The Future of Fast Charging

In barely a decade since Tesla started installing Superchargers it is becoming an industry in its own right. Last year I tested investing in EV charging ventures but soon realized this was mostly a commodity market. Today I discovered that industry giants like ABB have entered the market.

There is a lot to learn about the challenges and solutions of EV charging from the linked uTube video. Munro Live is a great source.

The Future of Fast Charging? EVBox and ABB at CES 2023

Mike Oakes makes his Munro Live debut to learn about EVBox’s new offerings, while Sandy heads to ABB to discuss their plans for the future of home, public, and fleet charging.

About ABB

ABB is a technology leader in electrification and automation, enabling a more sustainable and resource-efficient future. The company’s solutions connect engineering know-how and software to optimize how things are manufactured, moved, powered and operated. Building on more than 130 years of excellence, ABB’s 105,000 employees are committed to driving innovations that accelerate industrial transformation.

EVBox Our story

Since 2010, our electric vehicle charging solutions have helped thousands of forward-thinking businesses around the world adopt electric mobility and achieve their goals. By 2025, our customers and partners will have helped us install one million charging ports to make transport cleaner and more accessible.

The Captain

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This should make @OrmontUS happy :wink:

'38Packard

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OrmontUS likes being happy :slight_smile:

Jeff
(Off to “the races” today)

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First post since new boards. Very long time member that mainly lurks.
A standardized plug in battery that can be swapped out for a charged one judt like all the other battery tools seems the best way. They could be charged at the best time for the grid, no waiting and can be delivered to any location and charged elsewhere.

The battery swap idea is not as realistic as it seems at first glance, IMO.

The batteries in a long range EV are enormous, i.e. the Model 3 long range model has a 1060 lb battery. Now imagine a facility that can handle the kind of volume that a decent size gas-station does: storage, moving, replacement of a 1,000 lb battery is no trivial task.

The batteries in EVs are designed to fit the specific size, shape, requirements of a given EV, so in addition to storage and handling of a 1,000 lb battery, now imagine having to do that with 50 different types of battery?

Tesla is moving to make their batteries part of the structure of the car to decrease total weight and increase structural rigidity, further complicating replacement. Engineering every EV for rapid swap of batteries would impose a toll on efficiency and utility of all EVs.

Meanwhile electricity is fungible and it’s easy put a couple of different plugs onto a charging station and accommodate recharging all cars. As charging rates move to 150 kw and above (Tesla Superchargers hitting 250 kw now) the time required to recharge for virtually any requirement is becoming a non-issue or at most a minor nuisance for the vast majority of drivers going forward with new design EVs.

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It’s also been tried. And failed. Look up Better Place.

Maybe someone else will invest a massive amount of $$$ and try again?

Almost all the superchargers around here have been upgraded to 250kW last summer.