Dr John Miles, Chair of Gaussion, who has been engaged for more than a decade in the UK’s campaign to develop EV charging infrastructure said: “The electrification of transport will be a big part of society’s journey towards a low carbon economy. That journey must be accomplished without delay, so it is imperative that we identify and remove the biggest barriers to EV adoption as quickly as possible. Range anxiety and long charging times are at the top of the list for attention and Gaussion’s new fast-charge technology promises to remove them.”

Shortening battery charging times is important not only for EVs but also for phones, power tools, drones, and other applications. Although lithium-ion batteries were developed in the 1980s, the damage inflicted by repeated fast-charging has remained a thorn in the side as these products have moved into the mainstream. No cost-effective solution yet exists which prevents the irreversible damage associated with rapid charging.

As the number of EVs on the road increases beyond the early adopters and the premium market, slow charging at home or in car parks becomes a less acceptable solution for mass market scenarios. Current rapid chargers can shorten charging times to well under an hour but, even at this level, repeated use is prevented in order to limit battery degradation and protect battery warranties. Further reducing the charge-time to the order of 10 minutes is not going to happen unless a game-changing technology appears.  

Dr Thomas Heenan, Co-Founder and CEO of Gaussion, said: “Gaussion’s vision is to bring affordable rapid charging to the mass market by allowing the average EV to achieve a week’s worth of driving in a sub-10-minute charge. Our commercially viable technology represents a novel, cost-effective, rapid charging solution for both today’s batteries, and future battery technologies.”

The patent-pending rapid charging technology is primed to disrupt the global EV market by unlocking maximum power for re-charging while minimising degradation within the EV battery. The technology is agnostic to battery chemistry, promising a continued wide range of applications as improved battery technologies come to market.

Dr Chun Tan, Co-Founder and COO of Gaussion, added: “We’ve built a world-leading team that is now working to commercialise this innovation as rapidly as possible. We will leverage this investment to establish a state-of-the-art R&D facility in central London, to allow future growth and innovation.”

Gaussion’s technology can unlock truly ‘rapid’ charging on existing commercially available battery cells. The team has taken commercial cells designed to charge in one to five hours and demonstrated 1,000+ cycles of consecutive 10-minute charging while still meeting all warranty specifications.

Gaussion was first conceived by Dr Heenan and Dr Tan back in 2017 at the UCL Electrochemical Innovation Lab. Inspired by their earlier work using particle accelerators to analyse energy materials such as batteries and fuel cells, they saw an opportunity to apply similar technologies to tackle commercial challenges.

Prof Paul Shearing, Co-Director of the Electrochemical Innovation Lab at UCL and Co-Founder of Gaussion, said: “New chemistries, materials and other solutions are continually being proposed, resulting in an everchanging global battery landscape. So, agnostic technical solutions such as this are hugely important to futureproof potential market changes. Gaussion’s technology has consistently passed high technical hurdles and offers something truly unique.”

High market demand is being driven by the need to provide over £100 billion of charging infrastructure by 2035 in Europe alone. With looming net zero targets, it is an area of strategic importance for governments and vehicle manufacturers alike.

UCL’s commercialisation company, UCL Business (UCLB) provided initial support to file a patent for the technology. The concepts were then tested for commercial viability through a Faraday Institution Entrepreneurial Fellowship, with funds that supported scale-up validation across various applications.

The founders then won the Autocar Drivers of Change award and the Royal Society of Chemistry Emerging Technologies Prize in the Energy category, which provided funding that catalysed the formal spin-out of Gaussion in early 2022 to commercialise the technology. The Innovate UK EDGE team in UCL Innovation & Enterprise supported the spin-out process though company valuation, competitor due diligence, IP landscaping and grant applications.

Dennis Atkinson, investor at BGF, said: “We are extremely excited by the opportunity to invest in a business that has developed an impressive and elegant solution to one of the most pressing issues in the EV battery space. Gaussion is a fantastic example of a highly innovative tech business that has the potential to significantly improve the take up of EVs on a global scale.”

David Grimm, Investment Director, UCLTF said: “Gaussion has the potential to be a truly disruptive global company that pushes the world to a more mobile and sustainable future. We have been highly impressed with the progresses the team have achieved in a short space of time and look forward to supporting them alongside BGF.”