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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