- Startups and automakers are racing to build EV batteries that can charge in five minutes or less.
- Ultrafast batteries would solve one of the biggest issues customers have with EVs: charging times.
- Analysts say China's battery-industry dominance means it's winning the race to five-minute charging.
Lengthy charging times are holding back the electric-vehicle revolution, but that might be about to change.
Charging is frequently cited as a main reason drivers are reluctant to go electric. Charging times in the US range from 20 minutes to 50 hours — far longer than it takes to fill up with gas.
But automakers and startups across the globe are racing to build EV batteries that can charge in less than 10 or even five minutes.
"It will change the entire customer experience," Ramesh Narasimhan, an executive vice president at the battery startup Nyobolt, told Business Insider.
"Charging would go from being an annoyance and requiring a downtime of 40 minutes to an hour to having the same experience as what you have today in a fueling situation," he added.
Developments over the past year suggest that dream is getting closer.
In August, the Chinese startup Zeekr unveiled new batteries for its 007 sedan that it said were the world's fastest-charging batteries, able to charge to 80% from 10% in a little over 10 minutes.
In April, the Chinese battery giant CATL unveiled its Shenxing Plus battery, which it said could provide 600 kilometers of range after 10 minutes of charging.
Rory McNulty, a product director at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, told BI that advances in battery chemistry and software design had allowed manufacturers like CATL to optimize their batteries for faster charging without damaging them.
He added that new battery designs, such as silicon-based and solid-state batteries, which are expected to hit the market in the next few years, would accelerate the move toward faster charging.
"We're on the cusp of introducing new materials, which intrinsically should charge quicker," McNulty said.
Nyobolt demoed its battery technology in a prototype EV in June. The battery charged to 80% from 10% in four minutes and 37 seconds, achieving a range of about 120 miles after four minutes.
The UK-based startup is in talks with eight companies about incorporating its technology in high-performance EVs. Narasimhan said he hoped to see them in passenger cars by the end of the decade.
Fully charged
Rolling out ultrafast-charging EV batteries won't be without challenges.
Narasimhan told BI that automakers faced a dilemma: building EVs with large batteries that can travel long distances or prioritizing smaller fast-charging batteries with less range.
"Carmakers are still struggling between fast charge versus energy density and having an oversized battery that can go a thousand miles," he said.
Narasimhan added that, as batteries are by far the most expensive part of an EV, smaller batteries would mean cheaper EVs — the lack of which is another factor that has put off some consumers from going electric.
The other major hurdle is charging infrastructure. Batteries that can charge in five to 10 minutes require high-powered 350-kilowatt chargers to hit maximum charging speeds.
The Department of Energy says there are about 30,000 charging ports with a maximum output of at least 350 kilowatts in the US.
A study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory released last year estimated that the number of fast chargers would need to grow to about 182,000 by 2030 to support EV demand.
"Charging infrastructure is the next frontier," McNulty said.
"You can have the best battery in the world, it can charge in five minutes, but if your charging port or charging infrastructure doesn't have the capability to match that, then you're always going to be limited," he added.
China races ahead
One thing is almost certain: The first widespread ultrafast-charging EV batteries will be Chinese.
China dominates the global battery industry, with the likes of CATL, BYD, and Zeekr leading the way in building EV batteries with longer ranges and faster charging times.
"China's battery industry is 10 years ahead of its Western rivals," Andy Palmer, a former Aston Martin and Nissan executive who's often called "The Godfather of EVs," told Business Insider. "They built a whole infrastructure around batteries which is nigh on impossible to replicate."
Much of China's success in battery manufacturing comes from its long-running industrial strategy in which the government has heavily subsidized local manufacturers.
As a result, the East Asian superpower has a stranglehold over the global battery supply chain. McNulty estimates that China dominates 95% of the global market for graphite, a key mineral for EV batteries.
China also has the advantage of scale. The International Energy Agency said the Chinese market accounted for about 60% of global EV registrations in 2023, and the country has rapidly built up its charging infrastructure to keep up with demand.
"The charging-infrastructure bottlenecks that were a problem a couple of years ago are not anymore," Cosimo Ries, a Shanghai-based analyst for Trivium China, told BI. "You have fast chargers everywhere. I have probably 10 of them just around where I live."
Ries added that the brutal competition in China's EV market was putting pressure on automakers to cut charging times and roll out fast-charging models at lower price points.
"The competition is so fierce; if you don't come up with faster charging batteries at cheaper prices, you're just not going to survive," Ries said.
"We're starting to see fast charging move toward the kind of mid-tier or even lower-end segment of the markets," he added. "I think we're probably much closer to five-minute charging than previously expected, at least in China."