Improving EV charging infrastructure

Norwegian start-up Zaptec approached ITT Cannon to help bring its ZapCharger SMART to market. Zaptec needed an electrical socket that would seamlessly integrate into a unique new form, as well as a new sealing concept to protect electrical components from the elements, despite its unorthodox shape. Zaptec wanted to engineer a charger that, for the first time, moved all the complex electrical infrastructure (including safety functions, fuses, energy measurement and computing components) inside the charging box. This way all a customer would need is the box itself and a cable to charge up their car.

Zaptec also wanted this charger to be smaller, to improve on existing industry standards, and to look good. A key challenge was finding a socket small enough to work with the design requirements. Zaptec turned to ITT Cannon to solve three problems - engineering a new socket, creating a new sealing concept and offering an increased power specification range for the charging station.

One of the most vital elements of the ZapCharger SMART was its simple design that broke from the industry mould. This would have been impossible without a new socket.

The ITT Cannon team performed rapid prototyping, developing new tools and qualifications and providing consistent technical support through each step of the process. The team’s engineering resulted in a new generation of socket - one featuring a protruded port area and a zigzag base - enabling a perfect ‘angled’ fit into the new casing. Like a glove.

The charger’s interface has a universal standard, it has a modern, light look, and it is powerful. The charger has raised specifications from the industry standard of 2.3 kW to 22kW and from 230/10A to 400V/32A. The station also contains technology that allows it to sense and prevent conflicts with the power grid, overcharging and circuit damage.

Zaptec Program Manager Jonas Helmikstol commented: “The ITT Cannon team went above and beyond for us. Their focus on quality and precision in the face of challenges and changes during the evolving creative design process was invaluable. They were detail oriented, had a fool-proof documentation process to track changes, and were always, always solution focused when presented with hard problems. Simply put, we could not have come up with this solution without ITT. They took pride in their work and truly cared about the customer – we really had an amazing journey.”