Nyobolt is taking its high-power density, fast-charging battery technology from the lab into the real world by revealing the first running Nyobolt EV prototype.
Designed and engineered with CALLUM, the Nyobolt EV will be used to both validate the company’s battery performance in a high-performance environment, as well as allow car makers to witness an elevated customer experience where inconvenient charging downtime is thing of the past.
10-80 per cent state of charge achieved just under five minutes
Founded in 2019, Cambridge-based Nyobolt has leveraged its next-generation patented carbon and metal oxide anode materials, innovative low impedance cell design, integrated power electronics and software controls to create power dense battery and charging systems. These support the electrification of high-uptime industrial and automotive applications such as heavy-duty off-highway trucks, EVs, robotics and consumer devices that demand high power and quick recharge cycles.
Initial in-vehicle testing this month using powerful 350kW (800V) DC fast chargers has already confirmed that Nyobolt EV’s 50Ah 35kWh battery can be charged from 10 per cent to 80 per cent in four minutes 37 seconds – with a full 100 per cent charge enabling the prototype to achieve a range of 155 WLTP miles. That is twice the speed of most of the fastest charging vehicles today. Furthermore, as the first four minutes are at a constant current of 500A, this would provide 120 miles of range.
600,000 miles warranty on battery-pack?
Nyobolt’s technology also solves the levels of degradation that typically come with supercharging lithium-ion batteries. Nyobolt’s 24.5Ah cells have already successfully completed over 4,000 full DoD (Depth of Discharge) fast charge cycles, equating to over 600,000 miles if used in the Nyobolt EV pack, while still retaining over 80 per cent battery capacity. This is many multiples higher than the warranties of much larger EV batteries on the road today.
Independent OEM testing has confirmed its 2.6Ah cells can achieve over 4,400 cycles with a 12C charge and 1C discharge at 23°C. Crucially, the cell internal resistance rises by only 50 per cent after 4,400 five-minute charge cycles. This is lower than the industry accepted end of life values for EV cells, which is typically twice the initial value.
“Despite some OEMs showing fast charge times in the region of 15 minutes, a closer inspection reveals the charge is usually across a limited SOC region specifically chosen to limit the amount of life taken out of the cell; for instance, between 20-80 per cent,” says Nyobolt’s co-founder and CEO, Dr Sai Shivareddy. “Typically, the charge profile will only hold these peak charge levels for a short amount of the charge time. Nyobolt’s low impedance cells ensure we can offer sustainability, stretching out the battery’s usable life for up to 600,000 miles in the case of our technology demonstrator.”
It’s no accident that the Nyobolt EV is a sports car weighing just 1,250kg; it underlines that Nyobolt can also enable the automotive industry to return lighter, better handling sports cars. “We can enable OEMs to build excitement back into the segment, which is literally weighed down by legacy battery technology currently,” says Shane Davies, Nyobolt’s director of vehicle battery systems.
The Nybolt technology is also capable of being retrofitted to models, opening up the market for still more high powered evs and even, possibly, converted ICE models.
BYD says it will ‘deal with’ any tariffs imposed on Chinese electric cars if they’re ever added in the UK.
Europe is threatening Chinese electric cars with import tariffs of as much as 35% while the United States has added 100% rates to Chinese-made models in an attempt to protect home manufacturers.
A new UK Government is also expected to bring in some extra duties on Chinese made models and this worries the new dealerships taking on the emerging brands.
Ironically, the action might also affect BMW and MINI dealers selling models made for the brands in China.