High five

Is charging your EV in under five minutes an attainable dream?

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It's a feeling akin to jet lag – that unmistakable sensation of time shifting in a way that your brain can't immediately comprehend. Three minutes ago, I plugged this Nyobolt EV into an electric charger with its battery displaying 30%. It's now breached 80% and its rapid, 300kW charge speed has begun to tail off. I have never actually timed myself filling a car with petrol, but it can't be significantly quicker than this.

There are numerous barriers to the mass adoption of EVs, several of which this Lotus Elise-esque roadster can't hope to fix. Nyobolt might not make any examples beyond this tech demonstrator. If it does, the resulting car is never going to be cheap enough for government grants, nor flexible enough for family life. But what it can do is charge at a speed that might flip many sceptics' thinking on its head. The Cambridge company has proven its technology via a 10-80% charge in 4min 37sec and my own experience today has given welcome legitimacy to its claims.