An electric car battery that recharges as quickly as you fill a gas tank? For the moment, we are still far from it. But Ford hopes to be able to get closer to this utopia thanks to a revolutionary cable, developed with the help of an American university.
For electric cars, range is less and less of a problem. Even if it still falls too quickly on the motorway, it is now sufficient for the vast majority of journeys. On the other hand, the time necessary to fill up with energy remains much higher than that which makes it possible to fill the tank of a thermal model. This observation remains valid even on the fastest terminals and with the rare vehicles accepting 800 volts, such as the Porsche Taycan, Audi e-tron GT, Kia EV6 and other Hyundai Ioniq 5. Part of this handicap actually lies in the thin accessory that connects the car to the power grid. : the charging cable. It will indeed tend to overheat, which slows down the refueling. But in collaboration with Purdue University, Indiana (United States), Ford is working on a solution that could get around this obstacle.
A breakthrough that still needs to be validated
For this, the two partners imagined a liquid cooling system. At first glance, nothing new. Except that here, thanks to an active substance whose nature has not been specified, this liquid is transformed into vapor. It would thus be possible to evacuate more heat than with current technologies, and therefore to charge faster. Ultimately, the goal of researchers at Ford and Purdue is even to succeed in filling a battery with Mustang Mach-E as fast as a tank of gasoline or diesel. However, be careful not to dream of seeing this advance arrive tomorrow. The two partners announce that they will only start testing a prototype cable in the next two years. A commercial launch should therefore hardly take place before 2025, provided that the tests do not bring up any unpleasant surprises.
TO READ. Solid batteries: Ford and BMW invest in Solid Power
