Shell's New e-Fluid: Fast-Charging EVs in Under 10 Minutes

CGTN Europe

Shell has unveiled a new e-fluid technology that enables electric vehicles to charge in under 10 minutes, a major improvement over current methods. Cara Tredget, Shell’s Vice President of Mobility Technology, spoke to CGTN Europe about the innovation. Currently at the proof-of-concept stage, the technology uses immersive cooling and thermal management fluids to efficiently cool batteries during charging. Shell is partnering with automotive companies to integrate this solution into everyday vehicles, aiming to deliver efficient, lightweight, and sustainable battery designs. The new e-fluid could help revolutionize the electric vehicle industry and reshape the future of fast charging.

Transcript

00:00Shell has developed a new e-fluid which allows electric vehicles to charge in less than 10 minutes.

00:06Currently it takes up to 12 hours to charge an electric vehicle.

00:10The breakthrough has the potential to revolutionise uptake in EVs.

00:13Manufacturers will soon be able to use Shell's technology in their vehicles.

00:18Juliet Mann has been speaking to Cara Trejet, Shell's Vice President of Mobility Technology.

00:22With our technology and both immersively cooling a battery but then also having a single fluid that can cool the whole powertrain,

00:32we believe that we can get really fast charging under 10 minutes from 10% to 80%

00:36and then also having lightweight, more efficient, more sustainable BEV design.

00:43Isn't this already available though?

00:45If you have an electric vehicle and you stop at a motorway service station, you can do speedy charging, albeit at a premium.

00:52And I know that cost is a big preoccupation for a lot of drivers.

00:56Yeah, so what we would say is there's different ways to address these challenges.

00:59And one way is R&D by having these very big batteries and also by having very, very kind of fast, powerful chargers.

01:06But there is an alternative and we think that by having a kind of lightweight, more efficient battery design

01:11and also using these kind of innovative immersion cooling battery systems,

01:15actually you can leverage the use of smaller, more everyday chargers to get really super fast charging.

01:23So how does it work?

01:25These thermal management fluids, what are they?

01:28How does it function?

01:29Yeah, so essentially in its simplest terms, a thermal management fluid is something that helps you take away heat

01:34from somewhere that it's generated to somewhere where you don't want it to be, to somewhere better.

01:40So actually when you have a battery in a BEV and when you're charging, the battery cells will actually generate heat

01:46and the amount of heat that's being generated is directly proportional to how fast you're charging.

01:51By having a more efficient cooling system, an immersion system with this thermal fluid,

01:56you can actually cool more efficiently and you can actually enable kind of faster charging.

02:00So when can drivers start using this technology?

02:04Are they going to have to pay to get their cars adapted?

02:08When's it going to be in full use?

02:10Yeah, so we're really proud of this technology.

02:12At the moment it's a proof of concept and we're partnering with partners such as Mira,

02:16who are a top of the range engineering design company, but also with automotive OEMs all around the world.

02:23So what we want to do next is kind of take these learnings, work with them,

02:27see how we can actually embed this in everyday vehicles in the future.

02:30And what's the time frame for that?

02:32Because you talk about the future, but are we talking months, are we talking years, decades?

02:37So we know that a number of everyday automotive OEMs are actually already trialling and thinking about immersion systems.

02:42So I think we want to keep partnering with them and we know that they're in their plans at the moment.

02:46And why should they pick you, as opposed to another energy provider, a renewables specialist?

02:53Yeah, so I think we're very proud of the fact that we're the number one lubricant and thermal management company in the world.

02:58We have over 100 years' experience of partnering with different automotive OEMs and others in this sector.

03:04And we really believe that we can bring not only our kind of fluid knowledge, but also combine that with our applicability in the field.

03:11Okay.

03:11Cara, if this is the future,

03:12why are you still drilling oil?

03:16We actually believe that there's a whole range of energy solutions that are needed for the future.

03:21We believe in energy security and also making sure that we have the energy for the world the world needs today,

03:27while also kind of enabling the energy transition of the future.

03:30And so you talk about partnerships, you talk about collaborations.

03:34Yes.

03:35Where are you looking to do that?

03:36So we do it with a whole range of different partners.

03:40So Mira, who we've worked with this thermal fluid, is a great example.

03:44They're really very specialised in developing top-of-the-range automotive solutions.

03:49They've been able to design and test some great rigs for us.

03:52But also we work with motorsports partners.

03:55We'll be very familiar with Ferrari and Ducati and other motorsports partners,

03:59but also automotive OEMs that everyone knows and loves and everyone drives their cars.

04:04And what about regions?

04:06What about countries?

04:07I'm wondering if you're talking to companies in China.

04:10Yeah, absolutely.

04:11So I'm very proud of the fact that I lead a kind of global R&D team all across the globe.

04:16We have a lab in Shanghai.

04:18I was there just last month spending time there.

04:20Also talking to Chinese OEMs, where we've got a whole plethora and emergence of new battery electric vehicle companies there.

04:27So absolutely.

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