A company in Israel used kinetic flywheel technology for developing a fast charging system for electric vehicles (EV).
Now, it is looking to move ahead and sign some of its first commercial deals in Israel, the United States and Europe.
The system
Formerly called Chakratec, Zooz Power developed the system that spins eight steel wheels, each wheel weighing half a ton, by using grid from the energy. This is done about 17,000 times a minute.
Electrical energy is converted into kinetic energy through this process. To recharge a vehicle, the system slows the spinning down, so the kinetic energy is converted back into electrical energy.
This is then flushed into the battery of the electric vehicle with such intensity that it takes just 15 minutes for the vehicle to fully recharge.
Boaz Weizer, the chief executive of Zooz Power, said that the recharging boost that the system delivers is quite similar to how lots of water is released when you flush a toilet.
The kinetic recharger does not lead to any environmental issues because it focuses more on physics, instead of chemistry.
Thus, lithium extraction does not have any pollution or massive use of water associated with it.
Sustainability
The mineral lithium is used for producing lithium-ion batteries and it is widely used these days. Lithium batteries tend to weaken with time, such as your smartphone battery.
However, the kinetic system developed by the company will produce the same level of electricity continuously.
One sustainability analyst said that the carbon footprint of the Zooz Power System, generates 23 times less CO2 emissions for every kilowatt hour (kWH), as opposed to a lithium-ion battery.
Starting from production of the system, moving through supply chains, recycling, operation, or even landfill burial, the carbon dioxide emissions are about 0.0027 kilograms.
The lithium-ion battery, on the other hand, has emissions of around 0.620 kilograms. The Zooster has a life of 15 years and it draws about 666,667 kWh.
This is used for creating kinetic energy of about 600,000 kWh and it can recharge about 540,000 kWh. According to the CEO, a loss of 80% is a good one, as there are losses associated with all energy storage systems.
EV charging
The purpose of Zooz Power is to provide fast charging of electric vehicles in areas that do not have a sufficiently powerful electric grid for giving the boost required.
Weizer said that the transition to electric vehicles from combustion engines was similar to how people had done when smartphones were first introduced.
With cellphones, there was a time when reception was quite poor outside of urban centers and it took time for antennas to be installed all over the country.
He stated that Tesla superchargers are available in Tel Aviv at the Azrieli mall, but there are none to be found in southern Israel.
He stated that as the grid is upgraded, they need to have a combination of solutions in place. The company is currently trying to get a patent registered in Europe.