Energy Improvements Worldwide’s new line of DC quick chargers can settle for a variety of enter voltages.
- The utility connection bottleneck has develop into the beast of the EVSE world. However typically the issue isn’t getting sufficient energy, however relatively getting the proper of energy—and typically the actual bottleneck is getting the transformers and switchgear wanted to work round these points.
- Energy Improvements Worldwide has an answer—its new line of EV chargers can deal with a variety of enter voltages, eliminating the necessity for step-up transformers and 480 V switchgear, which may translate to massive financial savings of money and time.
- Pii’s new chargers have a number of different options that prospects have been asking for, together with a modular structure that’s designed to simplify set up and enhance reliability.
There are three issues everybody within the EV trade appears to agree on: (1) we want extra charging infrastructure; (2) it must be extra dependable; and (3) set up usually takes a lot too lengthy. Challenge delays fairly often should do with getting a website related to the grid, nevertheless it isn’t (at all times) the fault of native utilities—excessive demand for important energy gear comparable to transformers and switchgear has created a scarcity, and wait instances can stretch into months and even years.
Along with gear shortages, many websites have issues acquiring the proper of energy. Nearly all of DC quick chargers available on the market immediately require 480-volt, 3-phase energy, as a substitute of the 208 V and 240 V provides discovered at many business and residential properties. And there are some areas within the US the place 480 V is just not out there.
Along with gear shortages, many EV charging websites have issues acquiring the proper of energy.
A number of EVSE trade professionals have advised us that it is a main bottleneck. CEO Alex Urist of XCharge, which makes battery-integrated chargers, raised the problem in an interview with Charged (see our Oct-Dec 2023 situation). If 480 V isn’t out there at your website, you’ll want an additional piece of kit known as a buck-boost transformer to step the voltage as much as what you want. Charging trade guide Forest Williams advised us that this merchandise can value 1000’s of {dollars}, and the lead time for acquiring the mandatory switchgear can stretch to months.
EVSE producer Energy Improvements Worldwide (Pii) has an answer. The corporate lately launched a line of EV chargers that may deal with quite a lot of enter voltages, together with 240 V single-phase and 208 V/240 V three-phase—all in the identical field, with out derating the charger. This eliminates the necessity for step-up transformers and 480 V switchgear, which may translate to massive financial savings of money and time.
Charged spoke with Nick Stone, Pii’s Product and Market Supervisor.
Charged: What’s the origin story behind your new EVFC line of chargers?
Nick Stone: Pii was began in 1997 as a small enterprise in Utah, and developed a rugged, dependable kind of UPS product, specializing in industrial functions. (Taiwanese electronics firm) Lite-On acquired Pii in 2013. Within the 2020-2021 timeframe, there was a chance to enhance that enterprise with what Pii can do. Lite-On has plenty of Degree 2 chargers, however Lite-On didn’t have a Degree 3 charger. With DC quick charging, in fact, we’re integrating energy conversion to transform AC to DC, and that’s one of many core competencies that Pii affords.
At the moment there have been quite a lot of buyer feedback from a few of the incumbents within the DC quick charger area. We listened to a few of that suggestions and tried to know what prospects have been saying about their chargers. In fact, uptime is definitely crucial, however we wished so as to add another options.
We spent a while round 2022 growing some rectifiers that we use throughout our product strains, and leveraging the identical energy provide topology that Lite-On makes use of within the knowledge middle area. This offers us a million hours demonstrated MTBF (Imply Time Between Failures, a measure of reliability) inside the knowledge middle. We wished to take that very same kind of energy provide topology that’s been demonstrated in mission-critical functions and combine that right into a DC quick charger.
One of many issues that our firmware crew does is quite a lot of embedded management. One of many rivals on this area builds a UL 508 A panel the place your energy provide and energy meter are DIN rail-mounted, and also you open it up and it’s a maze of wires. We wished to take all of the management and the facility conversion that’s doing the auxiliary energy and combine that into one answer that sits on high of our energy conversion. We spent a while growing that to the place you are taking AC energy coming into our energy conversion block, measure the AC energy, do all of your low-voltage conversion—12, 24 and 48 volts for all the inner energy wants and the auxiliary hundreds—deliver that all the way down to our energy provides, deliver it again up by way of the high-voltage line, again by way of that very same controller, and to the CCS1 output.
Charged: The low-voltage auxiliary hundreds are issues just like the video display and the consumer interface?
Nick Stone: Sure. Our modem, the show, the buttons, the e-stop, the warmth exchangers—all of these are coming from a central energy provide that’s in-built. There’s no want for a separate DIN rail energy provide or an entire bunch of different wiring. Conversion of any kind of AC voltage is a core competency that Lite-On has, and we built-in that into our total design. We don’t have exterior wires come and go to the facility provide, then come out and feed all these hundreds—we’re doing all of it in an built-in, clear answer.
Now, in fact, we want an enclosure, we want thermal administration, environmental safety, a show, some kind of consumer interface. That’s the place we spent a while listening to prospects and installer companions. They have been saying, “I don’t love to do filter replacements.” Okay, we are going to combine that into our design. We can have a strategy to do thermal administration that requires no upkeep.
They have been saying, “I would like this factor to be simple to put in.” How can we do this? One secret’s having a really huge area to land your cables, so you are able to do any kind of configuration if you’re doing the set up. With quite a lot of area, you don’t want tweezers. Even in case you’re doing 60 kilowatts, 240 single-phase, for example, your cable bending area, you may battle with that throughout the set up.
