StoreDot claims its batteries will be able to gain 160 kilometers of range in only 5 minutes by 2024
This is the first investment into another company that has been made by Polestar
Volvo, Polestar’s parent company, invested in StoreDot last month
Polestar made its first investment into an outside company this week when it became a shareholder of StoreDot, an Israelian battery technology company specialised in extreme fast charging.
The small Swedish automaker wants to benefit from StoreDot’s technology, which is said to make charging EV batteries much quicker than it is currently possible.
According to StoreDot, its batteries will be able to charge at a rate that will allow a 160-kilometer (100 mile) gain of range after only five minutes at a fast-charging station.
This could drastically reduce the downtime on road trips and make charging stops take about as much time as stopping for fuel in combustion powered vehicles.
This could encourage many drivers to turn to electric vehicles for their next purchase by eliminating the complaints commonly heard about charging. Range anxiety could also be curbed since a short stop at a charging station would be enough to cover long distances.
Havin batteries that are very quick to charge means that the range of the car is not as important as with vehicles that take close to an hour or more to charge, since charging the vehicle only for a few minutes at a time will be enough to replenish the battery.
This means that future electric vehicles might not need very large and heavy batteries like the ones fitted to most current Long-Range EVs, thus reducing their weight and making them more efficient, fun to drive and ecofriendly.
The partnership with Polestar will see StoreDot using the company’s vehicles to test its technology, which it expects to be ready around 2024. If the tests are conclusive, Polestar says that it could install these types of batteries in its vehicles starting in 2026.
Polestar is not the only automaker to want its share of this technology since only last month, Volvo, Polestar’s own parent company, announced it will be investing in the Israelian firm.
