New Electric Vehicle Fast Charge System Developed in Japan

One of the major issues that stands in the way of the large scale adoption of electric vehicles today is the fact that their batteries take a long time to be recharged, compared to the refueling time of a combustion engine-equipped vehicle. Some developers have created fast charging solution, but the systems are still far from achieving a charge time that is equivalent to a refueling time.

However, the Japanese company JFE Engineering Corp has developed a new solution for the problem, which promises to be a major breakthrough, as JapanToday reports.

The company, which is based in Tokyo, has developed a quick charger that is destined for electric vehicles, claiming that its product can replenish half of a battery’s charge in just three minutes. This is a significant improvement compared to what other systems on the market offer. We are not talking about standard charging systems, but about fast chargers coming from various worldwide companies, which need about 30 minutes to bring an electric vehicle’s battery to an 80 percent charge level.

The new ultra-fast system can reach a battery charge level of 70 percent in five minutes. The company said that, when designing the product, it was aiming to offer a charging time equivalent to that spent at a gas station for refueling.

“We have shortened the charging time to three minutes, the same amount of time for refueling by gasoline or making a simple purchase.’’ an official of the company was quoted as saying by the aforementioned source.

JFE Engineering will introduced the product to the market by April next year, with the charger being scheduled to be installed at gas stations and stores.