That was one of many key messages that we heard. One other was, once we’re in present infrastructure, they don’t at all times have 480-volt energy out there. They could solely have 208, 240 single-phase or delta, in order that they have to purchase a step-up transformer. That’s one other ache level that we heard: “I can purchase a charger with possibly six months of lead time, however I’ve to attend two years to get my transformer.” We got here up with a means, which we now have a patent pending on, to accommodate any normal US set up voltage on the market. We will do 208, 240 delta, 240 single-phase, 480 delta (a type of three-phase that doesn’t have a impartial), 480 wye, all in the identical charger.
We got here up with a means, which we now have a patent pending on, to accommodate any normal US set up voltage on the market. We will do 208, 240 delta, 240 single-phase, 480 delta, 480 wye, all in the identical charger.
Accommodating the out there energy may also help velocity up getting the chargers into the bottom. Should you’re a resort or a automobile dealership or a gasoline station, they’re in all probability not going to be putting in ten DC quick chargers, in order that they don’t need to get that further transformer. In some circumstances, you would need to pour a pad, get a major and secondary disconnect, and relying on who owns that station, you may need to get a meter socket to department off energy. There’s quite a lot of totally different variables, and we now have seen situations the place doing that may double your undertaking value.
Charged: Our Chloe Theobald spoke to your World Gross sales Supervisor Tim Rees on the 2024 ACT Expo, and he defined that Pii’s chargers are based mostly on a modular energy structure that may maintain them delivering electrons even when particular person modules fail.
Nick Stone: It’s related to an information middle kind of structure. If an influence provide goes down, it doesn’t take the remainder of the system down. For instance, we now have 9 modules in our 30 kW charger. If one does go down, the opposite eight are nonetheless operational. You’re working at 26.7 kilowatts as a substitute of 30, however your entire station doesn’t go down. And to exchange an influence provide, the module slides proper out and in in a matter of seconds. Some other kind of charger, you need to take that entire 30 or 40 or 50 kW block out, and it’s a fairly severe degree of effort. For us, we ship out one other module, you are taking the highest off, there’s somewhat tab that you simply pull out, slide one other one in, and also you’re again up and working at full capability.
Charged: Your chargers can settle for not solely a variety of voltages on the enter facet, however on the output facet too, to allow them to already accommodate the brand new EVs which are transferring to 800-volt programs.
Nick Stone: Appropriate. We now have the twin drivetrain in our rectifier that may do this. Among the first Hyundai/Kia 800-volt autos on the market, we’ve already been charging these for a pair years now. We all know that’s the place the trade’s heading, as a result of you possibly can decrease your present and improve your total energy.
Charged: All of it looks like a no brainer. You’ve acquired a charger that may remove the necessity for a transformer. Why isn’t each EVSE producer providing that?
Nick Stone: I’ll say a pair issues. One, we’re one of many solely ones which are vertically built-in on this area, so we’re capable of configure our energy provides to the appliance that we now have. And searching on the energy provide topologies which are used within the knowledge middle area, we now have to have a large enter vary to accommodate that market phase. Additionally, the best way we’ve organized our rectifiers inside what we name our energy shelf is a proprietary association, and that’s one thing we do have a pending patent on.
Now, there are just a few producers that may take a 240 delta enter, however you’re derating the quantity of energy. As an example, in case you go to that 30-kilowatt charger, it’s 30 kilowatts in case you feed it 480 three-phase. You’ll be able to apply 240 to it, however it’s possible you’ll derate to possibly 22 or 24 kilowatts of energy. We’re the one ones that we’ve seen that may take any of these totally different enter voltages with out derating the quantity of energy. So, in case you purchase 30 kilowatts or 60 kilowatts or 120 kilowatts, you get what you acquire.
Charged: And whoever’s putting in the chargers can simply select the enter voltage that they want.
Nick Stone: Sure. It’s not one thing you need to do with firmware or something like that, it’s really a mechanical means that we do this. Within the charger there’s this massive open area for ease of set up, and on this space are what we name configurable busbars. That is one thing that’s smaller than the palm of your hand. It’s a very simple course of. All three of those can be found in each charger that we promote, so when the electrician or the installer sees what enter voltage they’ve out there, they merely choose the suitable voltage. It’s printed proper on the entrance of the busbar.
Charged: Contemplating that this may save time and cash, and improve reliability, do you foresee that your rivals are going to begin doing this too?
Nick Stone: I feel they’ll definitely take discover. After we have been at ACT doing our preliminary market launch of the product, there have been plenty of rivals that got here by to find out about what we’re doing. The best way we’ve achieved it although, I feel we now have sufficient safety there for our IP for them to not do it the identical means, and it’ll then take one other couple years for them to do it somewhat bit in a different way.
Charged: So that you’ve acquired a first-mover benefit that’s going to final you for a pair years, hopefully.
Nick Stone: We consider so, sure. There’s one further featurethat I haven’t talked about but. Our normal rectifier immediately makes use of AC enter voltages, however it’s able to taking a DC enter voltage as effectively, so we will now take inputs from a battery supply or a hydrogen gas cell enter. So, we’re these different functions—in case you’re within the moveable energy area serving functions comparable to occasions or film studios, these are a few of the further functions that we’re working with companions to broaden the appliance set, as a result of we will do DC enter.
This text first appeared in Problem 71: January-March 2025 – Subscribe now.
