Battery integrated EV DCFC
FreeWire Technologies recently had a post that featured the excellent above image that demonstrated how their battery integrated Boost Charger 200 DCFC requires much less equipment than a standard DCFC installation. From their post:
"Fully-integrated chargers package charging infrastructure, grid infrastructure, and energy storage in a flexible, space-efficient design resulting in a 5x smaller footprint than conventional DC chargers with associated power infrastructure. This unique approach allows charging site-hosts to use existing low-power utility service to enable high-power ultrafast charging. As this graphic (above picture) demonstrates, Boost Charger technology is much more than a dispenser- eliminating the need for dedicated power cabinets, additional switchgear, transformers, battery, and inverters!"
The Freewire solution is an all-in-one solution that combines battery storage with DCFC ports. The biggest advantage of this is that a site can feed the charger with 208 or 240V power and not what DCFC typically needs, which is 3 phase 480V power. This means that the site probably wont need a new utility transformer (which now can have lead times approaching 1 year!) and wont have other expensive equipment and installation costs will be reduced.
The Freewire battery has storage capacity of 160 kWh and a max dispensing speed of 200 kW (through the CCS port). My family's 奥迪 etron has a battery capacity of 95 kWh but many cars are less. For an 80 kWh battery a fully charged Freewire can charge about 2 cars (ignoring battery chemistry that may limit charging below a certain % of capacity).
From my understanding, once the battery is depleted the Freewire unit will pass through power at the input power rating of 27 kW...which is about 4 times faster than a standard L2 charger. If the integrated 160 kWh is fully depleted, and it charges at 27 kW, then it takes about 6 hours to fully recharge (assuming nobody uses the charger in that time frame). Of course it doesn't need to be fully charged to dispense faster charging speeds, but this is one of the main drawbacks of a Freewire solution in a situation where the charger may see high utilization. It may not be able to maintain a high enough charge level to deliver fast charging speeds if the utilization is high (or if utilization is high during condensed time frames).
I've spoken with heavy duty truck dealers who like the Freewire unit for letting customer's pilot the fast charging experience (because the units are much easier to setup in a demo setting than a 480V fast charger) and I think that's an excellent use case.
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I'm curious if state programs receiving funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure NEVI will fund solutions like Freewire, because while it can charge above 150 kW I would assume the requirement would be 150 kW at any time of the day and not only while the battery is charged? Would love to hear some more thoughts on this.
In addition to Freewire, here are some other companies in the EV charging energy storage space:
Other mentions in same or related spaces
Energy, e-Mobility & Smart Grids | Strategy & Innovation | PhD ETH & Executive MBA HSG candidate
2 年I think this is a great “transition” technology, while EV diffusion is still low.
Technical Market Development -Global Nanomaterials(Niobium)| Market Growth-Innovation-Strategy | Entrepreneurship |Battery Materials - Mine to Battery Value Chain | Critical Minerals | TUDELFT| AI & Automation 4.0
2 年At CBMM we are working on ultra fats charging battery technology using Niobium oxide anode technology. May be this technology could help in charging the batteries fast within 6-10 min . Rogério Ribas Pablo Salazar Merino
Combining Modern Sales Skills with Technology...
2 年Thank you for the continuing education...
Operations Engineering Manager, Celestica
2 年big difference
President at Mobile Clean Energy, LLC / Architect Conservator at large
2 年Chris Kaiser Amol Phadke to my mind this is at best a bridge technology. But not viable when EVs become dominant. At worst it is bait and switch for drivers. They are not marketing it as a bridge and it is not priced to be replaced in a couple of years nor I expect is it designed to be economically upgraded or recycled. There may be a market for commercial venders who have a single truck and inadequate grid connection. As for the systems that are being mocked…. They can work for an upgradeable number of “pumps” and be incrementally upgraded for higher energy demand as EV usage increases. I’m still waiting to see charging hubs that care about the driver. The amenities are typically less than for drivers of fossils. Even the “New “ Tesla Pods expect the driver to get soaked while connecting the charging cable and then walking to the pod. Fossils fueling must be open air EVs like it best inside. Most EV drivers are used to their closed garage. Who is dragging their feet? The Market will eventually reward those who treat their customers best.