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StoreDot demonstrates 100 miles of charging in 5 minutes with pouch cell

StoreDot pouch cells

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Israel-based StoreDot, a manufacturer of extreme fast charging battery technology for electric vehicles, publicly demonstrated its ability to charge a full-scale EV cell with enough energy for 100 miles in just 5 minutes. The demonstration took place at the EcoMotion Week 2022 event in Israel, where automakers like General Motors, Volvo, Ford, Continental, The Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance, and Hyundai are present.

StoreDot’s demonstration featured a 300-millimeter by 100-millimeter pouch cell manufactured at EVE Energy’s manufacturing plant in China. For perspective, Tesla’s 4680 cell is 46 millimeters wide and 80 millimeters tall, while the 18650 cell is 18 mm wide by 65 mm tall. The battery was charged in under ten minutes, the time limit for the presentation. The cell charge to 20 Ampere-hour (Ah), exceeding the capacity projections for the demonstration, which was 0 percent to 80 percent.

The cell also maintained a charge rate capable of adding 100 miles of range every 5 minutes it is charging. The battery never exceeded 33 degrees Celcius, or 91.4 degrees Fahrenheit, which is well below StoreDot’s recommended operating temperatures, which are set by the company’s engineers. StoreDot also stated that the cell performed at optimum levels in every critical parameter.

The demonstration “further validates StoreDot’s ‘100inX’ strategic technology roadmap,” the company said. StoreDot plans to transform automotive travel with more solutions that offer rapid or extreme fast-charging solutions to automakers and their customers. It also plans to deliver 100 miles in 5 minutes by 2024, 100 miles in 3 minutes by 2028, and 100 miles in 2 minutes by 2032.

Tesla’s 4680 cell replicated by StoreDot who claims 10-minute charge time

“Today’s demonstration represents the successful passing of another milestone on StoreDot’s ambitious technology road map,” StoreDot’s Vice President of Research and Development Yaron Fein said. “Our intensive development program has already delivered batteries capable of exceeding 1200 consecutive extreme fast cycles and we aim to complete the scaling up of more than 1000 cycles in our EV-size cells by the end of this year. We remain poised to achieve 100in5 by 2024, whilst remaining firmly on track to deliver our ultimate goal of 100in2 by 2032.”

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StoreDot CEO Doron Myersdorf addressed a panel at the 2022 EcoMotion event where he discussed and advocated for drastic improvements in EV battery charging times. Myersdorf said it was essential for companies to improve charging times as it would accelerate the trend to mass electrified mobility. When people can charge their cars in the same amount of time as they can fill up their tank with gas, customer behavior will change and encourage green mobility, Myersdorf said.

“Successfully proving StoreDot’s extreme fast-charging battery technology in front of a live audience demonstrates the complete confidence we have in our roadmap to deliver a global step-change in electric mobility,” Myersdorf said about the StoreDot battery presentation. “Away from the stage, our transformative technology continues to undergo testing by leading automotive manufacturers in grueling conditions, ensuring no stone is left unturned in the strategic pursuit of delivering excellence to our customers and consigning EV range anxiety to the history books.”

Watch the StoreDot demonstration below:

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla Semi catches fire in California: what we know

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Credit: KTVU

A Tesla Semi caught fire in Hayward, California, which caused both directions of traffic to shut down for hours before being completely reopened early on Wednesday, the California Highway Patrol said.

The fire occurred just after 5:30 local time in Hayward on Tuesday, as the Semi caught fire in the southbound lanes of I-880 before CHP officials made the decision to shut down both lanes of traffic due to potential risks from hazardous chemical smoke.

There were no injuries reported.

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The cause of the fire is currently unknown, as neither Tesla nor the CHP have not determined a cause.

However, some images taken before the Semi was completely destroyed by the fire seem to indicate this might have been an older unit, as it appears to be one of the designs that Tesla shipped as part of its pilot program, before revising it and starting mass production just a month ago.

At the time of publication, CHP had not returned our request for a comment for additional details, including the Semi involved and any potential collaboration on an investigation between the CHP and Tesla. We will update this story when we hear back from them.

The southbound lanes were reopened at 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday, with the northbound lanes opening last night a few hours after the fire began. The CHP did state that the lithium batteries were “incredibly difficult to extinguish,” according to NBC Bay Area.

