CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine - Issue 66 October/December 2023 by CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine

ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE

ISSUE 66 | OCTOBER–DECEMBER 2023 | CHARGEDEVS.COM

ARE THESE 2024’S MOST IMPORTANT EVS? p. 46

0 3 X E O V L O V 9 V E KIA

p. 22

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Voltage surge and transient suppression

p. 28

Q&A with Lucid’s battery cell qualification expert

p. 66

Lessons learned after 7,800 charging station installations

p. 72

Battery-integrated chargers for deployments of all sizes

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THE TECH CONTENTS

22 Voltage surge and transient suppression

28 Battery cell qualification for EVs Q&A with Lucid’s Battery Cell Technical Specialist

current events 12

Bosch starts production of 800 V motors and inverters for EVs GKN Automotive unveils off-the-shelf electric drive unit concept

24M’s Electrode-to-Pack tech does away with cells and modules ZF makes magnet-free electric motor

Rheinmetall wins order for plug-and-play heat pump solution for e-tractors Polestar to demonstrate StoreDot’s extreme fast charging battery technology

Eaton invests more than $500 million in North American manufacturing DeepDrive unveils new dual-rotor, radial flux drive unit for EVs

17 18

Researchers study the effect of impact on structurally embedded EV batteries EV makers adopt Schaeffler’s new rear-wheel steering system Chinese companies begin production of sodium-ion batteries

19 ZF introduces a purely electric brake system for software-defined vehicles 20 CIE’s MonoLith Battery System is designed for versatility

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Nio says it’s ready to use semi-solid-state batteries in production EVs

China’s new restrictions on graphite exports are “a very big deal” for the EV industry

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THE VEHICLES CONTENTS

46 Kia EV9 and Volvo EX30

Are they 2024’s most important EVs?

current events 36 Electric Vehicle Containment Unit can squelch EV fires

Mercedes-Benz’s eActros 600 electric truck excels in hot-weather testing

38 New Holland launches electric utility tractor with autonomy features Pebble Flow electric travel trailer features self-propulsion, off-grid energy

39 As others cry the blues, Hyundai announces record profit, keeps EV plans AT&T to add Rivian electric delivery vehicles to its fleet

40 Uber Freight and Greenlane to deploy public truck charging stations HummingbirdEV tech powers Keshi Group electric mining vehicles in China

42 CarMax adds a Freightliner electric semi to its logistics fleet

Wabtec and Roy Hill to introduce battery-electric heavy-haul locomotive

43 Hexagon Purus offers vocational integration of electric Freightliner eM2 Range Energy’s smart trailers boost electric truck range

44 Blue Bird delivers 23 electric school buses to Kentucky school district Under pressure from trucking groups, California to delay drayage diesel ban IDENTIFICATION STATEMENT CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine (ISSN: 24742341) October-December 2023, Issue #66 is published quarterly by Electric Vehicles Magazine LLC, 136 4th St N, STE 201, Saint Petersburg, FL 33701-3889. Periodicals Postage Paid at Saint Petersburg, FL and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine, Electric Vehicles Magazine LLC at 136 4th St N, STE 201, Saint Petersburg, FL 33701-3889.

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE CONTENTS

66 Lessons learned after 66

7,800 charging station installations

72 Battery-integrated chargers

current events

58 Kempower introduces Megawatt Charging System for heavy-duty EVs BMW, Ford and Honda to create new company to facilitate EV grid services

59 Siemens VersiCharge Blue EV charger now in volume production at Texas factory Cyber Switching’s new made-in-America commercial EV charger

60 Shell opens enormous EV charging station at airport in China Go Eve secures US patent for its multi-EV charging DockChain technology

61 Enphase Energy’s IQ EV Charger allows charging directly from solar panels Swiss firm Designwerk presents container-sized Mega Charger

62 Volvo Trucks introduces Turnkey Solutions fleet-management program ChargePoint’s new 500 kW DC fast charger to power Mercedes charging network

63 EVgo receives first Buy America 350 kW chargers from Delta Electronics SolarEdge unveils new bidirectional DC-coupled EV charger Webasto launches towable charging station for airport ground equipment

64 WeaveGrid and Wallbox to offer utility-managed smart charging Ford and Resideo to conduct V2H energy management pilot

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EV CHEMOURS There’s chemistry between us.

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Publisher Christian Ruoff Senior Editor Charles Morris Technology Editor Jeffrey Jenkins Business Development Joel Franke Mark Rogers Greg Schulz Graphic Designers Tomislav Vrdoljak

Contributing Writers Jeffrey Jenkins Charles Morris Christian Ruoff John Voelcker

For Letters to the Editor, Article Submissions, & Advertising Inquiries Contact: Info@ChargedEVs.com

Cover Image Courtesy of Kia Volvo Special Thanks to Kelly Ruoff Sebastien Bourgeois

1. PUBLICATION TITLE: CHARGED ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE. 2. PUBLICATION NUMBER: 18170. 3. FILING DATE: SEPTEMBER 29, 2023. 4. ISSUE FREQUENCY: QUARTERLY. 5. NUMBER OF ISSUES PUBLISHED ANNUALLY: 4. 6. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION PRICE (IF ANY). 7. COMPLETE MAILING ADDRESS OF KNOWN OFFICE OF PUBLICATION: CHARGED ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE, 136 4TH STREET NORTH, STE 201, SAINT PETERSBURG, FL 33701. CONTACT PERSON: CHRISTIAN RUOFF. TELEPHONE: (727) 522-0039.8. COMPLETE MAILING ADDRESS OF HEADQUARTERS OR GENERAL BUSINESS OFFICE OF PUBLISHER: CHARGED ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE, 136 4TH STREET NORTH, STE 201, SAINT PETERSBURG, FL 33701. 9. FULL NAMES AND COMPLETE MAILING ADDRESSES OF PUBLISHER, EDITOR, AND MANAGING EDITOR: PUBLISHER, EDITOR, AND MANAGING EDITOR: CHRISTIAN RUOFF, 136 4TH STREET NORTH, STE 201, SAINT PETERSBURG, FL 33701. 10. OWNER. FULL NAME: CHRISTIAN RUOFF. COMPLETE MAILING ADDRESS: 136 4TH STREET NORTH, STE 201, SAINT PETERSBURG, FL 33701. 11. KNOWN BONDHOLDERS, MORTGAGEES, AND OTHER SECURITY HOLDERS OWNING OR HOLDING 1 PERCENT OR MORE OF TOTAL AMOUNT OF BONDS, MORTGAGES, OR OTHER SECURITIES: NONE. 13. PUBLICATION TITLE: CHARGED ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE. 14. ISSUE DATE FOR CIRCULATION DATA BELOW: #65, JULY-SEPTEMBER 2023. 15. EXTENT AND NATURE OF CIRCULATION. A. TOTAL NUMBER OF COPIES (NET PRESS RUN). AVERAGE NO. COPIES EACH ISSUE DURING PRECEDING 12 MONTHS: 12125; NO. COPIES OF SINGLE ISSUE PUBLISHED NEAREST TO FILING DATE: 12500. B. LEGITIMATE PAID AND/OR REQUESTED DISTRIBUTION (BY MAIL AND OUTSIDE THE MAIL): (1) OUTSIDE COUNTY PAID/REQUESTED MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS STATED ON PS FORM 3541: 9655; 9566. (2) IN-COUNTY PAID/REQUESTED MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS STATED ON PS FORM 3541: 0; 0. (3) SALES THROUGH DEALERS AND CARRIERS, STREET VENDORS, COUNTER SALES, AND OTHER PAID OR REQUESTED DISTRIBUTION OUTSIDE USPS: 0; 0. (4) REQUESTED COPIES DISTRIBUTED BY OTHER MAIL CLASSES THROUGH THE USPS: 0; 0. C. TOTAL PAID AND/OR REQUESTED CIRCULATION (SUM OF 15B (1), (2), (3), AND (4)): 9655; 9566. D. NON-REQUESTED DISTRIBUTION (BY MAIL AND OUTSIDE THE MAIL): (1) OUTSIDE COUNTY NONREQUESTED COPIES STATED ON PS FORM 3541: 0; 0. (2) IN-COUNTY NONREQUESTED COPIES STATED ON PS FORM 3541: 0; 0. (3) NONREQUESTED COPIES DISTRIBUTED THROUGH THE USPS BY OTHER CLASSES OF MAIL: 115; 28. (4) NONREQUESTED COPIES DISTRIBUTED OUTSIDE THE MAIL: 827; 994. E. TOTAL NONREQUESTED DISTRIBUTION [SUM OF 15D (1), (2), (3) AND (4)]: 942; 1022. F. TOTAL DISTRIBUTION (SUM OF 15C AND E): 10597; 10588. G. COPIES NOT DISTRIBUTED: 1528; 1912. H. TOTAL (SUM OF 15F AND G): 12125; 12500. I. PERCENT PAID AND/OR REQUESTED CIRCULATION (15C DIVIDED BY 15F TIMES 100): .9111; .9035. I CERTIFY THAT 50% OF ALL MY DISTRIBUTED COPIES (ELECTRONIC AND PRINT) ARE LEGITIMATE REQUESTS OR PAID COPIES. 17. PUBLICATION OF STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP FOR A REQUESTER PUBLICATION IS REQUIRED AND WILL BE PRINTED IN THE ISSUE OF THIS PUBLICATION: ISSUE 62, OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2022. 18. I CERTIFY THAT ALL INFORMATION FURNISHED ON THIS FORM IS TRUE AND COMPLETE. CHRISTIAN RUOFF, PUBLISHER, SEPTEMBER 29, 2023.

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The mainstream media seem to think the EV industry is on its last legs (one recent headline: “Poof Goes the Electric Car Dream”). Acquaintances have been calling us to offer their condolences, and asking what we plan to do now that our industry has collapsed. In fact, as John Voelcker points out in a recent Car and Driver article, in 2023, “US sales of EVs were the highest ever, both in sheer numbers and as a percentage of the overall new-car market. Global sales: ditto” The EV eulogists don’t seem to understand that a decline in the rate of sales growth is not a decline in actual sales. In fact, all indications are that EVs are about to shift into high gear. Companies up and down the EV value chain continue to invest billions, and engineers continue to accelerate technological progress by improving quality and reducing costs (see the Q&A with Lucid’s Battery Cell Technical Specialist—page 28). Why the disconnect with reality? The “party’s over” narrative seems to be a reaction to a few highly-publicized events, including decisions by GM and Ford to delay some of their EV programs, and efforts by auto dealerships to have EPA fuel economy regulations watered down. But, while delaying a couple of vehicle launches may achieve some short-term cost-cutting, pulling back on electrification isn’t a viable long-term strategy. It also may prove to be a bad short-term strategy, considering how the stock market has valued EV leadership in the past (it didn’t like Hertz’s decision to trim its EV fleet), and Tesla, the Chinese, and smaller competitors such as Hyundai/Kia and Volvo are putting their EV pedals to the metal. As for the auto dealers, they’ve never been fans of EVs, and may never be. Some of their arguments are disingenuous (no federal regulations require dealers to stock EVs, and inventory fluctuations are nothing new), but one is on the money: EVs have moved out of the early-adopter phase, and Joe and Jane Sixpack are going to need a lot more education about the benefits of going electric (and dealers—ahem—that’s your job). Another factor contributing to the gloomy outlook: the decades-old misinformation campaigns against EVs are exceedingly spread in election years. The “Biden likes EVs so here's why they're a scam” headlines on social media never fail to repeat the moldy old myths that are easily debunked. Meanwhile, as you’ll read about in this issue, the EV industry is getting on with the job at hand. OEMs and suppliers are frantically building new supply chains, commercial fleet operators (who tend to get their facts from spreadsheets, not Facebook memes) know they must electrify or perish, and the foreign EV brands aren’t coming...they’re here. On the infrastructure front, everyone from automakers to retailers to oil companies are building massive numbers of new public charging sites, as Charles Morris reports in this issue’s Charging Forward column—page 82. It’s not just quantity—improving reliability is the order of the day, and innovaters are making charging faster, greener and more efficient. In this issue, EnviroSpark offers tips on how to improve charger reliability in the installation phase—page 66—and EVSE maker XCharge explains the benefits of battery integration—page 72. One thing that’s not going as quickly as it needs to: getting EV prices down. The Volvo EX30 could represent a step in the right direction, as John Voelcker explains in our cover story—page 46.

