EVs are super fast, ultra quiet, and brilliantly futuristic.
They are what MP3 is to vinyl, an all-round much better idea for the everyday.
But that seems to be changing.
Naturally, my attention was grabbed, it sounds too good to be true.
I had to look deeper.
I asked an industry expert to get their take on the situation and find out whats going on.
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[Read:How much does it cost to buy, own, and run an EV?
We are not releasing a lab prototype, we are releasing engineering samples from a mass production line.
Things are looking promising, but as with any bleeding edge technology, the batteries wont come cheap.
At what cost?
The theory is that automakers will be able to downsize their batteries thereby cutting costs.
One thing is for certain though, the chargers to power the batterieswillcome at a substantial cost.
Consider how much energy you would need to pump into a battery pack for a 5-minute charge?
It isa lot, Ellis tells me.
Whereas direct current fast chargers can cost between $4,000 and $51,000 to install.
Specialist chargers for hyper-fast five-minute charging will stand to be even more expensive.
This is good, of course, but is far more telling of the state of charging today.
StoreDots ambitions are only fractionally better than the fast-charging EVs we have today.
Adding 100 miles in five minutes is acting like the trajectory we were on anyway.
Although, that is changing.
Just this month, the UK installed its4,000th rapid EV charger.
A good milestone, but 4,000 isnt anywhere near enough.
Ultimately, the onus to plant the required tech is likely going to fall on third-party charging providers.
Ok, so when?
Speaking to The Guardian, Prof Chao-Yang Wang, expects such fast-charging batteries to be available within three years.
Its not like itll never happen though.
Its not impossible, though.
Ellis says battery technology is developing fast and hurdles are falling just as quick.
Five-minute batteries are a technological innovation sure, but theyre borne as a safety net.
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Story byMatthew Beedham
Matthew is the editor of SHIFT.
He likes electric cars, and other things with wheels, wings, or hulls.
