CHARGER COOLING
intentional or accidental. “Maintenance is a
big issue because charging cables have to be
replaced regularly,” says Koblitz. “The
standard lifespan for a charging cable is
10,000 lifecycles – they are designed for this
but are subjected to vandalism or are damaged
when run over if left on the ground. We have to
ensure cables can be replaced, roughly every one
to two years, but I know other providers replace
cables every one to two months because that is the
only way to guarantee the level of reliability. So instead
of waiting for a problem, they will categorically change all
the cables on a strict schedule.”
Koblitz admits cost is an issue and estimates that the
cables required for fast-chargers being in the region of four
to fi ve times more expensive than standard items. “It’s a
new technology and there was a lot of engineering involved
to bring the solution to the market,” she reasons. “We don’t
have high volumes at the moment, either. Ionity has around
160 sites live and with four to six outlets on each site, which
is under a thousand cables. There are more from other
providers, but it still isn’t a huge volume.”
Supply side solutions
Fiber optic cabling company Huber+Suhner got involved in
high capacity charger cabling for EVs around fi ve years ago
when German OEMs got in contact, asking about the
charging infrastructure. “We started to think about
possibilities of how to reduce the cable’s diameter size
because 350-500kW charging units require a large copper
diameter,” explains Max Göldi, market manager industry,
low frequency division at Huber+Suhner.
“We needed a diff erent solution to standard copper cable
because for high-power charging, it wouldn’t be di cult
for the average customer. The target from the OEM was
www.electrichybridvehicletechnology.com // January 2020 // 111
COMMERCIAL SUCCESS
The widespread adoption of batterypowered
electric vehicles has been
successful in the passenger car
market, but in the commercial
vehicle sector it’s a different story.
But manufacturers such as MAN,
Renault Trucks and Mercedes-Benz
have introduced electric trucks in
limited numbers – often as part of
trials – and work on faster charging
technologies is ongoing.
“In the future, I don’t expect huge
developments with cables but there will
be with HGVs,” predicts Suzanne Koblitz.
“It’s clear that the charging power of 1MW
or more, which is required by commercial
vehicles, could not work with the existing
connections from a reliability or safety point of view.
“Vehicles in the 26 to 40-ton range will need an
independent system with a larger connector – that
is very clear,” she adds. “The conceptual discussion
is how we manage to get an integrated system that
covers the entire spectrum from 3.5-tons to 44+
tons. I’m a big fan of finding a solution where the
intermediate vehicles are; find the possibility to
go to a charging station that are also designed for
passenger cars. But all of that is being discussed
at the moment, but it’s not clear in what direction
it is going.”
Max Göldi says that Huber+Suhner is also working
on solutions for truck and bus, where the handling
issues play a big role. “There is a working group
for trucks and buses trying to define a charging
interface and it is looking at loads of between 1,000
and 3,000MW, which is huge,” he reveals. “Even
500kW is new territory for everyone in terms of
vehicle charging. But with 2,000MW, safety is
paramount as is the need to keep the cables the
smallest possible diameter to make it easy to
handle,” he adds. “Automation will be possible in
the future, but today it’s important for human beings
to physically charge the vehicles.”
“The challenge for us is
keeping the copper cable and
the surface temperature of
the outside cool enough for
people to comfortably use”
Dr Suzanne Koblitz, head of charging technology, Ionity
2
1. The Porsche Taycan is
the fi rst production
vehicle to use an 800V
system, instead of 400V,
meaning faster charging,
lighter cables, less heat
and more effi ciency
2. Ionity’s 350kW high
powered charging has
had to solve the issue of
heat generation by using
coolant and special
connector designs
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