Fisker files patent for fast-charging car battery

The electric car start-up Fisker announced, Monday, that it filed a patent for solid-state cell technology that could produce a battery that charges a vehicle in as little as a minute.

Fisker is still attempting to work out ongoing issues with the battery, according to IFLScience. Ongoing difficulties include increasing the density of the battery power, a high price tag associated with the materials and difficulty acquiring the material in significant enough quantities to produce it en masse.

However, the company said it expects to have batteries in widespread production as soon as 2023 for use in its electric cars, according to Autoblog. The batteries, once completed, will have 2.5 times more energy density than current batteries in production, according to Fisker, and will be able to provide a driving range of more than 500 miles while costing less than lithium-ion batteries and providing less risk of explosion.

The company plans to show the new battery at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show scheduled Jan. 9-12 in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to Autoblog.

New era in automobiles

It also plans to show the EMotion, which the company is currently accepting orders for, at the show.

The luxury electric vehicle is expected to go into production in 2019, with a $130,000 price tag and a battery range in excess of 400 miles, according to Autoblog. The EMotion will use lithium-ion batteries, however, rather than the solid-state cell patented by Fisker.

Solid-state batteries are considered a breakthrough in battery development due to the reduced risk of leaking flammable content, as well as its ability to prevent the degradation of battery quality and more potential power density in the battery, according to IFLScience. The battery will last longer, hold more charge and pose less risk of exploding than batteries currently in use.

Battery breakthroughs

“We are excited to build on this foundation and move the needle in energy storage,” said Dr.

Fabio Albano, Fisker’s vice president of battery systems, according to the Daily Mail.

Henrik Fisker, the CEO and chairman of the company, said the company’s vision for the automotive industry is to make “the impossible, possible,” and smashing the “barriers to future battery technologies that will enable mass market electrification,” according to the Daily Mail. Fisker also added that the solid-state patent was “just the beginning” for the company.