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GBatteries (YC W14) let you charge your car as quickly as visiting the pump

techcrunch.com

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Re: GBatteries (YC W14) let you charge your car as quickly as visiting the pump

#61

Post by thesausageking »

timsher wrote: post #29
floatrock wrote: post #20

Super skeptical here, or at least the wording is misleading as hell. > The product allows users to charge a 60kWh EV battery pack with 119 miles of range in 15 minutes as compared to 15 miles in 15 minutes today. > The technology works with off-the-shelf lithium ion batteries and existing fast charge infrastructure by integrating via a patented self-contained adapter on a car charge port First read says that they're…

Hi! I'm one of the founders at GBatteries, please let me try to clear that up. We've demonstrated 5 min to 50% charge, 10 min to 100% - I’ll edit this to include a demo that we’ve done at CES 2019, and that we’re now exhibiting at the Detroit Auto show demonstrating. [EDIT] Video here: https://youtu.be/kSLrqR4TfnU Note: Charging times can vary by ~1 minute here and there, because the algorithm is adaptive and charact…

Thank you for popping in and clearing that up.

It sounds like this would push the battery harder than they're designed for. Does using your charger void the warranty?

Re: GBatteries (YC W14) let you charge your car as quickly as visiting the pump

#62

Post by mulmen »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #44
dexen wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>swappable batteries would require a huge engineering effort. Worked just fine back in 2013. The people's habits were the only obstacle: owners wanted to retain their own battery pack, instead of getting pre-owned one left by somebody else, in unknown condition. And/or drive over a weird contraption. [1] (loud music warning) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5V0vL3nnHY

I wonder why it bothers people about battery packs, but not propane tanks. They seem to have equal chances of exploding.

What if some jerk replaces half his cells with rocks then swaps the pack and you get it?

You have to trust the charging station that you’re getting an equivalent pack in trade. Are incentives aligned to ensure that?

Re: GBatteries (YC W14) let you charge your car as quickly as visiting the pump

#64

Post by samatman »

mulmen wrote: post #62
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder why it bothers people about battery packs, but not propane tanks. They seem to have equal chances of exploding.

What if some jerk replaces half his cells with rocks then swaps the pack and you get it? You have to trust the charging station that you’re getting an equivalent pack in trade. Are incentives aligned to ensure that?

Gogoro has been quite successful with this model.

The difference, of course, is that a scooter takes batteries small enough to swap by hand.

Re: GBatteries (YC W14) let you charge your car as quickly as visiting the pump

#65

Post by URSpider94 »

pkulak wrote: post #59
timsher wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi! I'm one of the founders at GBatteries, please let me try to clear that up. We've demonstrated 5 min to 50% charge, 10 min to 100% - I’ll edit this to include a demo that we’ve done at CES 2019, and that we’re now exhibiting at the Detroit Auto show demonstrating. [EDIT] Video here: https://youtu.be/kSLrqR4TfnU Note: Charging times can vary by ~1 minute here and there, because the algorithm is adaptive and charact…

The battery is the most expensive part of an electric car. If you have come up with something that MITMs the signaling between my car and the charger, causing the charger to deliver more power than my car says it can handle, that's a huge problem. First off, there's no way this won't immediately invalidate every warranty on my car, and secondly, why should I trust you over the company that manufactured my car and its…

Read the founder’s comment - sounds like they would only do this with explicit approval (and presumably license payment) from the manufacturer.

Re: GBatteries (YC W14) let you charge your car as quickly as visiting the pump

#66

Post by URSpider94 »

Animats wrote: post #7

Chargers already pay attention to charging curves and temperature. Is there really much room for safely charging existing batteries faster?

Reading between the lines, the constraint is that today’s chargers are always monotonically increasing state of charge with a roughly steady DC applied current (tapering slightly at the high end). Adding in something like pulsed charging or even some reverse-voltage segments could potentially change the charging dynamics enough to let the battery charge much faster without damage.

Re: GBatteries (YC W14) let you charge your car as quickly as visiting the pump

#67

Post by URSpider94 »

snazz wrote: post #43

If this works as advertised, it’s super cool. However, my anecdotal experience suggests that things that charge faster heat up, and I know that my phone warms up significantly on with the “fast charger” it came with. Knowing that batteries are potentially very volatile and prone to exploding and leaking, how safe is this technology?

All modern EV’s except the Leaf have liquid-cooled battery packs with active cooling from the radiator and the A/C compressor.

Re: GBatteries (YC W14) let you charge your car as quickly as visiting the pump

#69

Post by Wowfunhappy »

hndamien wrote: post #63
dsd wrote: post #54

Why don't we just do removable batteries?

Company would have to own the batteries, users have no incentive to treat them well. Tragedy of the commons.

How does one treat a battery poorly?

I mean, I know in the abstract sense that it's ideal if they ever get fully drained and, but that's not all that catastrophic. I'd consider it normal use in most cases—if manufacturers don't want the charge to ever dip that low, they should make the battery stop working earlier.

Re: GBatteries (YC W14) let you charge your car as quickly as visiting the pump

#70

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

sandworm101 wrote: post #47
floatrock wrote: post #20

Super skeptical here, or at least the wording is misleading as hell. > The product allows users to charge a 60kWh EV battery pack with 119 miles of range in 15 minutes as compared to 15 miles in 15 minutes today. > The technology works with off-the-shelf lithium ion batteries and existing fast charge infrastructure by integrating via a patented self-contained adapter on a car charge port First read says that they're…

"119 miles of range in 15 minutes" is also nowhere near as fast as an IC car "visiting the pump". It does not take 15 minutes to fill the tank on a normal car. Short of physically swapping out batteries, charging an EC will never be as fast as pouring gasoline into a tank. Transferring that much energy that quickly over wires is ... I don't want to stand anywhere near it. Fillup time is not an are where EC should try…

I never finished school, so correct anything I've got wrong here.

Diesel has a specific energy of 48MJ/kg and weighs 0.832kg/L.

48MJ converts to 13.33kWh. My diesel tank will take 70L from nearly empty. I've never timed it, but it's definitely substantially quicker than 10 minutes to fill.

So I'm transferring about 776kWh in to my diesel tank in 70 * 0.832 * 13.33 = 776.33kWh

So it would take a 1MW charger three quarters of an hour to transfer the same amount of energy.

Did I get any of that right?

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