Charging Battery Of EVs With Lightning?
This is a question that crosses many people’s minds. But in order to answer it effectively, we need to understand the principles of battery chemistry and charging capabilities. EVs require a steady amount of electricity to charge their battery packs.
As of now, there are three compatible levels of charging, which are Level 1 AC charging, Level 2 AC Fast Charging and Level 3 DC Rapid Charging. Their charging ability is measured in kW, which stands for kilowatts. Kilo is a prefix that denotes 1000 units
Difference in charging levels
Level 1 uses the 240V of your home supply to charge the batteries and offers the lowest charging rate of the three. It delivers a constant supply of about 1 to 1.2kW for many hours to effectively charge an electric vehicle.
Level 2 offers a much faster charging rate thanks to the use of more powerful hardware and either single–phase or 3-phase power supply. They can deliver a constant supply of between 7kW and 22kW to an EV. This allows the battery pack to charge in just a few hours.
Level 3 or DC Rapid Charging can only be achieved by dedicated charging stations. That’s because sophisticated and bulky electronic hardware is required to deliver the impressively high charging rate. These outlets can deliver between 50kW to 350kW. However certain outlets have demonstrated the production of 900kW of power.
That said, an EV’s battery management system is what dictates how much power is permitted to enter the system. This safety measure helps to protect the battery chemistry and temperature to prevent premature degradation. It also manages individual cell voltages to prevent overheating and overcharging.
For example, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra supports a charging capacity of 45W. If you choose to use a 65W charger instead of the supported 45W one, it will not mean that your device will charge any faster. That’s because the maximum charging capacity allowed is 45W.
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Charging Efficacy of EVs
How quickly and effectively an EV is charged depends on several factors, which are the onboard electronic hardware, the capability of the battery chemistry and the heat generated during the charging process.
Like a regular battery, lithium-ion cells consist of an anode (negative) and a cathode (positive) separated by an electrolyte. During normal use, the battery’s lithium-ion’s outer electron travels across the circuit from the negative to the positive terminal.
Then, the lithium-ions, with one less electron, travel from the anode (inside the battery), through the electrolyte and flow towards the battery’s cathode. During charging, this process is reversed, because the electricity from the charger causes the electrons to flow through the electronic circuit from the cathode to the anode.
The Lithium-ions that have lost said electron, leave the cathode and flow back through the electrolyte to the anode. This is a delicate process that needs to be monitored and controlled by the battery management system to prevent damage to the internal chemistry.
A bolt of lightning can deliver about 1.21 gigawatts or 1,210,000kW of power, which is far higher than what rapid charging outlets can deliver. However, a flash of lightning lasts about a fraction of a second, which is too short to be useful to any charging system.
A lightning strike produces a high amount of electrical power in under a second, which cannot be successfully utilised by current battery charging technology. The electronic components in an EV simply cannot manage such a high amount of electrical power and neither can the battery chemistry.
