Electrify America Introduces Balanced Charging; New Naming Scheme

Electrify America Introduces Balanced Charging; New Naming Scheme

#EV #ElectricVehicle #EVPedia #InsideEVs

Electrify America today announced its next-generation DC fast charger design, as well as new nomenclature for its different levels of charging speeds. The new chargers have a single connector with a much longer cable. The new cables are 18 feet long and designed to reach either side of the vehicle, eliminating the need for the second cable on each charger.  The company had previously referred to its network as "ultra-high-speed" charging. In fact, as far as we can tell, Electrify America was the first company to use that term. Ultra-high-speed charging is now used commonly throughout the industry, however, different companies use it in different ways, and some infrastructure companies even call 50 kW DC fast charging ultra-high-speed.  So now Electrify America is once again trying to lead with regards to naming rights and has added another term, "Hyper Fast", to help customers understand charging speeds. Under the new nomenclature, ultra-fast will be used for chargers that can deliver up to 150 kW, and its stations that can deliver up to 350 kW will be labeled hyper-fast.   The new labels will be placed on all Electrify America chargers They will also incorporate lightning bolts on the naming plaques; one lightning bolt is for the 50 kW CHAdeMO stations, two lightning bolts for the 150 kW ultra-fast stations and three lightning bolts will be on the hyper-fast 350 kW units.  But perhaps the biggest news is that for the first time, the network is introducing power-sharing chargers. I remember when Electrify America first introduced its network, one of the things that its CEO, Giovanni Palazzo, told me that he was proud of was that all of the charging stations can deliver maximum power regardless of how many other EVs were charging at the site because there was no power sharing between units.  Electrify America's next-generation chargers feature:  A recessed and brighter HMI (human-machine interface) screen to help reduce the glare from sunlight making it easier for customers to view the operational instructions and charging progress  A single connector cable with an all-new cable management system to ease the effort to plug in the cable no matter where the charging port resides on a customer's EV  A reduced footprint of both the charger and power cabinets should allow easier installation of more equipment in space-constrained, urban locations  However now, the chargers will utilize Electrify America's new "balanced" charging technology. The balanced chargers will be a set of two side-by-side units that share a total of 350 kW. You'll always be guaranteed a minimum of 150 kW - Rob Barrosa, Senior Director of Sales, Business Development and Marketing on how the new balanced charging stations will work I spoke to Electrify America's Senior Director of Sales, Business Development and Marketing, Rob Barrosa about this new balanced power technology and Barrosa wanted to first point out that each vehicle charging from a balanced charger pair will be guaranteed a minimum of 150 kW.  The way it will work is when two vehicles are sharing a balanced pair of chargers, there is 350 kW of potential power available so if one vehicle is charging at 150 kW, the second vehicle has 200 kW available. As the first vehicle's state of charge increases and ramps down its power intake, more power is available for the second vehicle. The chargers utilizing the new balanced power will be labeled as such and they will show three lightning bolts that are blurred to indicate the shared power. So for customers pulling up to an Electrify America site that has balanced power employed, it would be best policy to park and charge one EV at every pair of two stations, as long as there are multiple open stalls.  That's exactly what Tesla owners do at V2 Superchargers, because they also share power between every two stalls, except they share 150 kW of total power, not 350 kW. The V3 Superchargers can deliver up to 250 kW, and they are designed to deliver maximum power to each station, under almost all conditions.  The new charger design. Note: while it looks like it has two cables, that's an illusion. There's actually another station directly behind this one and the cable on the left is attached to the charger behind. All new Electrify America charging stations will use the latest generation chargers that are capable of balanced power sharing,...