Christian Ruoff | Publisher EVs are here. Try to keep up.

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Image courtesy of Bosch

Image courtesy of GKN Automotive

THE TECH

Bosch starts production of 800 GKN Automotive unveils offV motors and inverters for EVs the-shelf electric drive unit concept Engineering company Bosch has started the production of new electric motors and inverters based on 800 V technology for fast recharging of EVs. The 800 V inverter uses silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors, which deliver reduced heat loss and increased electrical conductivity, efficiency and EV range. The 800 V electric motor produces 830 Nm torque and 460 kW power output. Bosch says the new I-pin bar winding technology delivers 35% more power density compared to 400 V systems—60 kW/liter—along with torque density of 105 Nm/l. By providing double the voltage of standard systems, the new technology allows for thinner cables to save on space, weight and copper. The next generation of the electric motor will feature oil cooling to better draw away the heat generated and ensure consistent operation over long distances, as well as in commercial vehicles, the company said. “Our 800-volt technology is the next step toward more powerful electrical powertrains and shorter recharging times,” says Ralf Schmid, Executive VP of Bosch’s Powertrain Solutions division.

GKN Automotive has unveiled a new plug-and-play eDrive concept aimed at the niche EV and EV conversion markets. GKN will use the concept to test market appetite for a new eDrive that’s suitable for various purposes, including small to large cars and light commercial vehicles in series production. The first commercial products based on the concept could be available as early as 2025. Prospective customers have a choice of three systems: a 113 kW 2-in-1 combination system (motor and transmission); or a fully integrated 3-in-1 system comprising an electric machine, transmission and inverter, with a choice of 113 kW or 185 kW output. “We have spent the last 20 years producing leading eDrive technologies for global vehicle manufacturers, enabling them to drive the electric revolution,” said Dirk Kesselgruber, Chief Technology Officer. “Based closely on our existing technology, our new eCrate concept will bring this technology to even more customers looking for high-quality and cost-effective electric drive units in a plug-and-play format.”

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Image courtesy of ZF Image courtesy of 24M

24M’s Electrode-to-Pack tech does away with cells and modules

Since the advent of modern EVs, the mantra has been “cell/ module/pack.” More recently, some battery makers have started removing modules from the equation with cell-to-pack architectures. Now Massachusetts-based battery developer 24M Technologies wants to eliminate the whole hierarchy. The company calls its Electrode-to-Pack system, which it introduced at the recent Japan Mobility Show, “a streamlined battery pack system that features electrodes packaged directly into the battery pack, removing the need for individual cells and modules.” Current lithium-ion battery cells include substantial amounts of inactive, non-charge-carrying materials— supporting metals and plastics—within a cell’s casing, and these materials reduce energy density and add unnecessary expense and waste. 24M says its Unit Cell design allows manufacturers to eliminate unnecessary cell materials within the pack, enabling the highest energy density available at the pack level while cutting costs. 24M says its new technology enables unit electrodes to be connected in a combination of series and parallel. The 24M Unit Cell can be connected in series, parallel and a combination of series and parallel directly within a pack, enabling configurations that are no longer limited by individual cell voltage and capacity. “24M ETOP will be a game-changer for electric mobility and energy storage systems because it delivers unmatched energy density,” said Naoki Ota, 24M President and CEO. “We are moving beyond our core technology—the 24M SemiSolid manufacturing platform—into a company with a revolutionary technology set that will deliver truly transformative solutions.”

ZF makes magnet-free electric motor Tier 1 supplier ZF has developed an electric motor which requires no magnets. In contrast to the currently available magnet-free Separately Excited Synchronous Motor (SESM), ZF’s In-Rotor Inductive-Excited Synchronous Motor (I2SM) transmits the energy for the magnetic field via an inductive exciter inside the rotor shaft. ZF says this makes the motor uniquely compact, with maximum power and torque density. According to ZF, compared to common SESM systems, the inductive exciter can reduce losses for energy transmission into the rotor by 15 percent. Also, the CO2 footprint of production can be reduced by up to 50 percent compared to PSM motors that use rare earth materials. ZF says its I2SM eliminates the drag losses created in traditional PSM e-motors. This enables better efficiency at certain operating points such as long highway trips at high speed. To ensure that the magnetic field in the rotor is built up by current instead of magnets, current SESM concepts still require sliding or brush elements in most cases, ZF explains. The I2SM does not require any brush elements or slip rings. As with a permanently magnetized synchronous motor, the rotor is efficiently cooled by circulating oil. Compared to a typical SESM, ZF says its I2SM requires up to 90 millimeters less axial installation space. In terms of power and torque density, however, it operates at the level of a PSM. ZF plans to develop the I2SM technology to production maturity and offer it as an option within its own e-drive platform, in both 400-volt and 800-volt variants. “With this magnet-free e-motor without rare earth materials, we have another innovation with which we are consistently improving our electric drive portfolio to create even more sustainable, efficient and resource-saving mobility,” said Dr. Holger Klein, CEO of ZF.

OCT-DEC 2023

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Rheinmetall wins order for plug-and-play heat pump solution for e-tractors German automotive company Rheinmetall has received an order for a new heat pump from a European electric tractor manufacturer. The order is valued in the “lower-two-digit millions of euros range.” The heat pump, preassembled and loaded with coolant, is designed to improve vehicle range, battery life and driver comfort through thermal and cooling control. The seven-year contract begins in 2024, when the first heat pumps will be delivered for field testing. Designed for both 400 V and 800 V applications, the system delivers nominal cooling performance of 8 kW and 11 kW of heat output. The heat pump maintains the temperature of the battery, electric motor and passenger compartment, serving as an active thermal management device. Heating and cooling occur through a linked coolant circuit. The complete system is adaptable to new and existing vehicle platforms. It is also suitable for customized client applications. “Owing to the increasingly high requirements levied on the thermal management of modern electric vehicles, the number of individual components and connections for the cooling and coolant circuit continues to increase sharply. Here, thanks to its compact design as a complete system, Rheinmetall’s new coolant solution helps to save critical installation space,” the company said.

Polestar to demonstrate StoreDot’s extreme fast charging battery technology in a prototype EV Battery innovator StoreDot is collaborating with Polestar on an engineering project to demonstrate how StoreDot’s XFC battery cell technology can be applied to an existing platform, and show what a production-level solution could look like. Following Polestar’s investment in StoreDot, the two companies are working to demonstrate StoreDot’s production-ready XFC technology at full scale in a Polestar 5 prototype vehicle in 2024. The detailed collaboration includes key integrations such as the engineering design and cooling. Dr. Doron Myersdorf, CEO of StoreDot: “This is a huge step for StoreDot and a strong endorsement that our ground-breaking technology is readying for mass production. Polestar aims to be the first automotive company to showcase our extreme fast charging battery cells in a full-scale, driveable prototype. We still have lots of work to do to fully integrate our systems into a production car, but our teams are already fully engaged, and we will be demonstrating those results in the coming months. We can’t wait to see this technology in the hands of customers taking advantage of such game-changing charging speeds.” Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of Polestar: “StoreDot was our first financial investment in another company, and we have been collaborating with them to apply their advanced technology in proof-of-concept Polestar cars. StoreDot’s pioneering extreme fast charging batteries, combined with our upcoming top-of-the-line electric powertrain, can revolutionize the ownership experience for EV owners with the ability to recharge in minutes.”

Image courtesy of Polestar

Image courtesy of Rheinmetall

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Eaton invests more than $500 million in North American manufacturing Power-management multinational Eaton has announced investments in its North American manufacturing and operations to meet growing demand for electrical solutions from customers in utility, commercial, health care, industrial and residential markets. The majority of these investments are expected to be completed in 2024 and 2025. “Electrical infrastructure has to work harder and smarter to accelerate decarbonization and electrification,” said Mike Yelton, President, Americas Region, Electrical Sector at Eaton. Planned projects include the addition of 200,000 square feet to Eaton’s Nacogdoches, Texas, manufacturing facility to double production capacity of voltage regulators. At the Waukesha, Wisconsin, facility, the company is increasing the manufacture of three-phase transformers for utility, data center, large commercial and industrial applications. And the company’s South Carolina facility is expanding the manufacture of busway products and advanced EV charging technology. Eaton is also expanding capacity and diversifying production across various locations in the Americas, including increasing the manufacture of circuit breakers and metering for homes and commercial buildings. The company also recently opened its largest regional distribution center in Chicago, and is expanding its distribution facility in Dallas.

Image courtesy of DeepDrive

Image courtesy of Eaton

THE TECH

DeepDrive unveils new dualrotor, radial flux drive unit for EVs DeepDrive, a Munich-based tech company backed by BMW and Continental, has unveiled a new central drive unit that it plans to deploy in 2027. DeepDrive has developed a dual-rotor, radial flux machine that has an inner and outer rotor with two air gaps to maximize material usage and minimize iron losses, along with a new distributed winding with a slot-filling factor above 80%. The optimized design uses 50% less magnetic material and 80% less iron than its competitors, according to the company. The drive is available in two variants that combine the motor with a two-stage spur gear and an integrated silicon carbide (SiC) inverter with coaxial output shaft that minimizes space consumption at a low cost. The DeepDrive CSD 450 offers engine torque of 430 Nm and output power of 230 kW, making it suitable for EVs (front- or rear-wheel-drive up to the C segment) as well as premium all-wheel drive concepts. Variable gear ratios provide output torques of between 2,700 and 3,800 Nm. The DeepDrive CSD 700 is the main drive for premium D-segment class and all-wheel drive vehicles, delivering up to 5,400 Nm output torque and output power of 350 kW. Gearbox ratio for the CSD 450 can be varied in a range from 6.4:1 to 9:1. The range for the CSD 700 is from 6:1 to 8:1. The drive unit can be seamlessly integrated into the wheels or installed as a traditional central drive, the company said.

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Researchers study the effect of impact on structurally embedded EV batteries Chinese researchers are studying how low-velocity impact loads affect structurally embedded lithium-ion EV batteries. In a paper published in the Journal of Power Sources, the researchers observed that embedded batteries experienced micro-short circuits during impact-loading but retained energy-storage capacity following transient impact. Charge-discharge cycling test results indicated that abrupt capacity loss increased with impact energy, and the degradation rate rapidly increased under high-impact energy. Post-mortem inspection showed that the damage and densification of active materials and separators contributed to the abrupt capacity loss and performance degradation.

