Waiting a whole 25 to 40 minutes to charge an electric car? These Dutch students say nee to that and have proven that the Dutch deserve their street cred of being some of the best innovators.
Students of the Eindhoven University of Technology think that charging times of electric cars, such as the Tesla and Volkswagen ID4, are too long. So what did they do about it? What our beloved Dutchies do best: innovate.
The student team, InMotion, designed an electric race car that can be charged in just four minutes, reports RTL Nieuws. That’s super snel and we can’t help but wish our smartphones could charge that quickly too!
Charging fast and going far
On July 13, the students presented their innovation which can drive for a whopping 250 kilometres on a full battery. Combine that with the short charging time and you can’t help but hope your own car will have those features soon.
Long charging times are often seen as a reason not to switch to electric cars. However, with their speedy charging race car, the InMotion team wants to prove that charging times can be reduced to make electric cars more attractive to customers. Goal achieved!
“From 2030, all cars sold in the Netherlands must be emission-free, but people must be willing to take that step,” says team manager Julia Niemeijer to Editie NL. “We say to companies and the industry: come on, you can do that too.” You tell them, queen. 💅
Keeping it cool
So how did a team of students figure out how to do something that well-known companies haven’t been able to do yet? Apparently, the secret to fast charging is keeping the battery cool — and InMotion came up with a way to cool the battery at cell level.
“It was very challenging that there was only a few millimetres of space between the cells in the module to apply the cooling technology. This meant that we had to work very precisely. We are very happy that we have found a method that makes this possible.”
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They aren’t stopping there, though. The team of students wants to further develop the car so that it can compete in the 24 hours of Le Mans, an endurance-focused sports car race held in France.
We can’t wait to see what else they come up with — and if the rest of the industry will be able to keep up with them!
Would you switch to electric driving with a shorter charging time? Tell us in the comments!