Ultra-fast EV charger for longer journeys

9th December 2015

Joe Bush

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A new ultra-fast charger for electric vehicles has been introduced by Delta Electronics. The system has the capability of charging as many as four vehicles simultaneously. It complies with CCS-200A, CHAdeMO-125A, as well as Typ2-63A, and is therefore open to all electric vehicles.

It provides output power of up to 120kW DC and up to 65kW AC, significantly improving charge times. And, for optimising the cost of the necessary infrastructure to power all coming electric vehicles with larger batteries, the ultra-fast charger is equipped with a dynamic power split function.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming increasingly popular, not only in the city segment but also in the premium segment. Several OEMs like Aston Martin, Porsche, Audi and BMW have announced the development of vehicles with significantly larger battery capacity, coming to the market within the next couple of years. These premium vehicles are to have ranges of 400-600km and are all fast charge enabled.

Today’s premium EVs already have battery capacities of 80kWh with outlook to grow to 120kWh. Also, medium-sized EVs’ batteries are increasing capacity - from approximately 20kWh to 40kWh, enabling them to reach ranges of over 200km. Combined with dropping prices, the improved drive range is the main reason for the growing success of EVs worldwide.

The global transition towards electric vehicles is a fact. In some countries, like Norway, the market share already exceeds 20%.The typical low power AC charging of the EVs is a good option during the comparatively long hours of parking at home during the night or at work. Long driving distances, however, would require DC fast charging, as the Tesla-supercharger network already demonstrates. Unfortunately the Tesla system is not compatible with all other EV models. Therefore, it is crucial to establish a worldwide available system which allows all EV models to recharge at rapid speed - significantly faster than what is possible with today’s CCS or CHAdeMO standard chargers, which are typically limited to an output of 50kW or less.

Prototyping and industrialisation of the ultra-fast charger have been successfully completed and the first charging stations are currently being made available to the local users in Norway and other European countries.