“The integration of energy storage and load bearing in composite structures provides an alternative for the next generation of delivery equipment due to its potential in improving energy storage efficiency and space utilization significantly. However, the susceptibility to impact during services makes it necessary to understand the damage and performance degradation of this multifunctional composite structure and its interaction behavior under impact loads to ensure structural integrity and safety,” the authors wrote.

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03/11/2023 12:22

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Image courtesy of Schaeffler

THE TECH

EV makers adopt Schaeffler’s new rear-wheel steering system Schaeffler, a German auto parts company, has started series production of its new mechatronic rear-wheel steering system. An unnamed vehicle manufacturer is using the system in a new electric SUV, and other vehicle models featuring the system will go into production soon, the company said. Schaeffler’s rear-wheel steering system is made up of two subassemblies: a precision mechanical system with an adaptive planetary roller gear from the company’s Industrial Division; and a powerpack comprising the electronics, electric motor and software. The Schaeffler product meets the safety requirements of Automotive Safety Integrity Level D (ASIL D). EV drivers benefit from its precise vehicle motion since it offsets the drawbacks of a larger wheelbase required to accommodate the underfloor battery. A longer wheelbase typically increases turning radius and decreases maneuverability. “Thanks to its optimized inner design, our rear-wheel steering system is more compact and requires less installation space in the vehicle,” said Clément Feltz, head of the Chassis business division at Schaeffler. “As a result, automakers can save up to 15% in weight compared to alternative systems.”

Chinese companies begin production of sodium-ion batteries Sodium-ion batteries are expected to offer lower energy density compared to Li-ion cells, but they do offer numerous advantages, and could be a good fit for smaller EVs. Chinese battery behemoth CATL unveiled its first-generation sodium-ion battery in July 2021, and since then, several Chinese automakers have announced plans to use sodium-ion batteries in production vehicles. The first of these could appear any day now. The South China Morning Post reports that Chinese companies have begun mass production of sodium-ion batteries. Vendors have begun offering sodium-ion batteries on Chinese commerce site Taobao, mainly for two-wheeled electric scooters. Qiu Guocheng, co-founder of sodium-ion battery company Beijing Xuexiong Technology, told SCMP that his company’s batteries can operate at almost full capacity in temperatures as low as minus 30° C (-22° F), have “an average life of more than eight years,” and can be charged for 3,000 cycles. Xuexiong claims its Na-ion scooter batteries have a cycle life up to five times longer than typical Li-ion batteries. “The electric two-wheeled vehicle field is one with relatively high consumption frequency, and buyers have high expectations for sodium batteries,” Qiu said. Another advantage of sodium: unlike lithium, it appears to be abundant in most countries around the world, so a move to sodium could allow companies to shorten supply chains. There are still some challenges to overcome. Na-ion cells tend to have lower energy density, because sodium ions are larger than lithium ions. However, a team of researchers at the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) told Chinese-language news outlet Science Times that they might have overcome this issue. They now say they have successfully powered electric scooters with 60-volt solid-state sodium-ion batteries with energy density similar to that of comparable lithium batteries.

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German automotive company ZF has presented a new, purely electro-mechanical brake system for the global market. The new system uses an electric motor to generate braking force at each wheel, without a hydraulic system or brake fluid. ZF also sells hybrid forms with a hydraulic front axle and an electric rear axle, as well as wheel brakes, parking brakes, hardware and software for braking systems. The company offers a full portfolio of purely electronically controlled steering, braking and damping systems for software-defined vehicles. Electronically controlled and networked by-wire brake systems offer more vehicle control, shorter braking distances, more steering flexibility, greater driving stability

Image courtesy of ZF

ZF introduces a purely electric brake system for softwaredefined and electric vehicles

at high speeds, and greater range and efficiency than conventional systems, the company said. “Our purely electrically controlled braking system is a significant addition to our portfolio of networked chassis systems,” said Dr. Holger Klein, CEO of ZF Group. “Networked chassis systems for longitudinal, lateral and vertical dynamics can improve driving dynamics.”

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Image courtesy of CIE Solutions

THE TECH

CIE’s MonoLith Battery System is designed for versatility Colorado-based CIE Solutions builds a range of custom battery packs for specialized applications. Its new MonoLith Battery System is a versatile and scalable battery pack that can be customized to fit into a vast variety of motive and stationary applications. The MonoLith features a flat-pack design, a liquid-cooled architecture and sophisticated internal logic controls. It’s available in two distinct configurations to cater to different needs: the Energy Pack, designed for sustained energy output with a 2C continuous discharge rate; and the Power Pack, crafted for high-current applications with an 11C continuous rate of discharge. At the core of the MonoLith’s adaptability is its CAN-configurable BMS, which can be tailored to integrate with any Vehicle Control Unit (VCU) or system messaging architecture. Even the dimensions of the MonoLith can be customized. The system has a low-profile fixed height (170 mm), but its length and width can be configured to customer specifications (from 856 to 1,996 mm long, and from 512 to 2,000 mm wide). Mounting solutions are also completely customizable. External T-slots on the sidewalls of the pack allow it to be attached to a vehicle chassis with custom brackets or mounting plates. CIE will even help design custom brackets. The structural integrity of the MonoLith is another feature. Constructed with high-strength aluminum, it boasts a rigid skeletal design that enables it to be used as a structural component. Best of all, the plug-and-play pack can be delivered quickly. CIE says that, after consulting with a customer, the first pack can be designed and built in 8-12 weeks, and subsequent packs can be available in less than 2 weeks.

Nio says it’s ready to use semi-solid-state batteries in production EVs Chinese battery specialist WeLion has delivered its first semi-solid-state battery cells to EV manufacturer Nio, which plans to use the cells in its 150 kWh battery pack, and aims to deliver the first EVs with these battery packs before the end of July. Nio first unveiled a 150 kWh semi-solid-state battery pack in January 2021, but the delivery schedule was delayed several times. In May of this year, when the company unveiled its new ES6 SUV, William Li, Chairman and CEO of Nio, confirmed plans to put the semi-solid-state tech into a vehicle, and said that the new battery pack would enable a range of 930 kilometers, or 578 miles (on the Chinese testing cycle). Nio says its new 150 kWh battery pack offers specific energy of 360 Wh/kg, and adds only 20 kg to vehicle weight compared to its previous-generation pack. The semi-solid-state cells themselves are composed of a solid electrolyte, an anode material made of a silicon/graphite composite and a cathode with “ultra-high” nickel content. The new pack, which the companies admit is costly, will not be available for purchase at first, but only for rent. This is part of Nio’s business model—all Nio models are now compatible with the company’s battery swap technology, so customers can upgrade their battery packs when desired. Currently, the company offers 75 and 100 kWh packs. “Today’s delivery is just a small step in the joint development of WeLion and Nio, and hopefully this small step will lead to a big technology leap for the whole industry,” said Zeng Shizhe, Vice President of Nio Battery Systems. Beijing-based WeLion began production of semi-solidstate battery cells in December 2022 at its battery factory in Huzhou. In March of this year, WeLion completed another factory for hybrid battery cells (solid and liquid electrolytes) and pure solid-state battery cells at Zibo in the province of Shandong. WeLion’s partnership with Nio is not exclusive. WeLion has said it wants to work with “leading international automakers” to ensure that “subsequent mass production progresses steadily as planned.”

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China’s new restrictions on graphite exports are “a very big deal” for the EV industry The global supply of graphite, a critical component of Li-ion battery anodes, could soon represent a major bottleneck for EV production. Supply chain experts have been sounding alarms about graphite for some time. Some months ago, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence was already reporting that “the potential graphite supply crunch is arguably one of the most acute and underappreciated across all battery raw materials.” Then came China’s surprise announcement that it would impose new export controls on graphite. The country could use the new rules, which took effect in December, to reduce exports of graphite, or to prioritize exports to Chinese-owned companies. John DeMaio, CEO of Graphex, a volume producer of spherical graphite for Li-ion battery anodes, told Charged that “this restriction is a very big deal.” According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, China controls 75% of the supply chain for natural graphite and 74% of the chain for synthetic graphite (battery-makers blend natural and synthetic graphite in various formulations). However, as DeMaio explains, “That number belies even greater control at certain points within that chain. While China mines ‘only’ 67% of the world’s natural graphite, and produces 79% of the world’s anode material, it controls a whopping 99% of spherical graphite production, meaning it has a virtual chokehold on that key midstream processing step.” How dire is the threat to US battery makers? “So far, the major threat to supply chains is not acute shortage but fear of shortage—and uncertainty that makes it difficult to plan,” DeMaio told Charged. “As with germanium and gallium, which saw export permit mandates earlier in 2023, China is requiring export permits but not (yet) explicitly restricting the number of permits available. Whether the move is geopolitically motivated, as some Americans suspect, or simply out of concern for preserving sufficient domestic supply, as China claims, the fact that China could severely tighten global graphite supply at any moment creates a dangerous market uncertainty.” Efforts to build domestic graphite supply chains are already underway, but much more needs to be done. “This announcement is a loud wakeup call and a national security issue for the US and Canada,” says DeMaio. “Many graphite miners and processors were already looking to North America to expand and diversify their capacity to mine and process graphite outside China. But this announcement highlights the need for North America to have a graphite supply chain independent of China in a way that’s clear even to people not in the graphite trenches.” “For automakers, their response to this announcement will come down to identifying new mines already online, then partnering with midstream processors that have the technical know-how to transform raw flake graphite into anode material,” says DeMaio.

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THE TECH

VOLTAGE SURGE AND

TRANSIENT SUPPRESSION

IN EV CHARGERS

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By Jeffrey Jenkins

Anything powered by an external source of electricity needs to be protected from voltage transients and surges, as it is not a question of whether such hazards will occur, but rather how often they will occur (and of what severity they will be).

Transients are more likely the result of nearby lightning strikes and step changes in loading on the grid, while surges are more likely the result of the same phenomena occurring much farther away.

