Eindhoven students' electric race car charges in almost the same time it takes to refuel

Students at the Eindhoven University of Technology developed an electric race car that can fully charge in very almost the same time it takes a petrol car to fuel up. “Revolution can fully charge in less than four minutes, making it the fastest-charging electric race car for endurance racing in the world,” the students of team InMotion said.

The students’ specially designed battery pack fully charges in just 3 minutes and 56 seconds. It has a range of approximately 250 kilometers.

The biggest problem with fast charging is a large amount of heat released, which accelerates the degeneration of battery cells, team manager Julia Niemeijer explained. Working with their previous innovative cooling technology at module level, the students developed a method that allows them to cool the battery at cell level. “Coolant actually flows between each cell. This means we pull even more heat out of the pack. This has a hugely positive effect on the lifespan and repeated fast charging,” Niemeijer said.

Cooling at cell level is not yet common on the market, so InMotion developed its own modules. “It was very challenging that there were only a few millimeters of space between the cells in the module to apply the cooling technology. We had to work very meticulously. We are thrilled that we found a method to make this possible.”

A 24-hour test showed “minimal” degradation of the battery pack. Research institute TNO and Provde Technologies also tested the technology. The student team implemented it in their race car and will further test it in the coming year.

Reducing the charge time for electric cars is essential to make electric driving easier and more accessible to consumers. InMotion has shown this is possible by “actually coming close to a pit stop worthy charging time.”