Electric car charging in just 5 minutes achieved with ‘unprecedented’ Nasa tech

New technology is capable of delivering 4.6 times the current of the fastest electric car chargers on the market

Nasa has developed a new technique to charge electric cars in just 5 minutes (Getty Images)

An experimental cooling technique developed by Nasa engineers for use on the International Space Station has been adapted for electric cars to massively reduce the time it takes to charge their batteries.

The complex heat transfer system was originally developed to maintain proper temperatures in space, however a team of researchers discovered that the technology could also have applications on Earth.

The heat generated from charging powerful lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles means that chargers are currently limited to around 30 amperes for at-home chargers, and up to 350 amperes for “fast charging” stations.