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Mech-Eng student’s battery design could slash EV charge times

December 8, 2016 | By Anthony Capkun


Josh de Wit (centre) won the 2016 Autocar-Courland Next Generation Award for his stacked graphene batteries idea to improve EV charging times. Photo courtesy @AutocarNextGen.

December 7, 2016 – Josh de Wit—a second-year mechanical engineering student from the University of Sussex—has won the Autocar-Courland Next Generation Award for 2016 thanks to his original idea focusing on stacked graphene batteries, with the objective of improving sustainability in electric vehicles.

Josh’s design concept harnesses the conductivity, lightness and strength of graphene, enabling the total redesign of the typical EV battery. The design would enable charging times at a fraction of the fastest-charging products on the market today, say the folks at Autocar-Courland, while the flexibility of the material means far less can be used for the optimal balance of cost, strength, weight, storage capacity and size.

The student is currently on placement with electric motor company YASA, reports his school, and will begin a 6-month work experience tour of various automakers in the spring. He is also working with the University’s business incubator, Sussex Innovation, to develop a prototype and bring his stacked-graphene battery concept to market.

PHOTO: Josh de Wit (centre) won the 2016 Autocar-Courland Next Generation Award for his stacked graphene batteries idea to improve EV charging times. Photo courtesy @AutocarNextGen.

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