To get more EVs on the road， scientists are working to charge a car in the same time that it takes to fuel up at a gas station.

為了讓更多電動汽車上路，科學(xué)家們正努力使汽車充電時間與在加油站加油花費的時間相同。

Electric vehicles are quieter， easier to repair and maintain， and far better for the environment than traditional internal combustion cars. Still， numbers of EVs on the road are trailing behind the cars they’re supposed to replace， in part due to charging times.

與傳統(tǒng)內(nèi)燃機汽車相比，電動汽車噪音更小、更易修理和維護，且對環(huán)境的危害要小得多。然而，上路電動汽車數(shù)量卻落后于它們本該取代的內(nèi)燃機汽車，部分原因就在于充電時間。

While refueling a gas tank only takes a few minutes， charging an EV takes a lot longer. Right now， the fastest chargers available to consumers， sometimes called Level 3 chargers， can charge a vehicle battery to 80 percent in as quickly as 20 minutes. But the most available （and affordable） chargers are far slower. Level 2 chargers take several hours to charge a vehicle， and Level 1 chargers—which plug into a typical home outlet—can take more than two days.

油箱加油只需幾分鐘，而電動汽車充電花的時間要長得多。目前，可供消費者使用的最快的充電樁（有時也叫三級充電樁）在20分鐘內(nèi)就能使汽車電池電量達到80%。然而，最常見（也最具性價比）的充電樁要慢得多。使用二級充電樁充電需要數(shù)小時，而連接家庭電源插座的一級充電樁所需時間可能超過兩天。

These slow charging speeds have only exacerbated “range anxiety”—the concern that batteries could run out of charge on the road. That， and the fact that demand for EVs outpaces the ability of car manufacturers to make them， threatens to slow down the road to electrification.

緩慢的充電速度只會加劇“里程焦慮”——即對行車途中電池電量可能耗盡的擔(dān)憂。這種憂慮，加上消費者對電動汽車的需求超過汽車制造商的生產(chǎn)能力這一事實，可能會拖慢汽車電動化的進程。

Scientists， including those at universities， at major electric vehicle manufacturers and at the Department of Energy， think that EVs could power up more quickly if we push the science of charging to its limits. They argue that tweaking the internal chemistry of EV batteries and the design of charging cables can help eliminate this major barrier to adoption. The challenge is speeding up charging without compromising on safety or the long-term life of the battery. The goal is to get as close as possible to the time it takes to refuel an internal combustion vehicle.

就職于包括大學(xué)、主要電動汽車制造廠商和能源部在內(nèi)的科學(xué)家們都認(rèn)為，如果將充電的科學(xué)發(fā)展到極致，電動汽車的充電速度可以更快。他們表示，稍稍改進電動汽車電池的內(nèi)部化學(xué)特性和充電電纜的設(shè)計，有助于消除電動汽車推廣的這一重大阻礙。難處是要在不影響安全性和電池長期壽命的前提下提高充電速度。而目標(biāo)在于盡可能使電動汽車的充電時長接近內(nèi)燃機汽車的加油時長。

The fundamental challenge of charging lies in batteries’ electrochemistry. Batteries are designed with two electrodes： an anode and a cathode. Lithium ions flow between these two components. When a battery is discharging and powering a car， lithium ions travel from the anode to the cathode， which produces free electrons and electric charge. When the vehicle is charging， the reverse happens， and the lithium ions are pushed back toward the anode.

最根本的難點在于電池的電化學(xué)特性。電池有兩個電極：一個陽極和一個陰極。鋰離子就在這兩個組件之間流動。當(dāng)電池放電、為汽車供電時，鋰離子從陽極移動到陰極，這一過程會產(chǎn)生自由電子和電荷。而當(dāng)汽車充電時，相反的情況發(fā)生，鋰離子會被推回陽極。

The problem is that inside the battery， lithium ions face a critical speed bump. If they travel too quickly， they’ll get stuck and won’t be able to enter the anode. When lithium ions get caught， there are fewer lithium ions to provide charge， which makes the battery less effective. Worse still， if too many lithium ions build up， the battery can short-circuit and， potentially， start a battery fire.

問題是在電池內(nèi)部，鋰離子面臨著一個關(guān)鍵的減速帶。如果移動速度過快，它們就會卡住，從而無法進入陽極。當(dāng)鋰離子發(fā)生阻塞時，提供電荷的鋰離子減少，會降低電池的效率。更糟糕的是，如果積聚的鋰離子數(shù)量過多，電池可能會短路，并引發(fā)電池火災(zāi)。

“It turns out that moving lithium is a bit like getting 100 people into a narrow room，” says Venkat Srinivasan， director of the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science and deputy director of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research in Illinois. “There’s a small door. I’d have 100 people start piling into the doorway. They’re all going to get stuck in that doorway.”

“事實證明，讓鋰離子移動的過程有點像把100個人塞進一個狹小的房間?！蔽目ㄌ亍に估锬嵬呱Ｕf道，他是阿爾貢儲能科學(xué)合作中心主任，兼伊利諾伊聯(lián)合儲能研究中心副主任。“只有一扇小門，我得讓100個人往門口擠。他們會全堵在那里的?！?/p>

Now， some think that using new battery chemistries could make it easier for lithium ions to move within a battery cell. At Argonne， researchers are studying whether it’s possible to use multiple pathways for lithium ions to travel within a battery—and essentially reduce crowding. The challenge is designing these doorways on a microscopic level， explains Srinivasan.

