Volkswagen is to put the first of its mobile electric vehicle charging stations – which can charge an EV in an average of 17 minutes – into operation in the first half of this year.
They will be used in Wolfsburg – Volkswagen’s home town – as part of a pilot project, and will support the expansion of a charging infrastructure in the urban area.
From 2020, it will also be implemented in other cities and communities.
Thomas Schmall, chairman of the board of management of Volkswagen Group Components, said: “The mobile charging stations are a decisive step toward an efficient network of charging points.
“They can be set up anywhere as required – with or without connection to the power supply.
“This flexibility enables a completely new approach for the rapid expansion of the charging infrastructure.
“Cities can, for example, find out the most suitable places for a permanent charging point before making major investments in developing the network.
“In addition, it will be possible to set up a large number of charging stations temporarily – exactly when and where they are needed.”
The mobile charging station works according to the principle of a power bank, such as those used for mobile phones, while its charging capacity of up to 360kWh enables up to 15 EVs to be charged.
Volkswagen says the quick charging technology means the charging process takes an average 17 minutes - these figures are for charging to approximately 28kWh, which corresponds to 0-80% of the charging capacity of the current Volkswagen e-Golf.
If the energy content of the integrated battery is set at less than 20%, the depleted charging station is simply exchanged for a charged one.
If, however, it is permanently attached to the power supply with up to 30kW via AC, the battery pack perpetually recharges itself.
The mobile charging stations can be set up at defined points, for example, spread out across a city.
Each charging station enables DC quick charging with up to 100kW and up to four vehicles can be charged simultaneously: two with DC and two with AC connections.
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Andrew Ryan is the features editor at Fleet News. He has been a journalist for more than 20 years and has specialised in the fleet industry for the past 12.
Gordy - 03/01/2019 15:19
Is this a flat EV battery to a 100% full EV battery in 17 minutes? What is the capacity of the EV battery. 17 minutes is only part of the story and these other bits of information are also needed to add value to this story. If it’s an EV battery with bigger than a 20 Kw capacity then that is good news but more story to explain how the charger copes with the thermal issues of rapid charging to full would be needed. Editor - please give us more details!