Fast charging network
A fast charging network, or more specifically an HPC charging network, is a network of publicly accessible fast charging stations for electric vehicles. A fast charging network is a subtype of an electric vehicle charging network.
History
Electric vehicles have the advantage that they do not require any special infrastructure for charging when they are launched on the market, but they can rely on the widespread availability for household electricity. For long-distance travel however the charging breaks can get long and may require an overnight stay. The charging points at houses are typically limited to 7 to 16 A at 220-240 volts. The question of whether you will reach your destination or the intermediate point with a full charge of the drive battery has led to range anxiety. In addition to having particularly large batteries - the Tesla Model S from 2012 reached over 600 km - people began to set up fast charging points on long-distance routes. Tesla's Superchargers showed that impressively, although they were not the first fast charging network.Fast charging
The pioneers of interrelated public charging points can be found in the Park & Charge sites, where the pilot project dates back to 1992 in Switzerland. The microcars supported by this did not have large batteries, so that 3-phase power outlets shortened the charging stops sufficiently to enable longer day trips. In the form of an association in which private individuals set up a switch box for the use of other members, the charging points spread further in Europe, mostly on private properties. Authorization to use them consisted of having the appropriate key for the switch box, which was handed out by the association.When the GM EV1 was developed for California in 1996, public charging points were part of the concept. The GM Hughes Electronics Corporation had already proposed an inductive charging connector for public charging points in 1992. However, the separate charger with 6.6 kW only achieved a little more than the on-board charger for household electricity with 1.2 kW. On top of that, the state-installed public charging points were not usually located on along long travel routes, but rather at train stations preferred for commuters.
In 2007, ChargePoint was founded in California, which not only manufactured wall boxes for private households, but also offered to operate them as public charging stations. Additionally they were able to find retailers to provide a place, so that there were charging stations with ChargePoint Home with 16 A and 32 A for 220 V widely available. The later ChargePoint Home Flex even allowed 50 A. Similar to Park & Charge in Europe, these early locations having up to 11 kW played a key role in closing gaps in later fast charging offerings. With the ChargePoint Express, the company also offered its own fast chargers with Chademo plugs starting in June 2015.
In Japan, a pilot project for electric vehicles was started in 2006, with the participation of Nissan, Mitsubishi and today's Subaru, in which faster public charging points were tested. The first public charging point with the resulting TEPCO plug was set up together with the presentation of the Mitsubishi i-MiEV in 2009. In March 2010, the independent CHAdeMO consortium was set up, in which other Japanese vehicle manufacturers participated. The first specification of this time reached a maximum of 125 A with up to 500 V. The typical Chademo charging stations allowing for 50 kW direct current became the basis for the term fast charging.
When the Nissan Leaf came around in 2010, having a range of up to 160 km, the concept of an actual fast charging networks was developed. The Chademo locations were found on roads between cities along corridors, and the navigation system showed the next location along with the calculated remaining range. A charging stop at a 50 kW charger took a maximum of 30 minutes to reach 80%. Plans for a long-distance corridor by the California CARB led to the West Coast Electric Highway with fast charging points every 25 to 50 miles from Canada through Oregon and California to Mexico. The first concept specifically names the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi iMiEV, which are supported by it. This first fast charging network was completed in 2013.
The first mass-produced Tesla model in 2012 also saw the start of setting up Tesla Supercharger. While the Chademo locations were often individual charging stations that used a 125 or 250 A building connection from the energy supplier, the Superchargers were usually set up as charging parks with six to ten charging stations that were supplied by a separately installed converter station, which often had a connection to the energy supplier's medium-voltage network. This became the defining feature for locations on highways. The first charging stations in these charging parks already reached 90 kW, increased to 120 kW in 2013 and later to 145 kW. Additionally, the Tesla navigation system took over the planning of the necessary charging stops for a planned trip.
In China, the five-year plan 2015-2020 decided to build 800,000 charging points. In the 2021 evaluation, China had installed 470,000 fast chargers in that period.
