NASA has suggested that an experimental cooling system it funded could eventually allow electric car users to charge their cars in five minutes.
The agency said a team led by a Purdue University professor is developing “subsouled flow boiling” technology for the experiment in hopes that future systems can control temperatures in space.
“A team sponsored by NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division is developing a new technology that will allow these systems to achieve large-scale improvements in heat transfer to maintain the proper temperature in space while also significantly reducing the size and weight of the apparatus,” NASA said in a blog post last week.
“Furthermore, this same technology could make owning an electric car easier and more feasible on Earth,” the post continues.
NASA has stated that such an achievement would require chargers to provide current at 1,400 amps, which is much higher than current technology, to charge electric vehicles in five minutes.
The post notes that most chargers currently available support currents of less than 150 amps, while the most advanced chargers on the market deliver currents up to 520 amps.
But Purdue University’s development cable can deliver up to 2,400 amps of current through new technology, allowing it to charge up to 4.6 times faster than the fastest charger currently available, NASA said.
“The introduction of this new technology has resulted in an unprecedented reduction in the time required to charge a vehicle and may remove one of the major barriers to the worldwide adoption of electric vehicles,” NASA writes.
President Biden has highlighted the transition to electric vehicles as an important part of his climate initiatives, but the proposals have been met with criticism by some in the GOP. portrayed the plans as elitist and a boon for the rich.
Questions have also been raised about whether the U.S. power grid can handle a difficult transition toward electric vehicles.
The Inflation Reduction Act, a compromise package passed over the summer, includes billions in funding for electric vehicle tax credits and other financial incentives.
It also includes a $7.5 billion investment to build a network of charging stations in the United States
“America’s great ride will be completely electrified,” Biden said he said in Detroit last month. “Whether you’re driving coast-to-coast on I-10 or I-75 in Michigan, gas stations will be as operational and easy to find as they are now.”
