Extreme fast-charging EV battery technology producer StoreDot is encouraging international automotive OEMs to adopt the mindset of a startup to bring advanced charging technologies to market faster.
The company is currently on track to mass produce its 100in5 silicon-dominant extreme fast-charging batteries in 2024, designed to provide a range of 100 miles after five minutes of charging. Despite the solution being capable of solving the issue of charging anxiety, StoreDot CEO Dr Doron Myersdorf is urging OEMs to re-evaluate their traditional technology introduction timelines to accelerate the adoption of these advanced technologies into new vehicles to offer increased benefits for customers, and a faster EV uptake.
More often than not, OEMs are locked into sequential prototyping and testing processes with timescales which fit the familiar long cycles of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle development. Despite this, vehicle manufacturers are capable of embracing new practices which use a more efficient mode of development to enable the latest technologies to make it to market faster through collaborations with scaleup-ready startups.
“We are working with many global OEMs and it’s clear that some are already changing their mindset to adopt advanced battery technologies faster,” explained Dr Doron Myersdorf, CEO, StoreDot. “But not every OEM behaves like this, and I believe the entire EV industry will benefit from accelerating its processes and timelines if we are going to collectively undertake the seismic shift to electrification that the world needs.
“With a typical five-year cycle to implement any new battery technology, we are encouraging global automotive manufacturers following traditional processes to adjust their methods and mindset to more agile business practices when evaluating and implementing innovative technologies. Testing of new technologies such as StoreDot’s Extreme Fast Charge – XFC – cells can be a strict, sequential, and laborious process that assumes a certain level of technology maturity. The upshot is that our game-changing batteries might not get into the hands of car buyers in a timely fashion. As charging anxiety is one of the main barriers to EV adoption, such conservative processes can have consequences for the entire battery and vehicle ecosystem and its ability to vastly and quickly improve the world in which we live.
“Of course, car makers must not ignore crucial elements such as safety and reliability testing, which are a given. But in my experience, some OEMs are still rigidly sticking to testing regimes that hinder the ability to take advantage of battery breakthroughs. Some parts of the automotive industry are currently being held back and will continue to be so unless we all adopt the agility of startup concurrent engineering practices.”
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