As might be expected, there are internationally agreed-upon regulations for surge and transient immunity (specifically codified in IEC 61000-4-5, which is essentially mirrored by Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories in the US), which have the temerity to prescribe the shape and peak values of the voltage and current waveforms that the EUT, or equipment under test, must withstand. These waveforms were derived empirically over time, so they bear more than just a passing resemblance to real surges and transients encountered in the wild—a charger designed to comply with IEC 61000-4-5 will actually have a better chance of surviving long-term, theoretically. (So why are so many of them out of service? Well, a topic for another day, perhaps.) Transient and surge are terms that are often used interchangeably but, more strictly speaking, surges are generally of longer duration but have lower peak voltage and/or current amplitude, while transients are of shorter duration and, usually, higher peak amplitude. Although both can be caused by the same phenomena, transients are more likely the result of nearby lightning strikes and step changes in loading on the grid, while surges are more likely the result of the same phenomena occurring much farther away (the intervening grid equipment and distribution lines softening up the disturbances, so to speak). The most obvious cause of failure from a transient or surge is insulation breakdown (including semiconductor junctions, capacitor dielectrics, etc), but rapid heating from the energy content in a transient or surge—particularly those of longer duration—should not be dismissed as a culprit. Short duration,

OCT-DEC 2023

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THE TECH

high-voltage transients with low energy content—something along the lines of a static electricity discharge, let’s say—can create pinhole failures in insulation (especially the silicon dioxide dielectric in integrated circuits) that incrementally increase the chance of total failure later on, while higher-energy transients—such as from an indirect lightning strike or a large motor being disconnected from the grid—can open up major breaches in the insulation and even cause outright arcing, both of which tend to be more immediately fatal. In contrast, surges usually cause equipment failure more from excessive heating in protective components (the irony!) rather than outright dielectric breakdown in capacitors, semiconductors, etc. Regardless, it is the energy content in a transient or surge that ultimately causes failure, and so a surge that has a relatively modest peak voltage/current amplitude but lasts many tens of milliseconds could be just as damaging as a higher peak amplitude transient that only lasts a few tens of microseconds. Although it is not practical to fully harden an electronic device against a direct lightning strike with peak amplitudes in the 100s of megavolts and kiloamperes range, the chances of such happening are also vanishingly remote, fortunately (even here in Florida). Lightning more commonly affects the grid indirectly when it strikes some distance away, by inducing currents onto all of the distribution lines equally—or in common mode, as compared to between phases or hot and neutral, which is normal mode. Consequently, surge suppression placed between the phase conductors for protection against step load changes won’t

Surge suppression placed between the phase conductors for protection against step load changes won’t do a lick of good against commonmode transients or surges. do a lick of good against common-mode transients or surges, as they require protective components between the phase conductors (including neutral, if present) and earth ground. Thus, it is necessary to address both commonand normal-mode phenomena separately, especially since the electrical safety regulations that equipment must also comply with limit the amount of leakage current between the phase conductors(s) and ground. This, as we will soon see, can place some serious restrictions on the types of protective components that can be used, especially when the inevitable common-mode filter is factored in for complying with EMC, or ElectroMagnetic Compatibility, requirements (which is itself yet another complicating factor). The other common source of transients/surges on the grid is a step change in loading. The most obvious example of this is when a motor is switched on or off. The surge current drawn during turn-on stores energy in the induc-

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There are three main ways to deal with transients/ surges: blocking, clamping and “crowbarring.” tance of the distribution network, and this is released once the motor comes up to speed. Other examples are automatic reclosers (the electrical distribution term for a circuit breaker) attempting to re-energize a line that might have been only temporarily overloaded, and tap changers on substation transformers that compensate for changes in loading downstream. The vast majority—if not all—of the surges from step changes in load consist of a relatively modest peak voltage (compared to lightning, anyway) but which tend to last for longer periods of time due to the L/R (that is, inductance over resistance) time constants involved. There are three main ways to deal with transients/surges: blocking, clamping and “crowbarring.” Blocking transients and surges can be accomplished with series inductance and/or shunt capacitance—or a low-pass filter, in other words—and as this happens to describe the common-mode filter ubiquitously employed to meet EMC requirements in anything with a switchmode power converter, said filter is an integral part of the transient protection scheme

Iss 66 (v2).indd 25

Maintain Performance Throughout a Pack’s Lifecycle

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1/15/24 5:06 PM

THE TECH

2,0

I/A

ZnO 1,5 1,0 0,5

-800 -600 -400 -200 200 400 600 800 -0,5

U/V

-1,0 -1,5 -2,0

Varistor current vs voltage for zinc oxide (ZnO) varistor devices (whether by intent or accident). The common-mode filter will be far less effective (arguably ineffective, even) against surges, however, and electrical safety requirements limit the amount of shunt capacitance between the phase conductor(s) and ground (to limit the amount of continuous leakage current injected into ground by them), which also limits its potential effectiveness. Furthermore, the insulation on the common-mode filter’s components might not be sufficiently robust to stand up to repeated overvoltage themselves, so it could go from providing protection to needing it. Clamping and crowbarring are related means of shunting transient/surge energy—which essentially means converting it to heat. The main difference is that a clamp holds steady near its breakdown voltage when conducting, while the voltage across a crowbar drops to a low value once it begins conducting. Clamping devices automatically reset after a surge event, then, but have to withstand

extremely high peak wattages (from the product of their high breakdown voltage and the surge current). Crowbar devices can handle much higher surge energy by virtue of their relatively low breakdown voltage—resulting in a lower peak wattage when multiplied by the surge current— but because that breakdown voltage is much lower than the “holdoff ” voltage when not conducting, they will not “reset” until the upstream power is interrupted (either by a switch—or, more commonly—a fuse opening up). By far the most common component used for protection against transients and surges is the MOV, or Metal-Oxide Varistor, mainly because it is both effective and very cheap to manufacture (the cynic in me says the latter is far more important), as it is basically a compacted chunk of zinc oxide particles. MOVs are clamping devices that don’t (or shouldn’t—more on that below) conduct any current until a certain voltage is exceeded, at which point their effective resistance drops in an attempt (key word, that) to keep the voltage across them constant at the breakdown value. The lower the dynamic resistance during clamping, the closer the clamping voltage will be to the breakdown voltage, and the less instantaneous power dissipated during clamping, all of which adds up to better protection and longer operational life. As these goals are achieved by using a larger volume MOV, however, there is a practical limit to how much optimizing can be done here. Another consideration hinted at earlier is that MOVs have a limited operational lifetime (measured in Joules of total energy clamped), because their leakage current increases after each surge event—that is, they do allow some current to pass through them when they should be off, and that current increases each time a MOV is called upon to do its job. Actual end of life occurs when the leakage current is sufficiently high to cause overheating from its continuous power dissipation (rather than the instantaneous dissipation sustained during a surge event), which can be rather more exciting than expected if said overheating results in a fire. One solution is to wire a MOV in series with a crowbar-type device, as the latter tend to better block leakage current when not triggered into conduction, while the MOV will automatically reset the crowbar after the surge event has passed. Another type of clamping device is the Transient Voltage Suppressor diode, or TVS, which is a semiconductor device constructed similarly to a Zener diode, except that it’s optimized for peak current handling rather than the

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Comparison of Transient Voltage Suppressor Components Component type

Protection time

Protection Power Reliable voltage dissipation performance

Expected life

Energy rating

Other considerations

Gas discharge tube

> 1 µs

60-100 V

None

Limited

Highest

Only 50-2500 surges. Can short power line.

MOV

10-20 ns

> 300 V

None

Degrades

High

Fusing required. Degrades. Voltage level too high.

Avalanche TVS

50 ps

3-400 V

Low

Yes

Long

Lowest

Low power dissipation. Bidirectional also available.

Thyristor TVS

< 3 ns

30-400 V

None

Yes

Long

High

High capacitance. Temperature sensitive.

stability of its breakdown voltage. TVS diodes are available in bidirectional versions suitable for use in AC circuits, but they are far more commonly deployed on DC supply lines, where their more accurate clamping voltage is a plus and their lower energy rating is not so much of a minus. Crowbar protective devices include one of the oldest as well as one of the newest technologies: the GDT, Gas Discharge Tube, and the “gateless” thyristor (e.g. SIDACTor by Littelfuse), respectively. The GDT is effectively a spark gap, consisting of two or more electrodes inside a sealed tube. When a sufficiently high voltage is impressed upon any two electrodes, an arc will form, at which point the voltage drop plummets to 30 V or less. This—and the intrinsically robust construction of the GDT—allows it to handle very high peak currents, but one major downside is a relatively slow response time, which leads to an unpredictable triggering voltage. Consequently, GDTs are rarely used by themselves (notable exception: in the old POTS or Plain Old Telephone System). These shortcomings are addressed in the gateless thyristor, which is a 4-layer (i.e. pnpn) semiconductor device that turns a bug of the conventional gated thyristor into a feature: triggering into conduction when an overvoltage is applied across its main current-carrying terminals. Gateless thyristors are much faster than GDTs, can be designed to trigger at a much lower (and much more consistent) voltage, and exhibit an even lower voltage drop when in conduction (<10 V). On the flip side, they have a far lower peak power (and energy)

A Level 1 charger plugged into a residential outlet has to meet less stringent conditions than a Level 2 charger wired directly to a breaker panel in a commercial building or a DC fast charger wired directly to a 3-phase distribution transformer. handling capability from both a unit volume and cost basis compared to a GDT. The last consideration is proximity to the grid (aka “exposure” or “category” level). Closer proximity experiences worsening transient/surge conditions. Thus, a Level 1 charger plugged into a residential outlet has to meet less stringent conditions than a Level 2 charger wired directly to a breaker panel in a commercial building or a DC fast charger wired directly to a 3-phase distribution transformer. In some respects, the higher power handling that typically goes along with closer proximity to the grid naturally affords more immunity to transients and surges, but don’t make the mistake of assuming the same size MOV or GDT, etc, will be up to the challenge everywhere!

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THE TECH

BATTERY CELL QUALIFICATION FOR EVS

Q&A with Lucid’s Battery Cell Technical Specialist Maithri Venkat By Charles Morris

hen it comes to battery cells for EVs, one size definitely doesn’t fit all. The properties of a particular cell act as constraining factors for every aspect of a vehicle’s design—and not only for vehicle performance parameters such as range and power, but for the development of manufacturing processes as well. Lucid Motors has a team of battery specialists that collaborates closely with cell suppliers to evaluate and test battery cells at every step from vehicle design through mass production. Charged spoke with Lucid Battery Cell Technical Specialist Maithri Venkat about how cell evaluation works, and how OEMs and cell suppliers can work together to improve the process.

Q Charged: Could you tell us about yourself

and your journey to your present role at Lucid Motors? A Maithri Venkat: I have been working in lithium-ion

cell development for automotive applications for the past eight years. In my current role as a Technical Specialist at Lucid, I lead next-generation cell selection, qualification and key supplier partnerships for the Gravity SUV. I have worked on multiple aspects of battery development, from cell material evaluation to design tradeoff assessments to performance optimization and new product introduction. Previously, I worked at XALT Energy, where I benchmarked cell designs and sub-components for high-energy cells for transportation and marine requirements. I have

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“

For performance applications, a company needs to know how to push the limit. For economy options, the cells are the biggest cost driver in the vehicle.

”

Images courtesy of Lucid

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THE TECH also collaborated with top-tier OEMs and national labs for 12 V Li-ion start/stop battery development. Q Charged: Can you elaborate on why battery cell

development is so important for electric vehicles?