Charging cards
Initially, the billing of electricity in the early electric vehicle charging networks was made as cheap as possible, as even an additional electricity meter on a house connection drives up the costs that have to be passed on. The first Tesla charging stations were even offered without billing. Since most vehicles could use the full number of amps, the method of metering by the minutes of charging became the widespread basis for billing.At that time, NFC cards for billing were already known from public transport networks. As charging networks developed further, card readers were integrated into charging stations. The drivers of electric vehicles now had to register with several charging networks if necessary in order to increase the density of charging stations for their travel.
The high investment costs for fast-charging stations led to vehicle manufacturers to bring their own charging stations into a cross-manufacturer network, also enabling access to third-party providers through cooperation with other charging networks, still offering on uniform billing to the customer. With the replacement of vehicle manufacturers building each their own fast charging sites, a distinction was made between the mobility provider, which takes care of registration and billing, and the charging station operators, who keep the charging points operational. The mobility provider commonly creates an app now that displays the charging points that can be offered for a charging process for their own tariff, or showing third-party providers stations marking them having a different tariff. In technical terms, the Open Charge Point Protocol approach to performance billing became widespread.
HPC charging network
The Tesla Superchargers showed that the range of a day's journey is hardly reduced for electric cars. The first stations from Tesla in Europe were placed in the corridor from Amsterdam to Munich in 2013, and drivers started to use it instantly. It was predictable at the time that the batteries in the premium segment would become larger over they years - which did actually happen for Tesla Model S, which had originally 70 kWh in 2012, then 85 kWh in 2014, 90 kWh in 2015, and 100 kWh in 2016.The possibilities are limited to keeping charging stops short for large batteries as the heating of the cable, plug and battery imposes limits. At the IAA 2015 in September, Porsche showed a demonstrator "Mission E", which had twice the on-board voltage of 800 V and it was able to charge at that doubled level. ABB already had liquid-cooled converters on offer for rail vehicles. In October 2015, ABB showed a demonstrator of a 150 kW charging station, and in November 2015, it joined the CharIN consortium, which had been founded in May to promote the Combined Charging System. CharIN was already aiming for an expansion to 350 kW at the time. Version 1.0 of CCS had been standardized up to 200 kW, but it had not yet been implemented. The use of liquid-cooled cables was technically necessary and that had also been tested by Tesla in 2015.
The "Ultra-E" project was founded to promote the next generation of charging stations. It started in October 2016, funded by the EU, with the intention to build 25 fast-charging stations with CCS plugs and 350 kW at intervals of 150 to 200 km in the corridor from Amsterdam/Belgium via Frankfurt/Stuttgart/Munich to Vienna/Graz until the end of 2019. The accompanying Ultra-E study had proposed to limit charging times to 20 minutes, as this would create a new business model with business travelers. The document also mentions the term High-Power Charging Point.
The first available fast chargers from ABB met the requirements in October 2017 and allowed up to 375 A with liquid-cooled cables. For the vehicles with 400 V electrical systems available at that time, this led to charging stations with 150 kW. This output became the basis for the term high-power charging HPC. In the following years, the cooling was improved, regularly allowing 500 A. The Tesla V3 Superchargers, which started to use liquid-cooled cables by 2019, did allow up to 250 kW.
In October 2017 the operator Ionity was founded, with most of the companies that were involved in "Ultra-E", to set up the HPC charging network. Until the end of 2020, 400 fast-charging stations with up to 350 kW were to be set up at intervals of around 120 km. The first charging station was put into operation in April 2018, with Tritium now also mentioned alongside the charging station manufacturers ABB and Porsche. Porsche did also equip all its car dealer amenities with 800 V stations from 2018. The intended vehicle for that, the Porsche Taycan, came onto the market in 2019. Fastned also began setting up HPC charging stations at the same time, the first by ABB in March 2018.
In January 2018, Allego presented the "Mega-E" project, again funded by EU, to build an HPC charging network with 322 locations and 27 EV charging hubs. A total of 1,300 HPC charging points with up to 350 kW were to be built until 2025. From 2021, Allego also began converting the "Fast-E" locations to HPC charging stations. The "Fast-E" project had built 40 fast chargers with 50 kW from 2016, also with EU funding. However, the charging sites had already been prepared for 350 kW. In July 2022, Allego exercised a purchase option on the 100 locations with 770 fast chargers that had already been built.