Fast-charging systems for electric cars

ABB recently deployed the first two direct current (DC) Terra systems in the central city of Utrecht, which will be officially opened on Nov. 30. Another charger will be installed at a BP service station in Rotterdam in December, with two more to follow at locations to be identified early next year. BP has an intention agreement with Dutch EV charging operator The New Motion to operate BP’s chargers as part of a larger network of DC charging stations throughout the Netherlands. Prestige GreenCab, a Dutch taxi operator with a large electric-vehicle fleet, took the initiative for the installations in Utrecht.

ABB’s Terra stations can recharge an EV battery in as little as 15 to 30 minutes – compared with eight hours when using a regular alternating current (AC) power outlet. ABB will install two types of Terra chargers to meet the specific capacity requirements at the various BP locations. The multi-port Terra Base Station 100.2 can charge up to two cars simultaneously and is ideal for locations that are expected to see an increase in electric-vehicle traffic over the next few years. The Terra 51 is a single-port charger designed for locations with regular traffic.

"As our market grows and new electric car models are coming to the market, we expect to see more and more segmentation. Our future-proof connectivity solutions are designed to support different types of chargers, as well as different business models and all existing and future connection standards in the same network," said Remo Luetolf, manager of ABB’s business unit Power Electronics and Medium Voltage Drives, which also develops fast-charging infrastructures for EVs.

"We have to keep our 20 EVs operational throughout the day and can’t afford to wait eight hours for a battery to charge. Fast charging makes our business case work. That’s why we were keen to make a business deal with BP," said George Jansen, CEO of Prestige GreenCab. "GreenCab financed one of the two chargers in Utrecht and has taken an active role as launching customer. The EV fast-charging network in Utrecht increases autonomy of our GreenCabs and at the same time stimulates new EV adopters as it is open to everyone."

All Terra systems in ABB’s rapidly expanding global installed base come with a host of connectivity features that help service operators run their network more efficiently, such as remote maintenance, software updates and industry-leading uptime of the backbone network. ABB’s connectivity suite is compatible with the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) and other commonly used standards for back-office integration, enabling real-time user authentication and authorization and a variety of other functionalities operators use to better service their customers. In The New Motion network, customers will be provided with radio-frequency identification (RFID) cards that can be used for authentication at all chargers in the nationwide infrastructure.

ABB is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 130,000 people.

www.abb.com