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The truck’s driver said that the Semi caught fire, but he did not have an explanation.

An estimated 5,000 to 7,000 semi-truck and large commercial vehicle fires occur on U.S. roadways every year.

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Tesla’s ‘Emergency Drive Away’ function gets its first use in the real world

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla’s launch of the “Emergency Drive Away” function a few months back offered owners a safe option to evacuate an area if they were in reasonable danger. The function finally got its first use in the real world, but it appears it was by mistake.

A video shared by u/Joshalander in the r/TeslaLounge subreddit recorded the instance from his vehicle and said the incident took place in Austin this past weekend during the city’s F1 Race.

“Was charging around 6 AM this past Sunday in Austin before heading to the F1 race and heard a pop. Looked over and saw the new emergency drive-away feature in action. Genuinely felt bad for the dude when he got out and realized what happened, since he looked exhausted and only seemed to half-read the prompts.”

Emergency Drive Away unlatches the Supercharger connector from the vehicle, but still causes damage to both the car and the Supercharger. Tesla has said that it will cost up to $25,000 in repairs to have everything fixed back to normal.

Additionally, the company said that if it were not used in an emergency situation, the driver of the vehicle who activated the Emergency Drive Away feature would be responsible for all repair costs.

Tesla constitutes the following situations as reasonable justifications for activating the feature:

  • You face an immediate threat to your life or personal safety.
  • You must leave the area immediately.
  • Exiting the vehicle is unsafe.
  • Unplugging the charge connector would unreasonably delay your departure or expose you to a risk to your personal safety.

After using the feature, Tesla requires the driver to schedule Service so the car can be inspected.

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Tesla’s Cybercab battery design could make robotaxis even cheaper

Tesla built the Cybercab’s battery pack with spare room for a future switch to LFP.

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Tesla built the Cybercab’s battery pack with empty space inside it on purpose, and the reason points to a cheaper robotaxi down the road.

Robert Sumpf, Tesla’s director of mechanical design engineering for battery modules and packs, said the extra room beside and beneath the Cybercab’s modules was left there so the company can move to lithium iron phosphate cells later. “So, we protected this pack to go to an even lower energy dense chemistry as we scale and need to bring LFP into the platform,” Sumpf said in a Cybercab deep dive with Munro Live.

The Cybercab runs on Tesla’s own 4680 cells with a nickel chemistry today. LFP cells store less energy for their size, so a straight swap would cut range. The reserved space lets Tesla add more LFP cells to make up the difference. In return, Tesla would get cells that cost less, run cooler and survive more charge cycles. LFP became the most used EV battery chemistry in the world last year.

Not all of that room was planned for a chemistry change. Lars Moravy, Tesla’s Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, said part of it exists because “we didn’t need as many batteries as we thought we did.” Tesla told Sandy Munro in early 2025 that it was targeting a Cybercab pack under 50 kWh with close to 300 miles of range.

The pack also breaks from the structural design Tesla used in some Model Y and Cybertruck builds. Instead of potting hundreds of cells into one block, the Cybercab uses four separate, individually sealed modules, so a bad module can be replaced without scrapping the whole pack. Sumpf was blunt about the older approach, giving the Model Y structural battery “a grade D” because it was hard to build and nearly impossible to repair. He estimated a fully structural pack gains about 10% more cell volume, but said “the issue is the service cost.”

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That cost matters more for a car that rarely sits parked. Cybercab chief engineer Eric Earley said replacing an entire pack “before half a million miles is a killer on cost,” which is why remanufacturing and serviceability were built into the design from the start.

The same Munro Live tour produced Moravy’s admission that the Cybercab line at Giga Texas is now outpacing Robotaxi deployments, along with a look at the robotaxi’s unorthodox paint process. Tesla is aiming to deliver the first Cybercabs to outside customers by the end of 2026, though Elon Musk has said the vast majority will stay owned by Tesla and run as a transport service.

Sumpf did not give a date for an LFP version, name a cell supplier or say how a chemistry change would affect range. For now, the 4680 cars keep piling up: Texas DMV records from Tuesday list 544 Cybercabs authorized for Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet, more than the 507 Model Ys on the same roster for the first time.

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