Rashid Al-Izmi's KVI charges battery cell in 3.7 minutes

KVI, the Singapore-based company of Moroccan scientist and inventor Rashid Al-Izmi, announced on Thursday, October 29, that a new charging method took a lithium battery cell from 10% to 70% charge in 3.7 minutes, with a full charge reached within seven minutes.

The trial involved a single lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cell, according to the results released by the company. Its temperature stayed under 50 degrees Celsius throughout the test.

The method, called Non-Linear Voltammetry (NLV), controls voltage step by step so that the current adjusts to the battery’s electrochemical behaviour as it charges. Conventional chargers mainly regulate current instead. The goal is to read how the battery responds at each stage of charging, speeding up energy intake while limiting the risk of overheating.

Long recharging times remain one of the main obstacles to wider adoption of electric vehicles and portable electronics. Should the technique scale up, it could shorten stops at charging stations. Possible uses extend to smartphones, power tools, energy storage systems and some electric aviation applications.

The result, however, comes from laboratory testing on a single cell and does not mean a complete car battery could be charged in the same time. Scaling the technology, managing heat, preserving battery life and safety, and building suitable power infrastructure remain open challenges.

Rashid Al-Izmi is regarded as one of the key contributors to modern lithium-ion batteries through his work on the graphite anode, a core component of the cells used in phones, computers and electric vehicles. His fast-charging work was granted a patent in Japan in 2024.