BP Invests US$20 Million In ‘Flash Battery’ Startup, StoreDot, To Build Car Batteries That’ll Fast-Charge In 5 Min Offering A 480km Driving Range. Game. Changer.
BP WANTS TO be the ‘fuel’ provider of choice no matter what type of vehicle its customers drive. BP already has 70 charge points around the world, but its investment of US$20 million in StoreDot, a producer of ‘flash batteries’ for mobile devices is aimed at helping that business develop ‘flash batteries’ for vehicles.
“Ultra-fast charging is at the heart of BP’s electrification strategy,” Tufan Erginbilgic, CEO of the company’s downstream division, said in a statement. “We are committed to be the fuel provider of choice — no matter what car our customers drive.”
Israel-based startup, StoreDot, claims its mobile phone battery can be charged in just 60 seconds (it claims these fast-charge batteries will be on the market next year) but that it discharges slowly like a conventional battery. The company is already working on a flash battery pack that can be used in electric vehicles, the cost of which it says is in-line with current lithium-ion batteries, and that it can recharge in just five minutes realising a 480km driving range, just a little longer than it would take to fill a tank of petrol.
“Fast Charging is the critical missing link needed to make electric vehicles ubiquitous,” Says Dr. Doron Myersdorf, Co-Founder and CEO of StoreDot. “The currently available battery technology dictates long charging times which makes the EV form of transportation inadequate for the public at large. We’re exploring options with a few strategic partners in the auto space to help us boost the production process in Asia and reach mass production as soon as possible.”
What is a Flash Battery? Here’s how StoreDot describes it, “StoreDot’s Flash Battery technology is a combination of gradient layers of nano materials and proprietary organic compounds. The Flash Battery avoids the common use of graphite in Li-ion battery’s cells. While Graphite is a material that is unable to sustain fast charging power, StoreDot’s proprietary chemical compound is not flammable and has a higher temperature of combustion, which dramatically reduces the resistance of the battery cell and thus increases its safety”.
BP isn’t the only business investing in StoreDot, TDK has just invested in the startup while Daimler kicked in US$60 million last year, Samsung too invested US$18 million in 2015.
Extracted from practicalmotoring.com.au