High Power Charging for EV’s
How to innovate mobility with technologically leading products Electromobility is old hat. Even the very first motorized vehicles had an electric motor. The challenge then as now: How can I get as much energy as possible into the mobile energy stores as quickly as possible? As early as 1881, the Frenchman M. Gustave Trouvé presented his sensational tricycle – 12 kilometers per hour fast and quite similar to a stagecoach. With a range of about 14 kilometers, the vehicle was almost suitable for everyday use, because at that time the competition on the long distance was only the horse. Werner Siemens, Andreas Flocken, Ferdinand Porsche – the list of e-pioneers is long and contains amazing names. Between 1896 and 1939 there were 565 different brands of electric cars worldwide. In New York, the share of electric vehicles was 50 percent in 1901. The rest were steam cars or naphtha, acetylene or compressed air driven vehicles. Even Henry Ford developed a Ford Model T with an electric motor, which, however, did not go into series production. What followed was almost 100 years of electric mobility at a standstill. Electromobility takes off At the beginning of the 21st century, several major automobile groups dared to enter the market with electric models – electric vehicles thus received a new development boost and public attention. A good 10 years ago, the subject of e-mobility really took off when the first vehicles with longer ranges were presented. When Phoenix Contact entered the e-mobility market, the initial focus was on individual components. The first customer-specific connectors with combined signal and power transmission for charging electric vehicles were developed in 2009. As early as 2010, AC charging sockets for Chinese charging station manufacturers were built and delivered in large quantities. In 2011, there were applications with large volumes in the commercial vehicle sector. Electric buses in China used heavy connectors to change large batteries. In the depot, the discharged batteries were automatically replaced with charged ones in order to optimise the utilisation of the buses. To this day, heavy connectors for exchangeable batteries are used in Chinese buses. In the early days, electric cars were mostly charged with alternating current. In order to achieve higher charging capacities and shorter charging times, especially in the public sector, it became necessary to standardise a solution for DC charging. Together with leading automotive manufacturers, Phoenix Contact developed and defined a worldwide charging standard for combined AC and DC charging (later Combined Charging System, CCS). CCS proved to be safe, flexible and practicable and in 2014 became the recognised standard for vehicles and public charging infrastructure in the European and American markets. (picture 3) But the demand for faster charging times also for passenger cars became increasingly louder. The first pre-developments took place at the beginning of 2015. Developer Dirk Moseke from Phoenix Contact E-Mobility has accompanied the further development of the CCS standard almost from the very beginning and here he describes in his own words how the next steps proceeded: “Of course, there were also specifications and standards in development. But there was nothing. And that was only two years ago! So we had to develop it ourselves. What do we have to do to get something completely different out of the already existing CCS standard with the defined mating face? 200 amps were no problem, but now 300 amps and more are required. Today we’re at 500 amps. There would be a yellow sign in a building in front of the access to such currents saying “Access prohibited”. And this is where we have to make the facilities freely accessible, exposed to the weather and possible abuses. The first point was the development of suitable cables. With such currents, there are only two possibilities: larger cable cross-sections or significant heating. However, the cable must not become too thick, otherwise it becomes too heavy and stiff. So we have devoted ourselves to the subject of heat generation. The first task was to determine where the heat actually originated. In fact, it’s the wire itself that gets warm. However, the heat can also come from the vehicle, i.e. from a point that we cannot influence at all. The next thought was to cool with liquids. This means to rinse the copper directly with a heat dissipating medium. We rejected an oil-based solution, because it was far too complicated to handle – and anything but innovative. Research and development working side by side Next, we tried air cooling. To do this, we blew air into tubes containing the hot cables. But the air had to go somewhere and then came out in the connector again. In addition, air does not absorb heat so quickly. Our result: Not practical. So we did some more research on alternative coolants and ended up with the easy-to-handle and environmentally friendly glycol. In addition, we have used heat-conducting paste in the cable. This even worked partially, but was not suitable for series production. In the meantime, we had also discovered that it made sense to make the surface as large as possible. More surface area means better heat dissipation. So we did experiments with a lot of single strands. It partly looked as in a knitting room here, with shrink tubing, cable ties and duct tape. Basic research as it can also be found at any university. Today we have a cable that leads two 25 mm2 copper wires twice – two for plus, two for minus. This ensures that the cable is not too heavy but nice and flexible. We have built a layer into the outer sheath that shows when the cable is worn out or damaged. In addition, the cable must not become hotter than 60 degrees so it can be enclosed – according to the standard. This is monitored by sensors and is coupled with a switch-off device. In addition, communication wires run through the cable, which the connector needs in combination with the column. The next challenge was the connector
e-mobility
NewMotion – 10 years in Charge
