SBIR Phase I: An Ultra-Fast Battery Charger for Electric Vehicles

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I project has potential to bring about global reductions in air-pollution and greenhouse gas emissions as the technology encourages the use of electric vehicles. There are over 272 million passenger cars registered in the United States and over one billion worldwide. As the transition to electric vehicles takes hold, potential markets for ultra-fast battery chargers for these electric vehicles will be sizeable. Estimates for the commercial market for electric vehicle charging stations is projected to reach $27.7 billion by 2027 from an estimated $2.5 billion in 2019. This project addresses the persistent problem of long electric vehicle recharging times and associated “range anxiety” among consumers. More specifically, an ultra-fast electric vehicle recharging system will be applied to emerging fast-charge batteries so that delays in re-energizing electric vehicles will be no more time-consuming than similar delays for refueling gasoline-powered vehicles. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to demonstrate the basic feasibility of an ultra-fast battery-charging system for consumer applications that can fully re-energize a typical light-duty electric vehicle in as little as six minutes. The project will focus on development of safe power conversion and transmission equipment that will be applied to power-matched fast-charge batteries currently emerging in commercial markets. Because the power levels required for ultra-fast EV charging are necessarily high, the project will focus on innovative measures to ensure public safety and system reliability while obtaining high electrical efficiencies. A relatively low power model will be constructed in Phase I for later scale-up. Solving technical challenges associated with an ultra-fast high-power electric vehicle charger has potential to advance knowledge of electromagnetics, power electronics, automated control, and materials science associated with ultra-fast electric vehicle recharging. The project will lead to new findings that will help solve the persistent problem of long delays in recharging electric vehicle batteries.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.