A Maithri Venkat: As automakers commit to electrifica-

tion, the market requirements are becoming more diverse for different types of EV products—longer range, faster charging, sports car-level performance numbers and long life. The battery cell impacts all of these. How one designs, tunes and manufactures the battery cells also impacts their effectiveness, performance and cost. For performance applications, a company needs to know how to push the limit. For economy options, the cells are the biggest cost driver in the vehicle. Battery cell development is critical at every step of the development of a vehicle, but especially at the beginning conceptual design phase, where the vehicle-level product definitions are translated into cell-level technical specifications. Technical assessments and commercial requirements are evaluated by EV manufacturers during cell selection and qualification. Once the cell design is finalized, it is fine-tuned further for energy efficiency, fast charge capability, power capability and lifetime requirements, prior to deployment in packs and vehicles. This early stage of cell development paves the way for best-in-class technological advancements. Q Charged: Can you walk us through the preliminary stages of the cell qualification process? What do we need to consider even before going into cell selection? A Maithri Venkat: Cell development for automotive

applications needs to happen years in advance. This ensures that we have enough time to iterate through cell design changes. In general, cell development begins with the creation of vehicle-level performance targets. For example, a vehicle’s intended usable range is a key metric in the qualification process. Target range requirements are defined based on an array of research, including marketing surveys and consumer feedback. With those established, we can apply technical constraints such as vehicle and powertrain efficiency, pack sizing and vehicle weight class, to transform range into usable energy per cell. Prior to defining battery pack constraints, we need to analyze and balance performance, durability and cost. This requires in-depth collaboration among cell engineer-

“

Once the cell design is finalized, it is fine-tuned further for energy efficiency, fast charge capability, power capability and lifetime requirements, prior to deployment in packs and vehicles.

ing, systems, vehicle integration, efficiency, software and marketing teams. Following vehicle definitions and alignment on cell performance objectives, specification sheets are sent over to cell suppliers. This creates an iterative feedback loop between OEM and cell supplier, and triggers gap analysis between requirements and technology readiness. Identifying these performance gaps and quantitatively understanding the limitations of specific cell chemistries helps with future cell development. For instance, for high-energy cell design, material-level changes such as silicon for anodes, high-nickel cathodes, or solid-state chemistries could be considered. This would enable technological advancements and define clear actionable objectives to bridge the differences between current-generation and next-generation technologies.

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Images courtesy of Lucid

Q Charged: You mentioned the

need to translate vehicle-level requirements into cell-level targets. How do we accomplish that? A Maithri Venkat: Once the

vehicle conceptual design has been finalized, requirements trickle down to pack and module levels before getting down to cell-level definitions. Every high-level target can be tied to an individual parameter of the battery cell. For example, pack size, efficiency and range can be defined as energy requirements for the cell. 20-80% SoC (state

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THE TECH

Image courtesy of Lucid

of charge) charging times can be translated to fast charge capability of the cell. Product warranty requirements can be translated to lifetime performance of the cell, and so on. Form factor selection can be dependent on pack sizing strategies, thermal management systems for cooling, ease of manufacturability, and even ease of repair. Cell peak or continuous power targets are related to the 0-60 mph vehicle performance requirements and towing capacity. Detailed power capability assessment is helpful to provide the necessary performance when you want to—for example—tow your jet ski to Lake Tahoe. Or, on the way home, roll down a hill and regeneratively brake at freezing ambient temperatures for over an hour.

sional properties and appearance of dents, rust or scratches should be thoroughly assessed to understand manufacturing process capability. For electrochemical inspection, it would also be advantageous to conduct regular testing for performance characteristics like energy and resistance. If cell-to-cell energy variations exceed certain threshold values, there are risks in terms of battery pack imbalances. Another aspect to consider is the supplier timeline. Auto manufacturers need to ensure that their development timeline aligns with the cell manufacturer’s milestones for concept, design and process validation stages. Cell mass production should be well in advance of the product introduction timeline.

Q Charged: What are the steps a company takes to

Q Charged: Once a cell design is finalized, what are the

qualify a new cell supplier?

A Maithri Venkat: We evaluate cell suppliers for several

top priorities, including safety, quality, cost, performance, volumes, technology roadmap and technology capabilities. For example, when it comes to cell quality inspection, production batch lot-to-lot variation must be within the defined engineering specifications, and process variations should be within Six Sigma control limits. In the initial stages, routine cosmetic and electrochemical inspections need to be conducted on available samples. Cell dimen-

next steps to be considered? What types of tests are appropriate for each developmental phase?

A Maithri Venkat: Following cell design finalization,

multiple workstreams happen in parallel as part of the product development cycle. I am currently leading and facilitating these efforts for Lucid’s Gravity SUV platform. These include fast charge, durability, process capability, cell parameterization for software controls, and testing for state of health/thermal modeling. Here are some examples of that process flow at Lucid:

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“

Using actual cell testing data, we can get insights into setting up control limits, and trace how the gaussian energy distributions would scale up at pack level when cells are distributed in series and parallel connections. Parameter measurements: Once representative cells are available from the manufacturer, an extensive suite of cell testing and data processing is kicked off for Equivalent Circuit Modeling (ECM) development. The cell parameter datasets obtained from testing are essential for accurate state of charge (SoC) and state of health (SoH) estimation. Variability studies: From the process capability side, it is essential to track cell-to-cell variability through design validation, process validation and final mass production phases. This helps vehicle systems modeling, integration and product teams gauge the estimated range and performance for the final product. It’s also important to characterize nominal capacity and energy distributions after analyzing representative drive profiles with discharge/ regeneration pulses incorporated within testing intervals. Using actual cell testing data, we can get insights into setting up control limits, and trace how the gaussian energy distributions would scale up at pack level when cells are distributed in series and parallel connections. Optimization: Miles charged per minute defines fast charge capabilities. Comprehensive testing is done at cell, module and pack levels to understand the failure modes and lithium plating thresholds over the cell lifetime. This facilitates the selection of fast charge profiles and helps push the performance boundaries. Modeling: State of health (SoH) for lithium-ion batteries needs to be predicted accurately for software controls and for prolonging cell usable lifetime. Physics-based cyclic and calendar aging capacity decay models are developed to capture loss of positive/negative electrode material and lithium inventory over battery usage.

Q Charged: What are some common misconceptions about defining cell specifications for automotive usage scenarios? A Maithri Venkat: Cell engineering specification sheets

are extremely conservative in certain cases. As an example, laboratory cell cycling with 1C charge and 1C discharge could trigger unexpected degradation modes like lithium plating and gas generation. In the case of the Lucid Air Dream Range edition, the vehicle’s range is 520 miles at top of charge, and 1C discharge would mean depleting 520 miles in one hour. This is an impossible scenario in the real world, even if we assume the lowest efficiencies during discharge. Cells are far more capable when we conduct experiments under the range of conditions accessible to a customer. It is therefore important to consider that testing under the right conditions can help access more representative limits of performance boundaries. As an analogy, Olympic teams don’t pick their marathon runners based on their performance in a 100-meter dash! Furthermore, certain supplier specification sheets are based on consumer electronics, for which energy estimations are calculated with extremely low constant-voltage cutoffs at the end of charging sessions, or cells are cycled continuously between zero and 100% state of charge. Users of EVs rarely charge to 100% and then drive down to zero. As a result, it doesn’t always make sense to perform testing and specification setting with such usage patterns. Q Charged: How can automotive companies help cell

suppliers develop specifications?

A Maithri Venkat: We should ensure that supplier specification sheets match automotive use cases. I acknowledge that it is challenging to specify an exact automotive use case. However, it would still be valuable to rewrite the specifications to conform more closely to what customers might experience. At Lucid, battery data scientists use fleet telemetry data to understand realistic usage profiles. Fast charge performance boundaries are evaluated based on the preferred charger type, temperature regimes and state of charge (SoC) for session beginning and end. Automotive companies can teach cell suppliers a lot that may go back into their development processes and help them make a better product. Therefore, it would be beneficial to have continuous

OCT-DEC 2023

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THE TECH communication between cell manufacturers and OEMs for incorporating consumer usage profiles in engineering specifications. Lastly, it would be beneficial for automotive companies to drive specifications development. Eventually, this serves the best interests of both cell suppliers and OEMs.

Images courtesy of Lucid

Q Charged: You mentioned realistic profiles earlier. How do we incorporate real-world aging into laboratory testing? Is there a way to strike a balance between using aggressive aging vs realistic aging profiles for cell evaluations? A Maithri Venkat: It is of paramount importance to

understand the tradeoffs associated with using aggressive vs realistic aging profiles prior to determining the design of experiments for laboratory cell assessments. Testing methods involving slower charge/discharge, reduced depth of discharge and average temperatures can be ideal for replicating typical EV usage. Under these conditions, lithium-ion batteries would experience the degradation mechanisms such as solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) growth that are observed in real-world driving. However, this would also imply much longer test timelines to obtain capacity loss and resistance growth data. On the other hand, using accelerated aging could result in lithium plating on the anode due to diffusion limitations or gas generation from electrolyte solvent reduction reactions. While the testing time is reduced, the failure modes are not representative or even achievable for these corner cases. Ideally, one needs to choose intermediate charge/discharge rates with rest steps incorporated between cycles for effective performance scale-up.

remember that larger quantities for cell allocations need to be available far in advance of the start of vehicle production. Q Charged: Why are representative battery packs

required for vehicle testing months in advance of the start of production?

sary for each developmental phase?

A Maithri Venkat: This is related to the type of vehicle validation and regulatory tests being conducted. Having an early start to validation helps offset longer lead times associated with testing and data procurement. Examples include vehicle fleet deployment, hot/cold weather climate testing, homologation and SoC/SoH software algorithm validation. Electric vehicles need to go through mileage accumulation and standardized durability testing to ensure consistent long-term performance, reliability and warranty assurance.

A Maithri Venkat: Cell sample size required will increase

Q Charged: Eventually, the goal is to get cells into cars.

Q Charged: What are the cell sample quantities neces-

through the developmental phases. For supplier evaluation and cell design screening, it could be sufficient to start with hundreds of early R&D sample cells. However, once the design is confirmed, performance optimization and durability testing would require thousands of cell samples. After this, we get into module and pack testing. The cell quantity required for this is 10 times more compared to the previous phase. Subsequently, the final vehicle testing phase would require over 100 times more from the mass production line compared to initial R&D evaluations. It is important to

What would be some of the key tasks that we need to track while moving towards manufacturing scale-up during EV production?

A Maithri Venkat: Even after completing performance optimization and reliability assessments, we still need to be mindful of new product introduction in the factory. As we move towards production ramp-up, we need to consider cell integration into modules and packs at the manufacturing stage. Each cell type needs to have a distinct manufac-

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turing part number, equipment settings, and even data handling. Even mundane changes like barcode placement on a cell box can dramatically impact yield if process controls are not thoroughly optimized. Another example is the implementation of fully automated in-line inspection methods for checking key cell characteristics. These high-speed measurements, along with mid-process and end-of-line measurements, help us ensure that the processes involved in building modules and packs have not impacted the integrity or performance of our cells.

“

much time do we typically need to qualify a cell for automotive usage?

It is also possible that even a mundane process change from a cell manufacturer could have unintended yet severe impacts downstream for an automotive maker. Therefore, every single change to a cell needs to be scrutinized.

A Maithri Venkat: Cell development for automotive applications happens years in advance. Since every cell has unique characteristics, it is essential to conduct detailed testing throughout the qualification stages to probe into cell degradation mechanisms and evaluate performance thresholds. We would need to evaluate the development timeline on an individual basis. The time required would be dependent on requirements, technology readiness, cell chemistry, manufacturing feasibility, and the intended EV application and market. Speaking generally, it is a few years. Let’s also consider a scenario in which the cell chemistry is frozen, and there is a change with respect to a minor process during manufacturing. While this might

create a significant improvement in yield, the team still needs to evaluate if it has an impact on performance or safety. For this example, it is possible that an entire re-qualification of the cell is not required, and the change can be quickly approved. However, it is also possible that even a mundane process change from a cell manufacturer could have unintended yet severe impacts downstream for an automotive maker. Therefore, every single change to a cell needs to be scrutinized. I want to highlight that every cell is unique. Qualification strategies and developmental timelines need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Battery cells can be one of the most critical path items in your EV development.

