What you need to know about ev charging solutions is explained in our series “All about electric car charging”. In the fourth and last part we explain how a high power charger works.

Full speed ahead: With these solutions you can charge particularly quickly

With a peak output of up to 350 kilowatts, High Power Chargers (HPC for short) are currently the top charging stations. They are being installed more and more on the motorways in Germany and Europe, and some of them are even already in some city centers.

Numerous media reports have focused primarily on the negative examples: Yes, if you don’t pay attention and inform yourself in advance, you sometimes pay significantly more for the charging current than at home. 

There is also no price notice at the public charging stations. Finally, the prices called up also differ depending on the charging customer card used.

The Concept behind ev charging solutions

The ev charging solutions operates one of the largest HPC networks. Behind this concept are the car manufacturers Audi, BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Volkswagen.

The consortium is to set up a nationwide network of HPCs in the next few years in order to enable Europe-wide travel with electric cars. The model for this is the Tesla Supercharger.

This is how an HPC charging station Operates

Most HPC charging parks are equipped with several charging stations. These serve as an interface between the vehicles, the charging point and also as a user interface for billing and activating the charging process.

 Somewhat apart, housed in separate control cabinets, there is a DC converter and a rectifier for each charging point. These connect to the mains transformer, which supplies the entire site with electricity. In a few charging parks with a low connected load, additional buffer batteries can be installed.

The Charging Capacity of ev charging solutions Offer

The mains transformer connects to the medium-voltage network and reduces the mains voltage (10 to 30 kV, i.e. 10,000 to 30,000 volts) to the low voltage (400 V to 1 kV or 1,000 volts).

At ev charging solutions parks, each charging point has a separate rectifier that converts the alternating or three-phase current of the low-voltage network into direct current, i.e. rectifies it.

Tesla has solved it in a similar way, at least with the older superchargers of generation V1 and V2. Here, too, two charging points share a rectifier, which is why the power is divided when charging two vehicles parked next to each other.

For this reason, one can regularly observe that Tesla drivers always leave a parking space distance to the next charging vehicle on the Supercharger.

Additional module: the backup battery

The connected load of the mains transformer is decisive for the maximum number of HPC charging points in a charging park. In some areas the necessary services cannot provide here or an expansion would be disproportionately expensive.

Even in smaller or less frequented locations, it makes little sense to set up a high-performance and cost-intensive ev charging solutions network connection.

In this case, backup batteries can significantly reduce the network load.

If an electric car comes by, the energy for charging the electric vehicle takes from the buffer battery. The buffer battery must of course be considerably larger than that of the electric car so that it can provide the necessary power and energy, ideally for several charging processes in a row.

This solution is of course unsuitable for busy charging locations, because there must always be enough time for the buffer battery to be recharged in between.

E-cars are expensive

It is an understandable objection, because just a few years ago e-cars were indeed always very expensive. In the meantime, however, a market with offers for every need is developing. Larger and smaller vehicles for different areas of application are available.

Generally, you need to seek ev charging solutions. Nonetheless: Without government funding, e-cars are currently even more expensive to buy than combustion engines. It is primarily the battery that has been driving the price of e-cars up to now. But the prices for battery cells are falling rapidly and ever further.

There are also many other cost advantages:

Manufacturers and the state are jointly promoting e-cars with a purchase premium of up to 6,000 EUR. It grants when buying new e-cars.

• Charging with the employer does not have to tax as a pecuniary benefit.
• Elimination of vehicle tax over a period of 10 years: These savings also add up over time.
• Lower maintenance costs, because numerous wearing parts such as a gearbox do not exist in an electric car.

An e-car has to spend far too much time at charging stations

Most charging takes place at home or at work. E-car drivers, who mainly commute and charge conveniently and cheaply in their own garage, even save time – because there is no occasional visit to the petrol station. 

Charging with the employer is even more attractive. If the electricity is available, it currently does not even have to be taxed as a monetary benefit.

If you still have to or want to charge while on the move, you will find that charging processes can often be linked to other tasks. Do you have something to do in town?

How to find an ev charging station?

 Choose an ev charging solutions or a multi-storey car park with a charging station and recharge at the same time. The same applies to buyers, administrative procedures and other errands. Often the loading just happens on the side.

When driving long distances on the autobahn, e-car drivers benefit from a rapidly growing high-speed charging network. Municipal utilities, electricity companies and also the car manufacturers are already providing a sufficient number of fast charging stations along the highways.

 This infrastructure enables a range of hundreds of kilometers to be recharged in a very short time.

And the elimination of numerous mechanical components – the compact electric drive makes it possible – sometimes creates additional space in the interior that can be used sensibly by the manufacturers. Many an electric car, especially from the upper middle class, becomes a real space miracle.

Summary ev charging solutions

A high power charger is more than just a charging station. In the background, expensive and complex technology supplies the charging stations with a maximum of 350 kW, with which electric cars can theoretically be charged. Theoretically, so far there is (still) no electric car that can handle such high charging capacities.