better than a 3.5-hour charge is not gonna happen in a regular home if you’re talking about a large battery pack.

By: maxcar

maxcar — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:38:12 +0000

W=AxV what sort of amperage will it take to charge a battery this fast, assuming a 240V circuit? Most older homes have 100A service, while the typical modern home has 200A. looks like edison will be installing a squillion ev meters in the next few years. better get started.