Electric-car battery charges in five minutes
Try easier levels of this lesson: Car Battery - Level 0, Car Battery - Level 1 or Car Battery - Level 2.
The reading
Car makers are spending a lot of money on electric cars. In the future, electric cars will replace petrol cars. Environmentalists believe this will reduce the amount of CO2 put into the atmosphere. A big problem for electric cars is charging the battery. Some batteries in today's electric cars can take up to 12 hours to charge fully. However, a company in Israel says it has created a lithium-ion battery that people can charge in just five minutes. This is the same amount of time it takes to fill a tank of gas with petrol. The new lithium-ion batteries were developed by the Israeli company StoreDot. They are being manufactured by a Chinese company called Eve Energy.
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The new batteries could totally transform driving. They would mean electric cars would be able to travel as far as petrol cars. Many people with electric cars today suffer from "range anxiety". This is stress caused by worrying about the battery running out of electricity. A StoreDot spokesperson said: "You're either afraid that you're going to get stuck on the highway, or that you're going to need to sit in a charging station for two hours." The new batteries would end this anxiety. A StoreDot spokesperson said: "We're at the point of achieving a revolution in the electric vehicle charging experience". He said it means the switch from petrol to electric cars will happen much faster.
Sources:
- https://www.businessinsider.com/fast-charging-electric-car-battery-5-minutes-2021-1
- https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/19/electric-car-batteries-race-ahead-with-five-minute-charging-times
- https://www.timesofisrael.com/revving-up-electric-car-industry-israeli-firm-develops-5-minute-charge-battery/