Interview with Sytse Zuidema, CEO of NewMotion In the last 10 years the e-mobility market has changed a lot. What were the most important changes for NewMotion in that period? The EV driving experience has improved significantly the past 10 years and so has e-mobility itself. Range anxiety is a thing of the past thanks to the many solutions that have conquered the market. As a pioneer in e-mobility and smart charging, we developed a number of our own innovative solutions and services which convinced clients such as Arval and Daimler to choose us as their preferred EV charging partner. We not only celebrate 10 years in charging, but 10 years in charge. For example, in 2009, the company started developing products and services around electric mobility, which was a largely unknown territory back then – there just wasn’t that many EVs but more importantly, there was nowhere to charge. When the Nissan Leaf came to the market in 2011, we bought a couple of them just to experiment and develop charging solutions. That was at a time when e-mobility was still in its infancy, charge points were hardly available, and visionaries like Elon Musk were not taken seriously. We never stopped believing in the power of e-mobility. Since becoming a member of the Shell group in late 2017, NewMotion has become Europe’s leading provider of smart charging solutions with access to the largest roaming charge network. Just in time for our tenth anniversary, we hit a big milestone: our roaming network now consists of over 100,000 charge points in 28 European countries. What are the benefits for companies that switch to e-mobility? Many companies already use EVs as company cars and are electrifying their fleets. In particular, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) plays a big part in their decision to join the e-mobility movement. When you look at maintenance costs of EVs, you will see that these are likely to be much cheaper: there are fewer number of parts in the engine and powertrain that are more prone to wear and tear in internal combustion engines. Electrifying your fleet is the smart choice in more than one way, especially when you take into account insurance costs, subsidies and tax reductions many European countries offer. Our smart chargers and charge cards give fleet managers additional insights in car usage. Explain your smart charging solution? Smart charging will accelerate the adoption of EVs by continuously improving the charging experience for EV drivers, while making charging infrastructure and fleet management more efficient and cost effective for businesses. Our cloud-connected charging solutions allow businesses to remotely monitor and control charge points and charging sessions. This provides them with full insights into the charging behaviour and charging costs of their EV fleet or at their location. Being cloud connected also enables our charging solutions to get better over time by over the air updates that enable new features and benefits. For instance, our partner Daimler was looking for a solution to help their business customers to electrify their fleet in a smart and efficient way. Together we were able to provide their customers with not only the necessary advice and installation to operate the charge points, but also with our specialised online tools, which include smart EV fleet management services, such as charging access and payment controls, automatic reimbursement of charging costs and international billing and settlement makes the solution easy to operate. This smart charging offer includes access to our public charge network of over 100,000 charge points throughout Europe plus NewMotion’s range of products and services like the Group Charge App and Dynamic Power Sharing to balance the power between multiple charge points. The overall response from the fleet owners and our partner is very positive so we look forward to replicating this in other European countries. Smart charging solutions E-mobility, infrastructure and services should be designed for utmost efficiency and ease of mind. As an innovator in smart charging the company offers several smart solutions to EV drivers, fleet and location managers. Electrifying a fleet provides much sense, especially when you look at the total cost of ownership, as you gain complete cost transparency. From costs per driven kilometer to insights regarding driving behavior and maintenance fees, these insights help fleet managers make informed decisions to save money and to better utilize vehicles and charge in a better way. In addition, services such as automatic reimbursement of charging costs for company car drivers offer extra comfort. This helps both drivers and companies to save time and money while providing the best charging experience. Smart and cloud-connected charge points: Our smart charge points are cloud-connected. This enables companies to have better control and overview of their fleets and usage data. By precisely tracking all journeys and charging sessions, the utilization of vehicles can be planned in a data-based and efficient manner. NewMotion app: The app gives an overview of the whole network of charge points, their location, tariffs and availability. It’s even possible to start and stop the charging process remotely with this app. Group Charge App: EV fleet management becomes simpler thanks to this service. The Group Charge App helps companies and their employees optimize the utilisation of the company’s charge points. It shows the availability of the charge points on site and it also notifies you of when a charge point becomes available or reminds other colleagues to move their fully charged car. Dynamic Power Sharing: Smart charge points are also capable to include our Dynamic Power Sharing product in order to balance the energy needs and supplies. By using this technology, grids do not need to be upgraded as power can be distributed evenly, thus positively affecting overall costs. Charging network and site planning: We advise on how to maximize the utilisation of the charging solutions without the need to invest in an expensive grid connection upgrade. Data from the EV drivers in a managed fleet is collected and analysed for further fleet management optimisation. We future
