INDUSTRY FOCUS Automotive Supply Chain
Building high-
performance fast electric vehicle chargers
Paul Hooper, Sales & Marketing Director at Display Technology, discusses power, displays and embedded systems as crucial parts in building a high-performance fast EV charger
W
e are truly at the beginning of the electric car age. With countries around the world introducing mandates to
cut the number of diesel and petrol cars – including the UK with the government’s scheduled ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in 2030. In the UK, there are now 245,000 pure electric cars on the roads, along with 515,000 plug-in hybrids. And, as EVs get more aff ordable and as charging networks grow, this rapid market growth is only going to get faster. Deloitte forecasts that over 25.3 million pure electric vehicles will be sold by 2030. With the rise in EV use, there will be
greater strains on the countries’ charging networks, and private businesses are perfectly placed to capitalise on the growing demand for public EV chargers.
Power The fi rst hurdle system designers will have to overcome when developing and deploying public EV chargers is the huge power requirement. Whilst bundled at-home chargers can plug straight into domestic mains to trickle charge EVs overnight, for electric vehicles to be a viable alternative to convenient fuel-powered cars, chargers will have to provide a lot of power to charge car batteries quickly. There are three main types of EV charging stations: AC Level 1, AC Level 2 and DC fast
34 October 2021 | Automation
charging. AC Level 1 chargers provide 120V charging to deliver up to 1.9kW of output power. This can also be known as a trickle or opportunity charger. These are usually the line-cord chargers that are sold with plug-in electric cars and are not commonly deployed for public use. Businesses like motels and parking lots where cars stay overnight, L1 chargers may be viable. For L1 stations, MORNSUN recommends their LD05-R2 series of power modules, allowing for compact and reliable EV chargers. AC Level 2 chargers provide 240V
charging to deliver anywhere from 3kW to 19kW. This translates to around 18-28 miles of range per hour of charging. This means for L2 charging stations, it takes an average of eight hours to charge an EV. To power L2 chargers, MORNSUN recommends the LS10 series of effi cient AC-DC converters. Alternatives include ARTESYN’s LCM3000 series, off ering 3kW of output power alongside simple fi rmware options for battery charging applications. L2 chargers are the most prevalent type of station currently – but they do very little to advance the rollout of electric cars. This is because for many consumers, waiting eight hours for their car to charge up is simply too long compared to the fi ve minutes it takes to fi ll up a petrol or diesel tank. That’s where the next level of charger comes in. Colloquially known as a sort of “level 3” of charging stations, Direct Current Fast Chargers (DCFCs) are designed to fi ll an EV
battery to 90% in as low as 20 minutes. These are the types of chargers that are removing barriers to entry for EV consumers and are hugely popular, but also are infi nitely more expensive to run and maintain. These charging stations can be designed to deliver up to 350kW of power. Due to the astronomical power draw, DCFCs are only viable for high volume commercial or industrial locations like busy petrol stations adjacent to major motorways. In the US, DCFCs are the only way interstate road trips are possible and positioning of DCFCs along key routes in Europe can have a big impact on European EV market penetration.
Other power supply solutions for EV
chargers include the ARTESYN iHP – whose intuitive digital control allows for seamless management of large DCFC fl eets.
Displays
When designing charging stations, you need to take into account users love to interact visually with the devices they operate. Whilst it is possible for EV drivers to interact with their charging stations through a mixture of LED light indicators and physical buttons – for the best control and user experience, display monitors are a must for sophisticated high-tech charging stations. Drivers want to know their charging
progress: if their car has been plugged in correctly and how long the charge will take. A display is the most versatile I/O
automationmagazine.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50
