question: Why do Lithium Ion batteries take time to charge? Why can't things like phones and other chargeable devices charge almost instantly?
comment: Imagine the battery is waterfall. All of the water is at the top then it is drained to the bottom. A charger moves the water back to the top, but it takes work. So that limits how much water it can carry up each trip. It takes time to move all the water back up. Now bigger devices can have more water moved but you don’t want to move too much because then it damages the actual waterfall to climb back up.
passages: , lithium iron phosphate () battery technology was the fastest-charging/discharging, fully discharging in 10–20 seconds.
   Some companies have been experimenting with battery swapping to eliminate delay while charging.A “Super Fast” charging location will currently charge most cars to around 80% in 45–50 minutes.  The final 20% – as with a mobile phone – takes longer, because the systems slow to safely fill the battery and avoid any risks.
  
  Section::::Batteries.:Charging.:Hybrid vehicles.
  
  Some electric vehicles have built in generators, these are considered a type of hybrid vehicle. 
  
  Section::::Batteries.:Lifespan.
   Quick Charge was announce in 2012 and has more faster technology in 2016 using USB-C and USB-PD connector. It can charge mobile phone 4 times faster than standard micro USB.
  
  Section::::Applications.:Stationary battery plants.
   Chargers take from a few minutes to several hours to charge a battery. Slow "dumb" chargers without voltage or temperature-sensing capabilities will charge at a low rate, typically taking 14 hours or more to reach a full charge. Rapid chargers can typically charge cells in two to five hours, depending on the model, with the fastest taking as little as fifteen minutes. Fast chargers must have multiple ways of detecting when a cell reaches full charge (change in terminal voltage, temperature, etc.) to stop charging before harmful overcharging or overheating occurs. The fastest chargers often incorporate cooling fans to keep the cells from overheating. Battery packs intended for rapid charging may include a temperature sensor that the charger uses to protect the pack; the sensor will have one or more additional electrical contacts.
   Jump starters using lithium-ion batteries began appearing i
  
  on the market in 2013. Most lithium jump starter brands use a high discharge lithium polymer or lithium-ion battery. Lithium jump starters are extremely compact and lightweight, as much as 90% smaller than lead-acid equivalents.
  
  Section::::Other methods.:Push starting.
   A 10 amp-hour battery could take 15 hours to reach a fully charged state from a fully discharged condition with a 1 amp charger as it would require roughly 1.5 times the battery's capacity.
  
  Public EV charging stations provide 6 kW (host power of 208 to 240 VAC off a 40 amp circuit). 6 kW will recharge an EV roughly 6 times faster than 1 kW overnight charging.
  
  Rapid charging results in even faster recharge times and is limited only by available AC power, battery type, and the type of charging system.
   If a battery has been completely discharged (e.g. the car lights were left on overnight) and next is given a fast charge for only a few minutes, then during the short charging time it develops only a charge near the interface. The battery voltage may rise to be close to the charger voltage so that the charging current decreases significantly. After a few hours this interface charge will spread to the volume of the electrode and electrolyte, leading to an interface charge so low that it may be insufficient to start a car.
   Scientists at Stanford University in California have developed a battery that can be charged within one minute. The anode is made of aluminum and the cathode made of graphite (see Aluminium-ion battery).
  
  The electric car Volar-e of the company Applus + IDIADA, based on the Rimac Concept One, contains lithium iron phosphate batteries that can be recharged in 15 minutes.
  
  According to the manufacturer BYD the lithium iron phosphate battery of the electric car e6 is charged at a fast charging station within 15 minutes to 80%, after 40 minutes at 100%.
  