目前有人認(rèn)為，應(yīng)用新的電池化學(xué)特性可以使鋰離子在電池內(nèi)部的遷移變得更容易。在阿爾貢，研究人員正在研究，是否可能采用多種路徑使鋰離子在電池中遷移，以從根本上減少擁堵。挑戰(zhàn)在于在微觀層面上設(shè)計這些“門口”，斯里尼瓦桑解釋道。

Of course， changing battery chemistries is an extremely arduous process and requires extensive testing and validation. An easier approach to implement involves updating the software used to manage the batteries as they charge. Right now， batteries charge at a constant current， which causes charging speeds to decline as the battery refuels. Researchers at the Idaho National Laboratory believe better battery algorithms could make charging faster， by adjusting the current flowing into the battery as it’s being charged.

當(dāng)然，改變電池的化學(xué)特性是一個極其艱巨的過程，需要廣泛的測試和驗證。一個更簡單可行的方法是更新管理電池充電的軟件。目前，電池主要采用恒流充電，隨著電池電量增加，充電速度會逐漸下降。愛達荷國家實驗室的研究人員認(rèn)為，更好的電池算法可以通過調(diào)整充入電池的電流使充電速度更快。

“Maybe you keep the current low and then when the battery reaches around 30 percent state of charge， you can increase the current， because at that time the battery’s internal resistance is low，” explains Tanvir Tanim， a senior staff scientist at the Idaho National Laboratory. “When it goes closer to fully charged， then you， again， reduce rate.”

“也許你可以保持用較小的電流充電；然后，當(dāng)充電到30%左右時，加大電流，因為那時電池的內(nèi)部阻抗很低。”愛達荷國家實驗室的高級研究員坦維爾·塔尼姆解釋道，“當(dāng)電池即將充滿時，你就再次降低速率。”

Some futuristic charging concepts go beyond the battery. At Purdue University， mechanical engineering professor Issam Mudawar is investigating how new cooling technology could improve EV charging cables. Right now， researchers think that faster-charging EVs would need charging cables that can handle far more amperes—the unit for electric current—than what vehicles can handle today. Most chargers today can provide about 500 amperes. Right now， any additional current would produce too much heat.

一些超前的充電設(shè)想超出了電池的范疇。普渡大學(xué)的機械工程學(xué)教授伊薩姆·穆達瓦爾正在研究運用新的冷卻技術(shù)來改進電動汽車充電電纜。目前，研究人員認(rèn)為，充電速度更快的電動汽車需要能承載更高安培（電流單位）的充電電纜，這遠遠超過當(dāng)前汽車的承載水平?，F(xiàn)在，大部分充電樁能夠提供大約500安培的輸出。目前任何額外的電流都會產(chǎn)生過多熱量。

“The higher the electrical current， the more heat is dissipated，” explains Mudawar. “When you’re talking about very high currents in order to achieve the five-minute charging， the amount of heat that has to be removed internally is very large.”

“電流越大，散發(fā)的熱量越多。”穆達瓦爾解釋說，“若要實現(xiàn)五分鐘快充，需要巨大的電流，電池內(nèi)部必須去除的熱量非常大?！?/p>

Super-fast EV charging would require more than successful laboratory demonstrations. In order to work， these futuristic charging concepts would eventually need to be manufactured at scale， so drivers can access them easily along their journeys.

電動汽車超級快充需要的不僅僅是成功的實驗室演示。要能行之有效，這些超前的充電設(shè)想最終需要大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)，以便司機在駕駛途中使用。

But while super-fast EV chargers will， ideally， mimic the experience of the gas pump， most chargers wouldn’t need to operate that quickly. The fastest EV chargers are only needed for people on the road and outside their normal routines. The hope is that slower chargers will do much of the heavy lifting of keeping the country’s cars charged up， refueling the vehicles as they sit in people’s homes and office parking lots.

不過，雖然在理想情況下，超快速電動汽車充電樁的使用體驗可與加油泵相仿，但大部分充電樁并不需要充電那么快，只有長途駕駛或臨時出行的人才需要超快充電。人們希望較慢的充電樁能承擔(dān)起給全國電動汽車充電的大部分工作量，在人們把汽車停在住宅或辦公樓停車場時進行充電。

“All of us societally need to remember that we drive cars to get from A to B， not because we like going into the gas station，” says Tim Pennington， a senior research engineer in the Energy Storage amp; Advanced Transportation department at the Idaho National Laboratory. “We don’t need a ten-minute charge every day.”

“社會意義上說，我們都需要記住一點，駕駛汽車是為了從一個地方到另一個地方，而不是因為我們喜歡開進加油站?！睈圻_荷國家實驗室儲能與高級運輸部的高級研究工程師蒂姆·彭寧頓表示，“我們并不需要每天充電10分鐘。”

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎?wù)撸?/p>