Q Charged: What about the overall timing? How

OCT-DEC 2023

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Image courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

Image courtesy of Fire Containers Ltd.

THE VEHICLES

Mercedes-Benz’s eActros 600 Electric Vehicle Containment electric truck excels in hotUnit can squelch EV fires even weather testing Mercedes-Benz Trucks recently tested a prototype of its as they’re still burning long-range electric truck, the eActros 600, in extreme No, despite what you’ve seen in a thousand Facebook posts, EVs are not more prone to catching fire than are legacy vehicles (according to several studies—the reverse is the case). However, like any energy storage system, an EV battery can catch fire in the case of a collision or a malfunction, and there are a couple of troublesome aspects to battery fires—they can’t be put out with water, and they can reignite hours after it seems the fire has been put out. Emergency responders need appropriate tools to deal with EV fire incidents—and that’s where Fire Containers Ltd’s Electric Vehicle Containment Unit (EVCU) comes in. The EVCU features a built-in water supply that recirculates water for continual cooling and fire suppression even during transit. An EV that has caught fire can be ensconced in the EVCU (according to the company, it can theoretically be placed inside even while still burning), then transported and safely stored until the danger of reignition is past. “The main difference between the EVCU and other solutions is that this is not a submersion unit,” says Fire Containers Ltd. “Major vehicle manufacturers state that their batteries should not be submerged in water, as this can initiate or accelerate thermal runaway. Also, submersion tactics create huge amounts of contaminated water. The EVCU uses the principle of water turning to steam (expansion ratio) to suppress fire development around the vehicle or to continually cool battery compartments to help prevent thermal runaway from developing within the battery compartment.”

heat in Andalusia, Spain. For five weeks, Mercedes engineers shook down every system on the truck, from its electric powertrain and battery thermal management to its air conditioning system, to its fast charging capabilities, in summer temperatures of up to 111° F. The company reports that the electric truck passed the rigorous tests “with flying colors.” After the extreme heat tests were completed, the eActros 600 drove over 2,000 km (1,243 miles) from Granada, Spain to the Mercedes-Benz Trucks development and testing center in Wörth am Rhein, Germany. “After winter testing in Finland in freezing cold temperatures down to -25° C and initial tests on public roads, the electric truck now had to prove itself at over 40° C in Spain,” said Dr. Konrad Götz, Deputy Head of Global Testing at Mercedes-Benz Trucks. “The eActros 600 mastered the challenging tests with ease. In the next step, we’re now looking forward to testing in real-life operation with our customers.” The eActros 600 has three lithium-iron phosphate battery packs with an installed total capacity of over 600 kWh. It has two electric motors with an output of 400 kW and a peak output of over 600 kW. In September, Mercedes said it would achieve a range of “around 500 km” (310 miles). Engineers have designed the eActros 600 to deliver 1.2 million km on the road over 10 years. The eActros 600 made its official debut last October, and it’s expected to go into production this year. A tractor unit and rigid variants will be offered at market launch.

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1/15/24 5:11 PM

Image courtesy of New Holland

New Holland launches electric utility tractor with autonomy features

Image courtesy of Pebble

THE VEHICLES

New Holland Agriculture has introduced a new electric utility tractor with autonomous features. The T4 Electric Power is designed as a solution for lower-horsepower field operations, such as mixed farm, hay and forage, dairy, livestock, municipality, greenhouse and specialty crops (vegetable and orchard). The T4 Electric Power, which was designed by CNH Industrial, features a 110 kWh (maximum) battery pack, and provides 74 hp (55 kW) rated power and 65 hp (48 kW) PTO power. It offers 4-wheel drive, a 12×12 transmission, clutchless electronic power shuttle reverser, and all the power outputs you’d expect to find on a legacy diesel utility tractor. This includes rear electro-hydraulic PTO, drawbar, multiple rear remotes, mid-mount valves and a 725LU mechanical self-leveling front loader with an included 84-inch bucket. Both 110 V and 220 V outlets provide energy for electric power tools. New Holland explains that, thanks to the electrified drivetrain’s high torque and fast response even at low speeds, “even an inexperienced operator can run the implements during the applications without the need for precise gear selection and throttle control. Meanwhile, experienced operators will have infinite speed adjustments just by controlling motor RPM. Smooth and gradual delivery of power at low speeds and constant delivery at high speeds increase control and precision during field operations.” New Holland estimates that the T4 can provide between 4 and 8 hours of runtime on a charge, depending on the energy demands of particular applications. The tractor supports both Level 2 and DC fast charging. The T4 Electric Power tractor is expected to be commercially available in North America at select dealers in early 2024.

Pebble Flow electric travel trailer features selfpropulsion, off-grid renewable energy Pebble, a California-based startup, has unveiled a new 100% electric travel trailer. The Pebble Flow is designed to eliminate the range reduction caused by towing a trailer—it’s self-propelled, and includes its own battery, which can be recharged by regenerative braking and several charging options. The Pebble Flow is 25 feet long, and requires a towing capacity of 6,200 lbs. It sports a 45 kWh LFP battery that can power all the trailer’s appliances, and a 1 kW integrated solar system. It supports both Level 2 and DC fast charging. When parked at home, it can be used as an emergency backup power source. Once unhooked from the hitch, the Pebble Flow is fully remote-controlled for easy parking and maneuvering. As you’ve doubtless gathered by now, the Pebble Flow is not for the low-budget traveler. Prices start at $109,000 ($125,000 with the optional Magic Pack, which adds a dual-motor drivetrain and other goodies). It’s now open for pre-orders, and is expected to ship by the end of 2024. “So many people will never embark on an RV trip simply because they are intimidated by how to do it. The combination of advanced modern EV features and the Pebble app makes RVing easier than ever, whether you’re a seasoned RVer or just starting out,” said Stefan Solyom, Pebble’s CTO.

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Image courtesy of Rivian

As others cry the blues, Hyundai announces record AT&T to add Rivian electric profit, keeps EV plans on track delivery vehicles to its fleet While some legacy automakers whine that they can’t make a profit on EVs, and others cling to 20th-century tech such as hybrids and hydrogen, Hyundai is getting on with the business of selling EVs. Hyundai Motor America set new December, Q4 and 2023 sales records, and the company cited electric cars as one of the reasons for its impressive growth. Hyundai sold almost 34,000 Ioniq 5s in the US in 2023, a healthy increase over the 23,000 it sold in 2022. The new Ioniq 6 sold 13,000 units in 2023. Global parent Hyundai Motor is going forward with expansion plans, which include offering as many as 31 EVs by 2030 across its Hyundai, Kia and Genesis brands. Seo Gang Hyun, Hyundai Motor’s Chief Financial Officer, has acknowledged that the EV market may be facing some short-term headwinds, but says his company has no plans to delay or abandon any of its EV production goals. “We do not plan to dramatically reduce EV production or our line-up due to likely near-term hurdles, as we believe EV sales will grow longer-term,” he told analysts at the company’s Q3 earnings briefing. “Based on what I see, I need more,” Hyundai Global President Jose Munoz told Reuters. “If I had more capacity today, I could sell more cars.” The group aims to be producing 1.51 million electrified vehicles per year in South Korea, and 3.64 million per year on a global basis, by 2030. It plans to invest around $18.2 billion in this time frame to ramp up production and launch new models, including the Hyundai Ioniq 7 and Kia EV9.

Last November, Rivian Automotive announced that it would begin marketing its electric commercial vans to customers beyond Amazon, which collaborated with the automaker to develop an electric delivery van. Now Rivian has revealed that its next customer will be AT&T, which will begin a pilot of the Rivian Commercial Van and R1 vehicles in early 2024. AT&T is the exclusive provider of connectivity to all Rivian vehicles in the US and Canada. Rivian uses AT&T connectivity to deliver over-the-air software updates to improve its vehicles with new features. The Rivian Commercial Van was designed from the ground up to prioritize safety, sustainability and ownership cost. Safety features include automatic emergency braking, collision warnings and 360-degree visibility. Rivian’s in-house software stack underpins the fleet management system, which is designed to improve efficiency and reduce total cost of ownership. “We’re excited to purchase Rivian EVs for our fleet,” said Hardmon Williams, SVP, AT&T Connected Solutions. “With advanced connectivity and a vision for a sustainable future, Rivian is setting the standard for the evolving demands of modern transportation.” “Around a quarter of CO2 emitted in the transportation sector in the US comes from commercial vans, so it’s imperative we do all we can to help cut emissions,” said Dagan Mishoulam, VP, Strategy and Fleet at Rivian. “Our category-defining vehicles offer some of the most advanced technology in the sector and are continually improved through over-the-air updates.”

OCT-DEC 2023

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Image courtesy of Hummingbird EV

Image courtesy of Uber Freight

THE VEHICLES

HummingbirdEV tech powers Keshi Group electric mining Uber Freight and Greenlane to vehicles in China US-based vehicle electrification system supplier Humdeploy public electric truck mingbirdEV has provided 393 electric mining vehicles powered by its EV technologies under a licensing agreecharging stations ment with Keshi Group, a China-based manufacturer Freight management and logistics company Uber Freight and commercial truck charging network Greenlane are collaborating on the development and installation of public charging infrastructure for heavy-duty battery-electric vehicles. The aim is to augment Greenlane’s data analysis with Uber Freight’s network data to determine corridors that are prime candidates for electric truck deployment, as well as charging infrastructure needs and the suitability of shipping lanes for electrification. Greenlane plans to build its first charging corridors in Southern California, followed by the Texas Triangle and the northeastern US. Uber Freight has released a report outlining data-driven insights that Greenlane will consider as it determines where and when to install its charging and hydrogen fueling stations. “Our national network of EV charging and hydrogen fueling stations, together with our Uber Freight collaboration, will make the electrification transition easier for shippers,” said Greenlane CEO Patrick Macdonald-King.

of coal mining vehicles and equipment. They are now in operation in Chinese mines. The vehicles have payload capacities of between 16,000 and 30,000 lbs. They include HummingbirdEV’s 400 V and 800 V vehicle system integration platforms, vehicle management unit, battery management system, charging systems, bidirectional inverters and battery systems accommodating up to 5C charging rates. Vehicle types include inspection, command and passenger vehicles as well as material-hauling trucks. This deployment culminates a seven-year partnership between the two companies to build, certify and place into operation the first electric mining vehicles. Mass production of the explosion-proof vehicles began in 2019, and Keshi Group forecasts that it will produce a total of 1,920 by 2033. “We will continue to work with HummingbirdEV to provide modern and innovative solutions for coal mine auxiliary transportation,” said Hanjun Jiang, President of Keshi Group.