  Section::::Specifics.:Charging.:Connectors.
   In 2014, researchers at MIT, Sandia National Laboratories, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology America and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory discovered that uniform charging could be used with increased charge speed to speed up battery charging. This discovery could also increase cycle durability to ten years. Traditionally slower charging prevented overheating, which shortens cycle durability. The researchers used a particle accelerator to learn that in conventional devices each increment of charge is absorbed by a single or a small number of particles until they are charged, then moves on. By distributing charge/discharge circuitry throughout the electrode, heating and degradation could be reduced while allowing much greater power density.
   Ni–Cd batteries can be charged at several different rates, depending on how the cell was manufactured. The charge rate is measured based on the percentage of the amp-hour capacity the battery is fed as a steady current over the duration of the charge. Regardless of the charge speed, more energy must be supplied to the battery than its actual capacity, to account for energy loss during charging, with faster charges being more efficient. For example, an "overnight" charge, might consist of supplying a current equal to one tenth the amperehour rating (C/10) for 14–16 hours; that is, a 100 mAh battery takes 10 mA for 14 hours, for a total of 140 mAh to charge at this rate. At the rapid-charge rate, done at 100% of the rated capacity of the battery in 1 hour (1C), the battery holds roughly 80% of the charge, so a 100 mAh battery takes 125 mAh to charge (that is, approximately 1 hour and fifteen minutes). Some specialized batteries can be charged in as little as 10–15 minutes at a 4C or 6C charge rate, but this is very uncommon. It also greatly increases the risk of the cells overheating and venting due to an internal overpressure condition: the cell's rate of temperature rise is governed by its internal resistance and the square of the charging rate. At a 4C rate, the amount of heat generated in the cell is sixteen times higher than the heat at the 1C rate. The downside to faster charging is the higher risk of overcharging, which can damage the battery. and the increased temperatures the cell has to endure (which potentially shortens its life).
   Battery charging and discharging rates are often discussed by referencing a "C" rate of current. The C rate is that which would theoretically fully charge or discharge the battery in one hour. For example, trickle charging might be performed at C/20 (or a "20 hour" rate), while typical charging and discharging may occur at C/2 (two hours for full capacity). The available capacity of electrochemical cells varies depending on the discharge rate. Some energy is lost in the internal resistance of cell components (plates, electrolyte, interconnections), and the rate of discharge is limited by the speed at which chemicals in the cell can move about. For lead-acid cells, the relationship between time and discharge rate is described by Peukert's law; a lead-acid cell that can no longer sustain a usable terminal voltage at a high current may still have usable capacity, if discharged at a much lower rate. Data sheets for rechargeable cells often list the discharge capacity on 8-hour or 20-hour or other stated time; cells for uninterruptible power supply systems may be rated at 15 minute discharge.
   Building on materials research from John Goodenough and team at the University of Texas-Austin, scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology created nanoball batteries of the olivine LiFePO that increased charge rates 100 times. They are capable of a 10-second re-charge of a cell phone battery and a 5-minute re-charge of an electric car battery. The cathode is composed of nanosized balls of lithium iron phosphate. The rapid charging is because the nanoballs transmit electrons to the surface of the cathode at a much higher rate. The batteries have also shown higher energy density, power density and cycle durability.
   A typical intelligent charger fast-charges a battery up to about 85% of its maximum capacity in less than an hour, then switches to trickle charging, which takes several hours to top off the battery to its full capacity.
  
  Section::::Type.:Motion-powered charger.
  
  Several companies have begun making devices that charge batteries based on human motions. One example, made by Tremont Electric, consists of a magnet held between two springs that can charge a battery as the device is moved up and down, such as when walking. Such products have not yet achieved significant commercial success.
   For example, for a battery with a capacity of 500 mAh, a discharge rate of 5000 mA (i.e., 5 A) corresponds to a C-rate of 10 (per hour), meaning that such a current can discharge 10 such batteries in one hour. Likewise, for the same battery a charge current of 250 mA corresponds to a C-rate of 1/2 (per hour), meaning that this current will increase the state of charge of this battery by 50% in one hour.
   Section::::Charging and discharging.:Recharging time.
  
  Recharging time is an important parameter to the user of a product powered by rechargeable batteries. Even if the charging power supply provides enough power to operate the device as well as recharge the battery, the device is attached to an external power supply during the charging time. For electric vehicles used industrially, charging during off-shifts may be acceptable. For highway electric vehicles, rapid charging is necessary for charging in a reasonable time.
   Slow battery chargers may take several hours to complete a charge. High-rate chargers may restore most capacity much faster, but high rate chargers can be more than some battery types can tolerate. Such batteries require active monitoring of the battery to protect it from overcharging. Electric vehicles ideally need high-rate chargers. For public access, installation of such chargers and the distribution support for them is an issue in the proposed adoption of electric cars.
  
