A Harvard-backed startup, Adden Energy, has developed a battery for electric cars that is capable of fully charging in three minutes and lasting more than twice that of current EV batteries or 20 years.
The startup has received $5.15 million in funding to commercialise the game-changing battery. The technology has received an exclusive license from Harvard’s Office of Technology Development, and the funding was led by Primavera Capital Group, with participation by Rhapsody Venture Partners and MassVentures.
The startup will now advance the technology after successfully demonstrating a coin-cell prototype with 5,000-10,000 cycles in a lifetime — as against 2,000 to 3,000 charging cycles for the best in class batteries currently. According to the startup, the rapid development of clean energy storage technology is critical.
Adden Energy CEO William Fitzhugh hopes to appeal to the 37 percent of Americans without garages at home and, therefore, no access to at-home overnight charging for EVs. “Complete electrification of the vehicle fleet is one of the most meaningful steps we can take to fight climate change,” said Fitzhugh.
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“However, broad adoption of electric vehicles requires batteries that can meet a diverse set of consumer needs. EVs need to recharge at comparable times to internal combustion vehicles, essentially in the time you’d currently spend at the gas pump,” he said.
Various studies have suggested that electrification of all global vehicles could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 16 percent.
“Electric vehicles cannot remain a luxury fashion, literally the ‘one percent’ of vehicles on the road, if we are to make progress toward a clean energy future, and the US won’t have a used-car market if EV batteries last only three to five years,” said Xin Li, an associate professor at Harvard and a scientific advisor to Adden Energy.
“Technology needs to be accessible to everyone. We don’t see any fundamental limit to scaling up our battery technology. That could be a game changer.”