Comments on: Greatly Improved EV Charger Design Developed, Faster & Cheaper Charging http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/02/ev-charger-design-breakthrough-faster-and-cheaper-charging/ Clean Tech News & Views: Solar Energy News. Wind Energy News. EV News. & More. Sun, 28 Dec 2014 21:40:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.1 By: Omega Centauri http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/02/ev-charger-design-breakthrough-faster-and-cheaper-charging/#comment-229096 Mon, 26 May 2014 15:29:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=51265#comment-229096 I’m pretty certain its limited to only a couple of minutes. I have some biggish downhills on my commute, and it is challenging to avoid the car going into engine-braking mode before the bottom (even including putting the AC on full blast to absorb some of the energy). I suspect the BMS monitors battery temp, and throttles regenerative rates once it reaches a certain value. Nevertheless the sustainable rate is probaly at least several KW.

]]> By: Ronald Brakels http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/02/ev-charger-design-breakthrough-faster-and-cheaper-charging/#comment-229093 Mon, 26 May 2014 15:05:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=51265#comment-229093 Apparently the batteries on a Prius can accept over 20 kilowatts when using regenerative braking. However, this may be limited to short periods and I don’t know if the batteries could be charged normally at that rate.

]]> By: Omega Centauri http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/02/ev-charger-design-breakthrough-faster-and-cheaper-charging/#comment-229085 Mon, 26 May 2014 14:09:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=51265#comment-229085 The pblic fast charger is limited by the vehicles onboard charging system. So without adding cost the max charge rate will be limted. I think this mechanism is proposed to try to bypass that limitation. The home charger would still be limited by the homes wiring, but presumably the public charger would be able to take full advantage of the new pathway.

I have noticed my plug in Prius can gain charge a lot faster downhill with regenerative braking, then it gets from the charger. I suspect a “fast-charge” could be contrived by pulling the vehicle and using regenerative braking (which would be ridiculous and probably dangerous). I think this method is similar to using the regenerative capability rather than a dedicated charger circuit.

]]> By: Zachary Shahan http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/02/ev-charger-design-breakthrough-faster-and-cheaper-charging/#comment-160219 Fri, 03 May 2013 14:13:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=51265#comment-160219 pure curiosity: weren’t you previously commenting (several months back) under the name Anne? I’m assuming you’re name is Arne, but I’m guessing you’re the same commenter, and just wanted to check.

]]> By: Zachary Shahan http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/02/ev-charger-design-breakthrough-faster-and-cheaper-charging/#comment-160218 Fri, 03 May 2013 14:12:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=51265#comment-160218 i assume 100km roundtrip is much more than the avg person & many people wouldn’t need the faster charger. but nonetheless, the point that many people would prefer to have it (and are in a similar situation to you) is a good point worth remembering.

]]> By: Zachary Shahan http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/02/ev-charger-design-breakthrough-faster-and-cheaper-charging/#comment-160216 Fri, 03 May 2013 14:11:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=51265#comment-160216 we didn’t write otherwise, did we?

in any case, i added that in right at the top of the post (1st para). :D

curiosity: do they tend to just be bilingual, or actually trilingual?

]]> By: arne-nl http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/02/ev-charger-design-breakthrough-faster-and-cheaper-charging/#comment-160186 Fri, 03 May 2013 11:09:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=51265#comment-160186 dwj, Ronald,

I have been contemplating on getting a Renault ZOE. It has a charger that can accept 3 phase up to 43 kW. You can choose different home chargers from 1×16 A up to 3x16A.

Weighing the options, the 3x16A seems pretty compelling. It would make it a lot easier for me to use the car in the evening, after work. If I get home at 17:00 on a near empty battery (it’s a 100 km roundtrip, no charging at work), I can plug it in and have a full battery at 19:00 and go wherever I want without having to hang around a fast charger doing nothing. And with the Renault rental battery, each fast charge costs extra.

So I think most people will definitely want more than 1x16A charging at home.

]]> By: dwj http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/02/ev-charger-design-breakthrough-faster-and-cheaper-charging/#comment-160144 Fri, 03 May 2013 00:23:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=51265#comment-160144 Domestic electricity supplies and local distribution systems are not capable of providing the power necessary for this type of fast charging. To charge a 20 kWh battery in 10 minutes you would need a 400 amp supply (for 80% charge). As Ronald B suggests, an overnight charge using a 15 amp circuit is well matched to domestic use.

]]> By: Ronald Brakels http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/02/ev-charger-design-breakthrough-faster-and-cheaper-charging/#comment-160134 Thu, 02 May 2013 22:32:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=51265#comment-160134 A faster charger would be nice, but most people in Europe, Australia, etc. will do just fine without any dedicated charger at all. Provided the car is built for European current, an overnight charge from a normal power socket is all most people will need. If they are driving out of town then they can go to a public fast charger.

]]> By: arne-nl http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/02/ev-charger-design-breakthrough-faster-and-cheaper-charging/#comment-160110 Thu, 02 May 2013 17:45:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=51265#comment-160110 AC propulsion also used a charger design that, as I understood it, incorporated a winding of the electric motor in the dc-dc converter that a charger mostly is. It seems Tesla have used this technology.

The solution described here seems to use the motor as a simple ac-ac transformer. But in case that is not entirely clear from the text, the ‘rotating’ transformer is litterally the motor rotating during charging (at first I thought the ‘rotating’ had something to do with the rotation of 3 phase ac). That’s why there is a clutch between the motor and drive train.

That extra clutch adds cost and another (fallible) mechanical component. So while it may be true that currently this will shave $ 2,000 off the cost of the charger, once EV’s are mass produced in the 100,000’s, the cost of the charger may have dropped by more than that already.

]]> By: James Wimberley http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/02/ev-charger-design-breakthrough-faster-and-cheaper-charging/#comment-160101 Thu, 02 May 2013 16:46:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=51265#comment-160101 For the record, Chalmers is in Sweden. Swedish researchers are bilingual.

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