Volkswagen Group Components and EON have developed a prototype rapid electric vehicle (EV) charger that can be installed more quickly and cheaply than current units.
Using a built-in battery, the new chargers do not require civil engineering or mains connection.
The two companies claim their device could lead to a much quicker roll-out of rapid chargers than previously assumed.
The quick charging system can charge two vehicle with up to 150kW of power at the same time, thus providing an additional range of around 125 miles on average in just 15 minutes.
To ensure that the battery installed in the charging station always has sufficient capacity, it is permanently fed by a conventional 16 to 63 ampere power connection.
Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Group Components, Thomas Schmall: "The flexible ultra-fast charging station developed by us is an important component for a comprehensive network of charging points. At the same time, its innovative approach to quick and easy installation enables us to meet the needs of our customers. The cooperation with EON is an important step towards integrating this technology into the charging infrastructure quickly and in line with demand."
Updates, remote maintenance and billing of the charging points will be carried out via EON's central software platform. The technology meets all the requirements for financial support under both the EU and the German directive and complies with the requirements of calibration law.
The hardware component is an innovation of the automotive company combined with EON's operator system and market knowledge. Volkswagen Group Components will start series production this year. In the second half of the year, EON will test the new charging points at six motorway filling stations and then launch them on the German market under the name EON Drive Booster.
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Matt has been an automotive journalist for eight years. As senior staff writer he is responsible for the automotive content on Fleet News and also contributes to Automotive Management. Prior to this, Matt worked in the automotive industry for 10 years.
Neil - 14/02/2020 15:41
We are about to test EV's for a Fleet of 180 vehicles covering approx. 4.4 Million miles per annum. Technology is changing every day, and this would be a welcome introduction to reduce down time and increase range at the same time.