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www.apec-conf.org

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CarMax adds a Freightliner electric semi to its logistics fleet CarMax, a major national retailer of used cars, has begun pilot operation of its first electric semi-truck. The company is using a Freightliner eCascadia as a vehicle hauler in California’s San Joaquin Valley. The truck can transport up to seven vehicles at a time, and has a range of around 230 miles, which enables it to efficiently service CarMax’s stores in the region. It will be recharged using a DC charging station at CarMax’s Stockton, California store. CarMax’s plan is to test the electric semi in real-world conditions. The results of the pilot will help the company make decisions on future deployments of electric semitrucks. “We are excited to test the efficiencies of the all-electric semi-truck within our transportation fleet and to see how this vehicle can support our overall sustainability efforts,” said Matt Aman, VP of Logistics at CarMax. CarMax is leasing the eCascadia from Psenske Truck Leasing. “Collaborating with forward-thinking customers like CarMax to use electric trucks within their vehicle delivery operations is important to advancing sustainability in the transportation industry,” said Patrick Watt, VP of Alternative Vehicle and Emerging Technologies at Penske. “These electric semi-trucks are well-suited to meet CarMax’s regional delivery needs while also reducing emissions.”

Image courtesy of Wabtec

Image courtesy of CarMax

THE VEHICLES

Wabtec and Roy Hill to introduce battery-electric heavy-haul freight locomotive US locomotive and railcar manufacturer Wabtec and Roy Hill, an Australian iron ore mining company, recently debuted the FLXdrive battery locomotive at Wabtec’s Pennsylvania design and development center. The locomotive has an energy capacity of 7 MWh and is expected to provide a double-digit-percentage reduction in fuel costs and emissions per train. After final battery installation and track testing, it will be delivered to Roy Hill facilities in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Currently, Roy Hill uses four Wabtec ES44ACi diesel-electric locomotives in a consist to pull trains that are typically 1.6 miles in length and carry more than 36,000 tons of iron ore. Adding the FLXdrive will form a hybrid locomotive consist with the diesel-electrics and provide recharging through regenerative braking. The FLXdrive’s energy management software is designed to control the overall train energy flow and distribution, and its thermal management system uses liquid cooling to withstand Pilbara temperatures that can reach 130° F. “By using regenerative braking, the FLXdrive will charge its battery on the 214-mile downhill run from our mine to the port facility and use that stored energy to return to the mine, starting the cycle all over again. This will not only enable us to realize energy efficiencies but also lower operating costs,” said Gerhard Veldsman, CEO of Group Operations at Hancock Prospecting, the majority owner of Roy Hill.

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Daimler Truck North America (DTNA) has entered into an agreement with Norway-headquartered Hexagon Purus, a manufacturer of e-mobility products, to provide vehicle integration of the electric Freightliner eM2 for vocational applications. The integration will incorporate Hexagon Purus’s battery systems, auxiliary modules, power modules and vehicle-level software. It will include power-take-off options to supply power to the vocational body and the equipment. DTNA introduced the Freightliner eM2 prototype truck with vocational upfit options earlier this year as part of a joint project with truck equipment manufacturers Alamo and Altec, in order to serve vocational customers in the utility, sweeper, dump, construction, towing and refuse segments. The new partnership with Hexagon Purus aims to deliver new products to the vocational vehicle sector that complement DTNA’s currently produced eCascadia and eM2 electric trucks. “With our combined experience, and the battery technology offered by Hexagon Purus, we look forward to yielding effective and flexible solutions for our vocational customers,” said Aaron Scates, VP of Vocational and Medium-Duty Market Development at DTNA.

Image courtesy of Range Energy

Image courtesy of Daimler Trucks

Daimler Truck partners with Hexagon Purus for vocational integration of electric Freightliner eM2

Range Energy’s smart trailers boost electric truck range Towing has always been a sore point with EVs—towing a trailer inevitably eats into range, and towing a massive semi-trailer requires a tractor with a massive battery pack. But what if the trailer itself could share the burden? That’s the idea behind Range Energy, which is developing a trailer that’s equipped with a battery pack, a motor, and intelligent features to maximize efficiency. The trailer can be paired with a legacy diesel-burning rig or an electric tractor such as the Freightliner eCascadia, Volvo VNR or Tesla Semi. Range Energy is led by Ali Javidan, a former Tesla employee who has thought long and hard about towing. “My uncles had car dealerships, mechanic shops, lots of land in Sacramento. Growing up, one of my first experience driving was towing cars from the dealership to the service center, or moving boats around the farm,” he says. Range’s RA-01 trailer sports a motor that powers one of the dual axles, and a battery pack mounted below the trailer body in order to maximize cargo space. A key feature is what Javidan refers to as a “smart kingpin.” The kingpin connects the trailer to the tractor, and Range Energy’s kingpin can exchange data with the tractor, providing “a real-time measurement of how hard the tractor is pulling,” and enabling the trailer to follow the tractor “kind of like an obedient dog on a leash,” as Javidan explains. According to Range, its trailer could add approximately 100 miles of range to the rig (or increase the fuel efficiency of a legacy tractor by 35 to 40 percent). The trailer also features regenerative braking, which can reduce wear and tear on the tractor’s friction brakes and improve stability when traveling downhill. “The second-biggest maintenance item on a trailer after tires is brakes,” says Javidan.

OCT-DEC 2023

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Image courtesy of Blue Bird

THE VEHICLES

Blue Bird delivers 23 electric school buses to Kentucky school district Iconic school bus OEM Blue Bird has delivered 23 electric school buses to Carter County Schools in Kentucky, which operates 11 schools serving some 4,200 students. Carter County Schools purchased the electric bus through Blue Bird’s authorized dealer Central States Bus Sales in Lexington, Kentucky. The district received a $9,085,000 grant through the EPA’s 2022 Clean School Bus Rebate Program. Blue Bird’s newest Vision electric school bus features a number of improvements over the previous-generation model. Its 196 kWh battery pack contains 25 percent more capacity, enabling a range of up to 130 miles, and supports DC fast charging at 80 kW. The new battery pack is also smaller and lighter—Blue Bird was able to reduce vehicle weight by about 1,000 pounds, and increase seating capacity from 72 passengers to 77. Blue Bird says it has more than 1,500 electric school buses in operation today. “We are thrilled to deploy our very first electric school buses to lower the emissions of our school bus fleet,” said Dr. Paul Green, Superintendent of Carter County Schools. “Clean student transportation is one of our top priorities. Blue Bird’s most advanced, zero-emission school buses will help us to create a healthier environment for our students and our communities.”

Under pressure from trucking groups, California agency will delay its drayage diesel ban The California Air Resources Board (CARB) will delay enforcing some of the registration and reporting provisions of its Advanced Clean Fleets regulation, which had been scheduled to take effect at the end of 2023. Under the rule, drayage fleets and other “high-priority” fleets had until December 31 to register any legacy combustion-powered trucks operating at intermodal seaports or railyards. After that date, registering new ICE trucks would effectively be banned, as all new vehicles added to fleets would have to meet zero-emission standards. The decision represents a temporary cease-fire in the war between CARB and the California Trucking Association (CTA), which opposes emissions regulations, and has filed a lawsuit against CARB. The trade group had planned to ask courts for an injunction to halt enforcement of the high-priority fleet rules, on the grounds that the agency lacks the authority to enforce such rules without a waiver from the EPA. In response, CARB circulated an advisory saying that it would not enforce those provisions until the EPA grants such a waiver. However, CARB warned that delayed enforcement does not allow trucking firms to add more legacy vehicles to their fleets—it only makes reporting optional for the moment. Assuming EPA sides with CARB, the agency could “de-register non-compliant vehicles” in the drayage registry. This means that, if a company buys new diesel-powered trucks, it could risk losing the ability to use those trucks at California ports. CARB aims to force the trucking industry to electrify by means of two complementary sets of regulations: the Advanced Clean Trucks rule and the Advanced Clean Fleets rule. Last April, EPA granted CARB a waiver to enforce the Advanced Clean Trucks rule. The Western States Trucking Association, another trade group, has filed two lawsuits challenging both rules. California offers a range of subsidy and rebate programs to help operators defray the up-front cost of electric trucks, but as always, complying with the regs is likely to be more challenging for smaller operators.

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THE VEHICLES

KIA EV9 AND ARE THEY 2024’S MOST IMPORTANT EVS?

Image courtesy of KIA

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VOLVO EX30 One’s a three-row midsize SUV under $60,000; the other’s a compact hatchback that starts in the mid-30s. Now we’ve driven both.

Image courtesy of Volvo

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THE VEHICLES

Images courtesy of KIA

Kia EV9

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By John Voelcker hoosing “best of ” or “most important” new cars is always dicey, and doubly so with electric vehicles. New entries are announced virtually every month, and picking the models that will be most important throughout 2024 is a risky thing to do in January. Still, the 2024 Kia EV9 and 2025 Volvo EX30 stand out as particularly important EVs for 2024. Each is the fi rst entry into a particular segment, and both are very good cars. We’ve now driven both, and we can confi rm that each should fi nd eager buyers. We fully expected to have one or two contenders from General Motors’ ambitious lineup of Ultiumbased vehicles contending for the Most Important title. We’re not holding our breath for that mythical $30,000 Chevrolet Equinox EV, but we figured retail versions of Chevy’s Silverado EV pickup truck and Blazer EV SUV would have reached the market by now. They haven’t, and GM is clearly struggling to overcome a host of startup production problems with its Ultium vehicles—sales of which have remained far, far below the company’s own goals.

Kia EV9: the first mass-market 3-row electric SUV Because it’s a mid-size SUV with three rows of seats, Kia’s next EV—and its largest to date—should be a familiar and appealing product for North American buyers. There may be high-end offerings like the Tesla Model X, Rivian R1S and Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV, but no mass-market brand has yet brought a three-row SUV to the US market. (The Tesla Model Y’s sloping roofline severely limits space in its optional third row; those seats are unusable by most adults, even taller teens.) That means Kia—not Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Nissan, or any other maker—will bring the first electric SUV under $60,000 to the US market with a third row usable by almost any passenger. Its sibling Hyundai will follow with its own version, the Ioniq 7, sometime during 2024. But the first Kia EV9s are starting to arrive at dealerships as you read this. Moreover, the EV9 won the 2024 North American Utility of the Year award in January, voted on by a panel of 50 automotive journalists from the US and Canada chosen by their peers. The first several months’ worth of EV9s will be built in South Korea, but US production will start sometime during 2024 in West Point, Georgia. That will clear the

Kia—not Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Nissan, or any other maker— will bring the first electric SUV under $60,000 to the US market with a third row usable by almost any passenger. first hurdle to qualify Kia’s electric three-row utility for the $7,500 federal purchase incentive (details on battery minerals and assembly are yet to be revealed). Waiting may save buyers money, though some will choose to avoid the earliest examples of a new model built in a new factory. As usual, high-end versions of the EV9 are likely to arrive before the least expensive versions.

