The Expert Podcast

If this happens, electric vehicles might take off. There's a company in Europe claiming to have a new EV battery that can recharge in about a minute. We've seen a lot of hyped-up claims of fast charging for new types of batteries. Some of them panned out, some haven't, and some are still in the works. But if this one turns out to be true, then Katie bar the door—forget about any resistance to electric vehicles.

The biggest reason many people hesitate to buy an electric vehicle is they don't want to sit at some unknown, remote, out-of-the-way charging station for two or three hours while their car charges. This adds inconvenience and, for some, even personal safety risks. That's a deal breaker for many people. So, if this Swiss company can truly produce these EV batteries at a reasonable cost, allowing manufacturers to install them in cars and still sell them at a fair price, electric vehicles have a shot at much wider adoption.

More importantly, this could make electric vehicles easier to own in both urban and rural areas. In the suburbs, it's relatively simple because you can charge at home overnight. However, in the city, if you live in an apartment or park on the street, you can't charge conveniently. In rural areas, even if you can charge at night, you may not have a charging station between you and the city you travel to. This innovation could bridge the gap for both of these use cases for electric vehicles, whether new or used.