EV charging: 320km added in 10 minutes with Polestar's XFC "extreme fast charging" prototype

April 2024: Polestar & partner claim 370kW+ EV charging speed achieved

Polestar says it has successfully demonstrated Extreme Fast Charging (XFC) with a prototype of its upcoming Polestar 5 sedan, achieving a 10-80% charge at rates ranging from 310kW to "in excess of" 370kW.

Using a 77kWh battery pack, Polestar says the successful test – carried out with technology partner StoreDot – proves the potential for adding an impressive 320 kilometres of driving range in just 10 minutes.

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The fastest-charging EVs currently on sale right now are the 800V models sold by the Hyundai-Kia group – such as the Ioniq 5 and EV6 – with MY23 77.4kWh models claiming a 10-80% charge time of 18 minutes.

Those models are designed for best speeds on a 350kW 'ultra fast charger', although their actual charging power will typically peak at around 220kW as a battery management requirement.

Polestar says: "StoreDot’s revolutionary XFC technology utilises silicon-dominant cells with an energy density on par with state-of-the-art NMC cells, and does not require specialist cooling systems in the vehicle.

"The experimental XFC battery’s modules have a structural function which, improves mechanical properties and cooling ability while maintaining or reducing weight levels, with high recyclability and serviceability also paramount in the design of the pack."

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Importantly, the XFC system is on-board and thus requires no special upgrades to charging stations – meaning the ~310kW rate would be achievable with any of today's 350kW ultra-fast DC chargers.

Polestar and StoreDot say their special XFC-capable battery pack can be increased in capacity to "at least" 100kWh.

Although not yet published at the time of scheduling this story, Polestar says a video of the test can be watched here. We'll update this story with an embedded video as one becomes available.

👇 Continue reading our previous story below for further comments and insight on StoreDot's XFC charging claims.

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November 2023: 160km of range added in just 10 minutes? Polestar says yes

Swedish-ish EV maker Polestar says it's preparing to showcase an "extreme fast charge" technology, or 'XFC', in a prototype of the upcoming Polestar 5 sports sedan.

How does 160km (100 miles) of range from 5 minutes of charging, sound?

Polestar, the popular sports-luxury spinoff of Volvo and Chinese parent Geely, has confirmed an investment with Israeli battery developer StoreDot to utilise its XFC system – which, Polestar claims, can achieve its extreme charging speeds with existing lithium-ion EV battery designs.

Last week's Polestar Day in Los Angeles was the scene of the announcement, but for now, the companies are offering no details on how the XFC system works and what sort of power outputs it will deliver.

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It'll be sometime in 2024 before we actually see the technology demonstrated with the upcoming Polestar 5 – and even then, only in prototype form.

The brand has yet to say if it will integrated StoreDot's tech into the production Polestar 5, but determining that is of course part of the prototyping process. Polestar is a StoreDot investor, however, so it will undoubtedly be planning to drive the XFC system to production in time for the 5's launch.

How the XFC tech will be integrated into public charging stations is still to be seen, and with North America rapidly moving towards Tesla's Supercharger network as a new standard (NACS) – including Polestar [↗] – it'll be interesting to see if Tesla will need to come on board with XFC.

“StoreDot is making huge strides forward in the development of their extreme fast charging technology and we are a proud investor and partner in its evolution," Polestar boss and former Volvo design chief Thomas Ingenlath said.

"StoreDot’s pioneering extreme fast charging batteries, combined with our upcoming top-of-the-line electric powertrain, can revolutionise the ownership experience for EV owners with the ability to recharge in minutes.”

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StoreDot CEO Dr Doron Myersdorf said: "Charging anxiety will soon be a thing of the past."

That'll be music to EV buyers' ears. StoreDot has emphasised that the main benefit of its XFC system is that it will enable 'next generation' charging speeds without waiting for anticipated revolutions in battery design – although it intends to be part of that revolution, too.

First, it plans to get its XFC charging speed down to three minutes for 160km of driving by 2028, and two minutes by 2032 – about as long as it takes to fuel a petrol car (albeit without the same amount of range).

StoreDot's '100inX' roadmap, announced in 2021, will then call for advancing its battery designs to a semi-solid state, and then a post-lithium design.

"We still have lots of work to do to fully integrate our systems into a production car, but our teams are already fully engaged, and we will be demonstrating those results in the coming months," Dr Myersdorf said.

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