The Expert Podcast

See, now we're talking! Here's some technology for electric vehicles that is starting to make it seem like a viable option: you can charge an EV in less than five minutes using super-cooled NASA technology. Well, it's a little more to it than that, but as we've talked about before, the biggest problem with electric vehicles is not the range. You can get cars now with 200, 250, or even 300-mile ranges. That's going to be plenty for the time being, and it'll get better as time goes on.

The other problem is not charging locations. Sure, there aren’t as many charging stations as there are gas stations, but there are enough around that you can probably manage to get your car charged. The big problem is how long it takes to charge. If you find a charging station, but it takes you two hours to recharge your vehicle, what good is that? You could probably reach your destination in those two hours, right? So, the real issue is how fast it takes to charge.

They're finding that some NASA technology can slash electric vehicle charging times to five minutes or less. Called "sub-cooled flow boiling," this scientific breakthrough could really make a difference in electric vehicle adoption. Now, there are a couple of things that have to happen: the batteries in the vehicles need to be able to handle this, and the power grid must have power supplies that can support it. These developments will take time, but now that there's a way to do it, we're onto something. Now we're cooking with gas.

We can have vehicles with a decent amount of range, and there'll be enough charging stations relatively soon. If we can get to the point where we can charge these things quickly, electric vehicles have a real chance. Without fast charging, EVs are never going to take off. But this is the first sign that electric vehicle charging has a pathway to being done as quickly—or close to as quickly—as filling up a tank with gasoline.