New tech from Shell could lead to 10 minute EV recharge

Oil manufacturing giant Shell has revealed that it has created an EV thermal management fluid with the ability to reduce charging times without compromising battery safety or lifespan.

The company has stated that his development will aid the widespread adoption of battery electric vehicles [BEVs] across the world.

Shell Lubricants collaboration with RML Group, a UK-based automotive company, has built a 34 kWHr battery pack using Shell EV-Plus Thermal Fluid featuring proprietary Shell Gas-to-Liquid (GTL) Technology.

This battery has been developed in way to make it capable of charging from 10% to 80% capacity in under 10 minutes.

According to Shell, ‘the thermal fluid reduces thermal stresses very significantly allowing much higher cell charging currents to be tolerated’.

Shell EV-Plus Thermal Fluids are electrically non-conductive fluids, which facilitate better heat transfer.

In an efficient electric vehicle, operating at an energy economy of 10 km/kWh, the system could achieve a charging rate of 24 km per minute of charging time.

This represents a substantial improvement over the typical 5 km per minute seen in many current battery electric vehicle (BEV) designs, according to Shell’s research.

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Jason Wong, Global Executive Vice President, Shell Lubricants commented: “We are thrilled to demonstrate that Shell EV-Plus Thermal Fluids can help to significantly improve battery thermal performance, paving the way towards higher charging efficiencies, enhanced safety, convenience and cost-effectiveness – to support the widespread adoption of BEVs demanded by legislative initiatives around the world.

“This evolution is a testament to our commitment to collaborative innovation towards enabling more value with less emissions.”

According to Shell, the electric vehicle market has grown significantly, with sales increasing 14% in 2024 compared to 2023.

The Shell Recharge Survey showed that EVs in both Europe and USA are driven further than ICE vehicles with over 52% of EVs in Europe and USA driven over 15,000km a year vs 22% of non-EVs in Europe and 42% in USA.

However, among those not driving an EV, over 44% in Europe, USA and China cited concerns about EV range anxiety or lack of public charging points in their region.

Robert Mainwaring, Shell’s lead engineer on the project, commented: “Consumers are in pursuit of better energy efficiency, longer driving range and faster charging. Our ambition within this project was to show how Shell EV-Plus Thermal Fluids can support significant reductions in charging time without compromising cell integrity and lifetime.

“By embracing advanced thermal management solutions, we believe this will open the door to a new generation of more sustainable, efficient and cost-effective battery electric vehicle solutions.”