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NEWS
Volvo working on EV fast-charge unit
Rapid-charging cut to as little as 90 minutes as auto makers develop batteries to match combustion enginesVolvo has announced it’s preparing trials of a new EV fast charger capable of cutting recharge times down to 90 minutes. The company says this represents a sixfold gain on existing on-board rapid-charge devices.
The company is installing the new charger in a fleet of Volvo C30 Electrics (pictured). The 22kW three-phase system is the first of its kind that’s compact enough to fit on-board, even in a small vehicle. It gives drivers the opportunity to take advantage of 440V, 32A three-phase outlets where they’re available, allowing a flat-to-full charge in 90 minutes or an 80km top-up in about half an hour. Where there’s no such outlet, it makes do with a standard single-phase domestic outlet (220V in Europe, 240V in Australia), taking the normal 8-10 hours, depending on the available voltage.
While the auto and electronics industries work on battery technologies that match consumer expectations of range and power set by a century of combustion engines, rapid charging systems provide a valuable up-front means of quelling the range anxiety blamed for slow EV sales around the world.
“We know that short recharging times and extensive operating range are a necessity for potential electric car consumers,” Lennart Stegland, Volvo’s VP of electric propulsion systems, said in a statement. Rapid-charge systems help cure range anxiety, he continued. “The user can ‘top up’ the battery pack with electricity one or more times during the day. This means that the total daily range is significantly extended, yet with the same low operating cost compared to a car with a conventional powertrain.”
“Giving customers more usable hours each day means that electric cars become more viable as a commercial proposition, in both the private and public sectors.”
Volvo has made the announcement on the heels of California EV specialist Tesla, which has begun rolling out its Supercharger network of fast-charge stations along interstate highways, allowing drivers to make cross-country trips with what it says is minimal incursion into travel time.
In practical terms, fast-charge networks are still the stuff of futurespeak, with outlets still thin on the ground. In January 2012, for example, Estonia started work on rolling out the largest such single-nation network in Europe – comprising 200 units.
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Written byJeremy Bass
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