BMW and Porsche have joined hands in creating what they call an "ultra-fast" charging station. The pioneering station, with charging capacity of up to 450kW, has been installed in Bavaria, and it can juice up a battery with a 62-mile charge in less than 3 minutes, or a full charge in 15 minutes. This is approaching the time needed for a conventional fossil fuel stop at the side of the Autobahn, as 450kW is between three and nine times the capacity currently available at DC charging stations.
BMW says that the charge controller is automatically adapted for different electric cars, so that they can be charged using the same infrastructure; it is suitable for vehicles with 400V and 800V battery systems. The 450kW ultra-fast charger is complemented by a second charger good for as much as 175 kW. A Porsche test vehicle with a 90 kWh battery charged at the station at a rate of more than 400kW. As for a BMW i3 test vehicle, the 57kWh battery reached a charge of 80 percent in just 15 minutes.
The FastCharge station in Jettingen-Scheppach, Germany, is currently in use free of charge (pun barely intended), and it is also suitable for Type 2 CCS charging. As well as BMW and Porsche, the industry consortium running the project consists of Allego, Phoenix Contact E-Mobility and Siemens. The station has been set up with testing and monitoring in mind, but it paves the way to more widespread ultra-fast charging as reliability is ensured.
A number of measures have been taken into account, including proper cooling of the charging line. Even special wall ducts were developed to prevent the line from becoming kinked and restricting coolant flow.
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