  Section::::C-rate.
   Often a timer charger and set of batteries could be bought as a bundle and the charger time was set to suit those batteries. If batteries of lower capacity were charged then they would be overcharged, and if batteries of higher capacity were charged they would be only partly charged. With the trend for battery technology to increase capacity year on year, an old timer charger would only partly charge the newer batteries.
   Stage 3 is called the "U-phase" or "float charge state", the voltage is reduced to a value that is safe to be applied for long periods (weeks) without significantly reducing the lifetime of the battery. During this phase, the charge current decreases gradually to a small residual value that compensates for any self-discharge of the battery.
  
  Section::::Voltages and currents.
   BULLET::::- Anode: graphite or hard carbon with intercalated metallic lithium
  
  BULLET::::- Experimental conditions:
  
  BULLET::::- Room temperature
  
  BULLET::::- Voltage limits:
  
  BULLET::::- Charge: Up to C/1 rate up to 3.6 V, then constant voltage at 3.6 V until I  C/24
  
  BULLET::::- According to the manufacturer BYD the lithium iron phosphate battery of the electric car e6 is charged at a fast charging station to 80% within 15 minutes, and 100% within 40 minutes .
  
  Section::::Uses.
  
  Section::::Uses.:Transportation.
   In 2005, handheld device battery designs by Toshiba were claimed to be able to accept an 80% charge in as little as 60 seconds. Scaling this characteristic up to the same 7 kilowatt-hour EV pack would result in the need for a peak of 340 kilowatts of power from some source for those 60 seconds. It is not clear that such batteries will work directly in BEVs as heat build-up may make them unsafe.
  
  Section::::Specifics.:Charging.:Recharging time.
  
  Electric cars like Tesla Model S, Renault Zoe, BMW i3, etc. can recharge their batteries at quick charging stations within 30 minutes to 80 percent.
   A battery’s ability to store charge is dependent on its energy density and power density. It is important that charge can remain stored and that a maximum amount of charge can be stored within a battery. Cycling and volume expansion are also important considerations as well. While many other types of batteries exist, current battery technology is based on lithium-ion intercalation technology for its high power and energy densities, long cycle life and no memory effects. These characteristics have led lithium-ion batteries to be preferred over other battery types. To improve a battery technology, cycling ability and energy and power density must be maximized and volume expansion must be minimized.
   Timer based chargers also had the drawback that charging batteries that were not fully discharged, even if those batteries were of the correct capacity for the particular timed charger, would result in over-charging.
  
  Section::::Type.:Trickle charger.
   With suitable power supplies, good battery lifespan is usually achieved at rates not exceeding "0.5"C"" or so, taking two to three hours for a full charge, but faster charging can be done.
  
  Charging time is often limited by the capacity of the grid connection. A normal household outlet delivers 1.5 kilowatts (in the US, Canada, Japan, and other countries with 110 volt supply) and 3 kilowatts (in countries with 230 V supply).
   Different battery chemistries require different charging schemes. For example, some battery types can be safely recharged from a constant voltage source. Other types need to be charged with a regulated current source that tapers as the battery reaches fully charged voltage. Charging a battery incorrectly can damage a battery; in extreme cases, batteries can overheat, catch fire, or explosively vent their contents.
  
  Section::::Charging and discharging.:Rate of discharge.
   Most energy production or storage devices have a complex relationship between the power they produce, the load placed on them, and the efficiency of the delivery. A conventional battery, for instance, stores energy in chemical reactions in its electrolytes and plates. These reactions take time to occur, which limits the rate at which the power can be efficiently drawn from the cell. For this reason, large batteries used for power storage generally list two or more capacities, normally the "2 hour" and "20 hour" rates, with the 2 hour rate often being around 50% of the 20 hour rate.
  
raw_presuppositions: Batteries should charge instantly.
raw_corrections: Batteries have to have energy put into them over time. To fast would casue damage.