Our Next Energy, Inc., a Michigan battery technology company, has demonstrated a proof-of-concept battery that powered an electric vehicle 752 miles without recharging. The vehicle completed a road test across Michigan in late December with an average speed of 55 mph. The results were validated by a third party using a vehicle dynamometer where the test vehicle, a Tesla Model S retrofitted with an experimental battery, achieved 882 miles at 55 mph.
“We want to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles by eliminating range anxiety, which holds back most consumers today,” said Mujeeb Ijaz, Founder and CEO of ONE. “We are now focused on evolving this proof-of-concept battery into a new product called Gemini™, which will enable long distance trips on a single charge while improving cost and safety using sustainable materials.”
Today’s electric vehicles have lower adoption due to range limitations. Even the highest range electric vehicles sold today lack the surplus energy required to overcome factors such as high-speed driving, extreme weather, mountainous terrain, or towing trailers in real world conditions. These factors can lead to a loss of more than 35% of rated range, causing inconvenience and anxiety on road trips. “The ONE Gemini™ battery aims to eliminate range as a barrier to electric vehicle adoption by doubling the available energy on board in the same package space,” said Ijaz.
Until now, the industry approach to solving the range issue is to add more charging stations. However, relying on fast charge stations presents other obstacles, such as waiting in long lines, not recharging as fast as advertised, and being limited to a partial charge, which results in the need to stop every 150 miles.
ONE has designed its solution, the Gemini™ battery, to avoid this experience altogether by offering enough range for every consumer to make an electric vehicle their only vehicle.