Student team InMotion from the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) claims their achievement is a step closer to charging an electric race car just as fast as filling up a petrol-powered car.

InMotion’s electric race car, which TU/e describes as a “race monster”, is capable of charging its battery in less than four minutes, making it the fastest-charging electric race car for endurance racing in the world known so far.

InMotion started designing and producing the new battery pack in the race car with more than thirty students in November 2022.

TU/e explain: “What’s remarkable is that this battery pack charges in just 3 minutes and 56 seconds, with a charging power of 322 kW, a total capacity of 29.2 kWh, and a range of approximately 250 kilometers.”

The team says reducing the charging time for electric cars is important to make electric driving easier and therefore more accessible for consumers.

InMotion states they have taken up that challenge and are “now truly getting close to a pit-stop-worthy charging time”.

Team manager Julia Niemeijer says that during fast charging, a significant amount of heat is generated, leading to accelerated degradation of the battery cells.

She explains: “In the past, we developed an innovative cooling technology at module level, where cooling plates filled with coolant were placed between the modules containing the cells. This allowed us to extract a lot of heat from the pack.

“If you want to extract heat as efficiently as possible from the battery pack, you want to cool as close as possible to the battery cells. Therefore, we have developed a method recently that enables cooling at the cell level, with actual coolant flowing between each cell. This means we can extract even more heat from the pack.

“It has a tremendously positive effect on the lifespan and repeated fast charging. A 24-hour test shows minimal degradation of the battery pack as a result.”

TU/e add that cooling at the cell level is not yet common in the market, which is why InMotion has developed its own modules.

According to laconiadailysun.com. Source of photos: internet