Automotive

World’s fastest EV charger gives drivers 120 miles in 8 minutes

World’s fastest EV charger gives drivers 120 miles in 8 minutes
Swiss company ABB has released a DC fast charger capable of recharging an EV nearly three times faster than Tesla's Supercharger... if only there was a car that could handle that kind of electron flow
Swiss company ABB has released a DC fast charger capable of recharging an EV nearly three times faster than Tesla's Supercharger... if only there was a car that could handle that kind of electron flow
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Swiss company ABB has released a DC fast charger capable of recharging an EV nearly three times faster than Tesla's Supercharger... if only there was a car that could handle that kind of electron flow
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Swiss company ABB has released a DC fast charger capable of recharging an EV nearly three times faster than Tesla's Supercharger... if only there was a car that could handle that kind of electron flow

Swiss company ABB has launched its Terra High Power DC fast charger, which can put out an impressive 350 kilowatts, charging at nearly three times the rate of Tesla's Superchargers. It'll enable super fast car charging – but only once cars are ready to handle it.

The fast charger could shift electrons in the battery so fast that an average electric car would be able to gain 120 miles (200 km) of range in just 8 minutes. In order for electric cars to be fully accepted as long-range touring vehicles, they'll need these kinds of crazy charge rates and more, considering that fossil fuel-powered cars can be filled up in a matter of a few minutes. Mind you, when you're not doing long distances, EVs can be charged slowly at home for a tiny fraction of what a tank of fuel would cost you.

Current charging infrastructure is far slower. A CHAdeMO can deliver up to 62.5 kW, the J1772 level 2 spec allows up to 19.2 kW charging, and the current Tesla Supercharger will pump power into a Model S at 120 kW. So the leap to 350 kW is a pretty huge jump.

Unfortunately, there's currently nothing on the market that can handle that kind of power, with many cars limited to 50 kW charging to preserve battery life. The 2018 Nissan Leaf can take a maximum of 100 kW, and while Tesla's Model 3 is rumored to be capable of charging at somewhere between 184 and 210 kW, it's currently limited to around 100.

Mind you, Elon Musk doesn't seem to be impressed by a 350-kW charger. When questioned in 2016 on whether Tesla's Supercharger V3 would pack that kind of power, he tweeted "A mere 350 kW … what are you referring to, a children's toy?"

Recharging a battery at hyper-quick rates is no joke from a technical point of view. As "Electric" Terry Hershner explains concisely in our recent interview, "Filling up a lithium battery is a lot like filling an empty milk jug with a pressure washer. If it's completely empty, you can squeeze that trigger and just blast it in there. But almost right away, you've gotta start backing off the pressure or the water will start foaming out – and that's where you can get actual physical damage to the battery."

The ability to accept ultra-fast charging is just another criterion on the list for battery developers to satisfy, alongside energy density, thermal stability, charge cycle life and many others. Indeed, charging batteries this fast can be just as deleterious to battery life as massive power output rates.

So, ABB's Terra High Power fast charge units will only get to approach their full charging capability when multiple cars are plugged in at once – for the moment.

Source: ABB

10 comments
10 comments
guzmanchinky
A car that charges in the same time as a fuel fill up. That will change the world.
DaveWesely
All you need is a system for swapping batteries. Quick, hopefully easy, and then you don't have a ginormous battery pack to lug around town. Just add battery for road trips.
Problem solved.
Derek Howe
DaveWesely - Battery swaps are a terrible idea, people have tried it, and went bankrupt, because it's dumb. Do you want to buy a brand new $100,000 car with a shiny new battery, then swap it out with a 10 year old degraded battery at a battery swap station...
S Michael
All EV automaker must achieve 500+miles per charge, then and only then will the public buy them.
christopher
The world will change when we've burned the last drop of oil we can squeeze out of it, and not a moment sooner.
Tom Lee Mullins
120 miles on 8 minute charge? that sounds cool. It needs more range to be competitive with gas powered cars. If gas powered cars only went 120 miles every time they filled up, there would be a lot more gas stations and lines to get gas.
I think a fuel cell electric vehicle is more practical than a battery only electric vehicle. the fuel cell would extend the range of the vehicle, be quicker to refuel and give extra power when needed. there are 'green' ways to make hydrogen and fuel cells have a lot of advancements made to them over the years plus the storage of hydrogen has improved too.
ljaques
I'm with the battery swap idea, too, but range will have to be dealt with and old batteries rebuilt or recycled instantly as problems appear. (Tow trucks likely won't be carrying spare battery packs.) Charging and discharging batteries causes heat. Running a battery down to nothing, zapping a fast charge into it and running it again down to nothing will cost you life cycles. Letting a battery slowly (and coolly) recharge overnight is a lot easier on them.
Until then, though, the public needs to get over the concept that they need a 1,000 mile battery when 90% of them only drive 8 miles a day/12 on weekends. I am one of those, and would need a car which had a 500 mile range only once a year, on my vacation. Range Anxiety is a totally unfounded fear for most people. That fear is the only thing keeping people from buying an EV. (Well, that and price.)
Kpar
" It'll enable super fast car charging – but only once cars are ready to handle it."
Reality check- once the electrical infrastructure can handle it, too.
Not many people have enough service (200 amp is code today) to support such a charger.
John91
Efacec, a portuguese company, has already done it over a year ago, meaning they it first.
http://electricmobility.efacec.com/ev-high-power/ http://electricmobility.efacec.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CS332I1606F1_HV.pdf
rtxln
The equvivalent of a fuel filling speed is about 2 MW. So the new 350 KW chargers are about 1/6 to this goal. I guess we will start seeing the first 1 MW chargers in a few years, and soon noone will even remember that we used gasoline for our veichles ever.