Recently ABB, the Swiss engineering company in 85 countries around the world has launched the world's fastest car charger to plug into surging e-car market. There is a booming demand for electric cars made by Tesla, Hyundai, and other automakers.
The device can charge up to four vehicles at once, and can fully charge any electric car within 15 minutes, ABB said, making it attractive to customers worried about charging times which currently can run to several hours.
Globally the number of electric vehicles registered increased by 41% during 2020 to 3 million cars, despite the pandemic-related downturn in the total number of new cars sold last year, according to the International Energy Agency. The growth trend has accelerated in 2021, with electric car sales rising by 140% in the first three months of the year, the IEA said.
Another revolutionary state-of-the-art technology about to hit the streets is Niobium batteries that are meant to recharge a car battery in six minutes according to my online research. Back in February 2021 a British company secured £7.5 million in funding to become the next battery pioneer.
Niobium, a metal best known for its ability to strengthen steel, may also be the secret ingredient that allows lithium-ion batteries to live up to their full potential. England’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 winner, Professor Stanley Whittingham is behind the invention of lithium-ion batteries first launched in 1985.
As the dominant niobium producer CBMM a Brazilian firm has partnered with technology companies to develop niobium-bearing lithium-ion batteries, which offer enhanced stability and significantly faster charging times than batteries currently used in the electric vehicles.
Brazil has most of the niobium reserves by a long shot (see link).
Written by Carl Boniface
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