Samsung Develops EV Battery With 600 km Range, 20-Minute Charge

South Korean electronics giant Samsung has developed a "next-generation" battery design it says will endow future electric vehicles with up to 600 km in driving range and an ultra-fast charging time of just 20 minutes.

Samsung presented its new battery technology earlier this week at the Detroit auto show, where the company explained the quick-charge capability comes thanks to reduced resistance in the battery cells themselves.

That 20-minutes of plug-in time would get you a battery charged to 80 percent, good enough for a theoretical 500 km of driving. That, says Samsung, is enough electricity in a short enough period of time to make for realistic recharging at highway-side rest stops, while driver and passengers stretch their legs and grab fuel for themselves.

We say theoretical, because it all depends on what kind of vehicle the battery's bolted into. That aside, Samsung says it has high expectations its new battery tech, with the promise of packing more electricity into a smaller space, will accelerate vehicle electrification and, along with growing availability of charging stations, encourage more drivers to go electric.

The electronics firm's other display was what it calls an integrated battery module that contains double the number of cells than a "conventional" module and triples electricity storage.

Samsung says its new batteries will go into mass production in 2021, at which point the firm is confident it will "contribute to a rapid market adoption of EVs in North America and worldwide."