Microvast Holdings Inc., a company that designs, develops and manufactures lithium-ion battery solutions, has successfully completed its extreme fast charge (XFC) project, funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) – Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO).
The stated goal of this XFC project was to deliver a lithium-ion automotive format pouch cell for electric vehicles (EV) capable of exceeding 500 cycles while charging in less than 10 minutes, as well as delivering greater than 180 Wh/kg of stored energy after a 10-minute charge, greatly improving the accessibility and driving mobility for EVs.
During this project, Microvast worked with Argonne National Laboratory to provide advanced cell system characterization, and BMW provided OEM charging considerations and general feedback. Microvast delivered a 35 Ah, 240 Wh/kg pouch cell using layered metal oxide and graphite chemistry to the U.S. DOE National Lab for independent testing. The XFC cells were tested using a 10-minute fast charge (returning approximately 80% state-of-charge) and 1C discharge at 30ºC. Under these conditions, the XFC cells delivered over 1,700 cycles before reaching end of life, which exceeded the stated goal of the life cycle of the project’s prototype cells by 3.4x.
“Microvast’s development efforts aim to excel in safety, long-life and fast-charging batteries, and these test results highlight our expertise and commitment to enabling technologies,” says Dr. Wenjuan Mattis, Microvast’s chief technology officer. “Through this key technology we are excited to further partner with and support the automotive industry on its way to electrification. We are grateful for the support provided by the Vehicle Technology Office during this project, and we look forward to implementing our findings into future cells produced at Microvast’s manufacturing facility in Clarksville, Tenn.”