One of the main drawbacks in selling the idea of an electric vehicle to the buying public is the time it takes to recharge the batteries. Of course, if you are just using the car for commuting every day, then you can get away with recharging on cheaper, off-peak power overnight.
But what if you want to take a longer trip across the country? In a gasoline or diesel-powered car, you simply pull into a petrol station, fill up the tank and you can be on your way again in just a few minutes. Electric vehicles need to be able to match that kind of turn around time.
This has been the impetus behind the search for a better charging solution by Mr. Kanno of the Japanese company Energy Use Technology Research K.K.
Having worked in the battery field for over 20 years, Mr. Kanno’s company has just received a patent for a system that allows any electric vehicle to get a full battery recharge in about 5 minutes. Up to now, specialist recharging units have done the same job in 30 minutes or so – many times longer than it would take to full up a tank of gas in an ICE car.
His breakthrough idea came when he realized that the standard method of recharging was limited by the capacity of the power cables bringing the power to the recharging unit. There was no way that this capacity could be increased, so to rely solely on the electrical grid at the moment of recharging would effectively limit the speed that this recharge could be accomplished.
However, the patented technology provides for storage of electrical power within the charger itself. The charger collects electrical power from the grid and stores it locally. Then when an EV requires a quick charge, the recharger delivers this stored power to the EV’s batteries in a high-powered burst, allowing a full charge to be completed in about 5 minutes.
Although met with initial skepticism, other companies also began researching a similar concept, but in April of this year Kanno’s company was awarded a patent for his work. He now expects working prototypes to be up and running in the next year or two with the cooperation of the major manufacturers.
Source: Yomiuri Shinbun (Japanese-language)
This blog post called “Japanese Developer’s 5 Minute EV Recharging System Wins Patent” is (c) 2011 Integrity Exports Co. Ltd. – “Taking the stress out of buying used cars from Japan.”
leave a response, trackback from your own site
[...] (yes, that’s a made up name), it looks like Mr. Kanno has won, according to Integrity Exports. [...]
[...] charging system (yes, that's a made up name), it looks like Mr. Kanno has won, according to Integrity Exports. We've yet to verify this mystery man's proper first name, but it appears that a Mr. Kanno of the [...]
[...] charging system (yes, that's a made up name), it looks like Mr. Kanno has won, according to Integrity Exports. We've yet to verify this mystery man's proper first name, but it appears that a Mr. Kanno of the [...]
[...] In the race to patent the super-rapid-five-minute-or-less plug-in vehicle charging system (yes, that’s a made up name), it looks like Mr. Kanno has won, according to Integrity Exports. [...]
[...] (yes, that’s a made up name), it looks like Mr. Kanno has won, according to Integrity Exports. [...]
[...] will der Japaner mit der Hilfe namhafter Produzenten einen Prototypen seiner Ladestationherstellen. integrityexports.com via [...]
[...] In the race to patent the super-rapid-five-minute-or-less plug-in vehicle charging system (yes, that’s a made up name), it looks like Mr. Kanno has won, according to Integrity Exports. [...]
[...] In the race to patent the super-rapid-five-minute-or-less plug-in vehicle charging system (yes, that’s a made up name), it looks like Mr. Kanno has won, according to Integrity Exports. [...]
[...] de esta tecnología espera desarrollar prototipos y modelos en los próximos dos años.Fuente: IntegrityExports Publicado 10 junio 11 10:14 por aldonza85 Archivado en: autos,5 minutos,medio [...]
[...] | Autoblog Green | Integrity Exports Fuente | (en japonés) Yomiuri Shinbun Más información | Proyecto Surtidor (1) | Proyecto [...]
[...] http://www.integrityexports.com Se gostou deste artigo, subscreva a newsletter! TAGS: 5 minutos, absolutauge, absolutauge [...]
[...] (yes, that’s a made up name), it looks like Mr. Kanno has won, according to Integrity Exports. [...]
[...] (yes, that’s a made up name), it looks like Mr. Kanno has won, according to Integrity Exports. [...]
[...] Kanno’s breakthrough idea, according to Integrity Exports, came when he realized recharging was ultimately limited by the capacity of the electrical cables. [...]