Ford and Purdue University in the US have patented a cable technology that in the future may mean that charging an electric vehicle takes no longer than refueling an ICE vehicle. The problem that the new cable will solve is that today's cables cannot transmit electricity fast enough.
"How fast the charging stations can charge a car today is limited by the risk of overheating. Faster charging requires more power to pass through the charging cable. The more power, the more heat is generated and that heat must be dissipated in some way", says Michael Degner, chief engineer at Ford Research and Advanced Engineering, in a press release.
Researchers have solved that problem with a liquid-cooled cable. The liquid can dissipate heat much more efficiently and faster than today's cables, which rely solely on the heat-dissipating into the air.
In tests conducted by the researchers, the new cable has been able to charge an electric car about four times as fast as cables currently in use. Today's chargers can handle a maximum of 520 amps, but in the tests, the researchers' cable managed 2,400 amps without any issues.
With the right charger, battery and cable, it would be possible to charge an electric car in five minutes. It then requires that all three components be upgraded to handle this fast charge. So we won't exactly be able to charge electric cars in five minutes in the next few years, but the technical solution is at least in place.