Blocky but wind-cheating While it’s more aerodynamic than it looks, the EV9’s flat sides and blocky, square-cut lines fall into the heart of the current SUV market. Built on the company’s E-GMP platform—which already underpins two Hyundais, the Kia EV6 and the Genesis GV60—the big electric utility vehicle takes full advantage of the proportions allowed by EV hardware. Its blocky styling is still sleeker than most gasoline three-row SUVs, and it attracted looks both when parked and on the highway. Overall, the EV9 is roughly the same size as Kia’s very popular Telluride three-row gasoline SUV. The two are less than an inch apart in length, width and height, but the electric EV9 has a wheelbase almost 9 inches longer, allowing room for a rear seat usable by real adults—not always the case in three-row midsize utes. Priced at $56,395, the entry-level EV9 Light has a 76.1-kilowatt-hour battery powering a single 160-kilowatt (215-horsepower) motor. Its range is estimated at 230 miles; it’s the price leader that will lure buyers into the showroom. At $4,300 more, the larger 99.8 kWh battery option for the Light Long Range may be more popular; it’s estimated to provide 304 miles of range in rear-wheel-drive form, using a slightly less powerful 148 kW (201 hp) motor. Mid-level trims (Wind, at $65,395, and Land, $6,000

OCT-DEC 2023

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THE VEHICLES The ride, handling, and roadholding were exemplary— though it lacks the sudden, thrilling thrust a few of its smaller siblings offer. That’s probably fine for a family hauler. more) come with dual motors delivering a total of 283 kW (379 hp) to power all four wheels, and are rated at 280 miles of range. The top trim GT-Line model, also with dual motors but a higher maximum torque rating, has an estimated range of 270 miles and starts at $75,395. All prices include a mandatory destination fee of $1,495.

Impressive inside and out A few hours spent driving two different preproduction EV9 models in August made it clear that Kia has done its homework on this most American of EVs. A three-day loan in December simply confirmed the impression. The interior was packed full of useful storage pockets, cubbies and shelves; the third row was adequately easy to enter and exit; and the ride, handling, and roadholding were exemplary. Though it lacks the sudden, thrilling thrust a few of its smaller siblings offer, that’s probably fine for a family hauler. For a large electric SUV, it reported relative efficiency, with a total of 2.5 miles per kWh over 290 miles that encompassed two-thirds highway speeds and one-third around-town use. As always in Kia EVs, the iPedal mode for one-pedal driving has to be re-engaged not only with each on/off cycle, but even after switching into Reverse, then back to Drive. Learnable, but annoying when vehicles like the Chevy Bolt EV hold onto those settings through power cycles. The cockpit design evolves on that seen in earlier Kia models. A pair of 12.3-inch screens is split by a 5.0-inch display, emphasizing the horizontal width of the cock-

Kia EV9

Image courtesy of KIA

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THE VEHICLES pit. We got used to tapping to toggle between “+” for the home screen and “X” for on-screen ventilation controls. The twin-tier console floats between the two front seats, with a drawer beneath it accessible from the middle row. That second row comes either with a bench seat offering three positions, or reclining individual captains’ chairs. It’s truly capacious, handily accommodating our large 6-foot friend Ben with room to spare. Taller occupants (though perhaps not Ben) will fit in the third row, though they’ll have to negotiate for legroom with second-row riders. Storage space is 20.2 cubic feet behind the third row, or 43.5 cu ft with the third row folded. Folding down both rows gives a whopping 81.9 cu ft. Of all the mass-market brands sold in the US, Kia may have seemed the least likely to pioneer an EV in this core SUV segment. Unless, that is, you’ve been following Hyundai-Kia’s aggressive and ambitious approach to electric models across its range. Still, the top end of the EV9 range bumps up against the low end of the Rivian R1S lineup. Whether shoppers see the two brands as comparable is very much up for debate.

Volvo EX30

Volvo EX30: small and inexpensive, but is it premium? At the other end of the scale from the large 3-row Kia EV9 is the Volvo EX30. It’s Volvo’s smallest-ever SUV, and also the fastest-accelerating car the company has sold. It’s a subcompact SUV designed first and foremost for Europe, where it’s a starter family car—sized well for tight city streets and alleys, or the winding one-and-ahalf-lane roads that connect rural villages. In North America, the EX30 is small enough that four full-size American adults will find it too tight for more than short trips. Instead, Volvo says, the little electric SUV might be the first new car for a young professional or a new couple, or empty-nesters who want to downsize

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Images courtesy of Volvo

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THE VEHICLES

Images courtesy of Volvo

For customers used to the comfortable, clean Scandinavian modern interiors of higher-end Volvos, with pale woods and available leather, some of the sustainable plastics may prove jarring. their second or third vehicle now that they’re done hauling kids and their gear. On the outside, it’s clearly a Volvo, from the upright SUV stance to the brand’s characteristic “ironmark” logo (better known as the male symbol) on the plate where a grille would be. Like the larger XC40 Recharge, it’s relatively slab-sided and upright, and its 7.0-inch ground clearance and other characteristics define it as a light-duty truck (not a passenger car) under NHTSA rules.

Inside, car shoppers may stretch to view it as premium: a plethora of sustainable and recycled surfaces includes spotted hard plastics made of ground-up window frames, and other materials made from blue jeans, soda bottles and so forth. The starkness of the plastics is emphasized by a single 12.3-inch central touchscreen display through which all information arrives and almost all vehicle functions are controlled. It’s the closest thing yet to a Tesla Model Y presentation, and almost as simple to use, once you learn it. Thankfully, wipers have proper controls on the indicator stalk—unlike in Tes-

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EV Battery Manufacturing?

You NEED Conveyors

Volvo EX30

las—though a few other functions were more buried than we’d have liked. Does this new EV live up to the Volvo premium brand? There’s no wood, and no leather. To be fair, the pale grey Pixel Knit woven textile feels like cloth, as does the deep blue Indigo fabric. But for customers used to the comfortable, clean Scandinavian modern interiors of higher-end Volvos, with pale woods and available leather, some of the sustainable plastics may prove jarring.

From quick enough to rocket On the road, the EX30 excels. The single-motor, rear-wheeldrive version was quick enough for any urban or highway situation we encountered during test drives of pre-production versions that spanned seven hours over two October days in and around Barcelona, Spain.

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THE VEHICLES

Dropping the twin-motor version into Performance mode turned it into a rocket. Volvo quotes 3.4 seconds for 0-60 mph acceleration, and we believe it. The twin-motor version felt somewhat faster as standard, but dropping it into Performance mode (an inconspicuous tap button buried in a vehicle menu on the center screen) turned it into a rocket. Volvo quotes 3.4 seconds for 0-60 mph acceleration, and we believe it. While the acceleration isn’t quite as abrupt and kickyou-in-the-kidneys fast as top-end Teslas can get, it’s entertaining and addictive. Thankfully the friction brakes are suitably beefy to haul it back just as fast. The EX30s we drove were quiet under any circumstance we encountered, with no audible motor or electronics whine and very little wind noise. They held the road well and felt confident and capable cornering on the switchbacks and narrow winding roads in the hills outside Barcelona. Our main complaint about the driving experience was the EX30’s exceptionally light regenerative braking—whose alternative is no regen at all. It felt closer to that of a hybrid with a 1.5 kWh battery than an EV with a battery 50 times that size. Even the development team seemed split on whether they should offer an option for stronger regen, which seemingly a number of reporters and reviewers had suggested. Keeping it light prevents drivers new to EVs from being startled by the experience of strong regenerative braking, said one powertrain engineer. But the product chief acknowledged that the issue isn’t settled, and that experienced EV drivers clearly preferred a stronger regenerative function. Consider this one a work in progress.

Images courtesy of Volvo

Volvo EX30

Sustainability a key Volvo is now hitting the sustainability message hard.

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EX30s to come from Europe, once that line is up and running, to avoid import tariffs on China-built vehicles. Chinese assembly and sourcing is likely one of the reasons the EX30 can carry a starting price of just $36,245 (including a mandatory delivery fee of $1,295). That’s almost $12,000 lower than the sales-weighted average transaction price of all new US auto models. A top-end, dual-motor EX30 is still priced below $50,000.

It already benefits from a well-known and well-respected brand with an impeccable safety reputation. Now, add sustainability to the safety: Volvo says it will sell only battery-electric vehicles from 2030, and the entire company will be carbon-neutral by 2040. The EX30 will be a big part of that. It should do well in European markets that know the brand, buy lots of B-segment cars (also more and more utility vehicles), and now eagerly opt for electric powertrains. Volvo claims the EX30 is the most sustainable vehicle it’s built to date. Part of that is its small size (meaning fewer materials overall), along with recycled materials, the relative efficiency of an EV powertrain in a smaller vehicle, and sustainable power for the factory where it’s built. That factory is in Zhangjiakou, China. The EX30 was the first high-volume Volvo planned to be built only in China, for export to all global markets. In October, though, Volvo announced that, due to positive public reaction and high demand, it would add production of the EX30 to its factory in Ghent, Belgium, where the current XC40 Recharge and C40 EVs are built. Expect US

Expanding Volvo’s audience “We’ve gotten an amazing reception, with way more pre-orders and hand-raisers than we expected,” said Mike Cottone, CEO of Volvo Cars in North America. “And it will add new consumers to the brand—80 percent of those people are new to Volvo.” Volvo execs in Barcelona fi rmly declined to specify US sales targets, but said they expected the EX30 to become “one of our higher-volume models.” Indeed, in today’s US market, an entry-level, all-electric Volvo SUV with 265 or 275 miles of EPA-rated battery range, starting under $40,000, is a compelling proposition. Moreover, the EX30 has zero direct competition in North America. The closest EVs to its size, the Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV, are to go out of production in November 2023—and Chevy is hardly the premium brand that Volvo is. Nor are Hyundai or Kia, which offer the Kona Electric and Niro EV, respectively. But, like the Bolt pair, neither of those cars offers all-wheel drive as the EX30 does. Order books were originally scheduled to open in November, but Volvo has delayed that to the early part of this year—with fi rst customer deliveries in the US and Canada now scheduled to start sometime this summer. For now, if you want a small EV from a premium brand, the EX30 is your only option. Audi, BMW, Genesis, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz only offer electric SUVs in larger and much pricier segments. For that reason, the EX30 stands alone—and that makes it an important, and affordable, EV for this year. Kia and Volvo respectively provided airfare, lodging and meals to enable Charged to bring you this firstperson report. The author of this article is one of 50 jurors from the automotive media who vote on the annual North American Car, Truck and Utility of the Year awards.

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Image courtesy of Kempower

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

BMW, Ford and Honda to create Kempower introduces new company to facilitate EV Megawatt Charging System for grid services In September, BMW, Ford and Honda agreed to form an heavy-duty EVs equally owned company named ChargeScape to create Kempower, a Finnish manufacturer of DC fast charging solutions, has added hardware based on the Megawatt Charging System to its offerings. A Kempower spokesperson confirmed to Charged that the company’s MCS solution will be compliant with CharIN specifications. The new Kempower Megawatt Charging System is based on the company’s existing technology, including its high-power satellite with MCS liquid-cooled charging plug and two 600 kW Kempower Power Units. The company plans to begin deliveries in Europe during the first quarter of 2024. The first delivered Kempower MCS solution will offer a total power level of 1.2 megawatts. “Electric trucks are typically charged with a DC fast charger either overnight, at a warehouse destination, or on the move along highways. Larger EVs need larger power sources. Our megawatt charging solution serves all those use cases: overnight, destination and on-themove charging,” said Jussi Vanhanen, Chief Market Officer of Kempower. Vanhanen called MCS “the technology the world has been waiting for to help launch sustainable transportation into the future.” He added, “Vehicle charging will be the fastest drivers have ever experienced, and with Kempower’s full-service solutions, truck fleet owners can count on reliable charging when and where they need it.”

a platform connecting electric utilities, automakers and interested EV customers. It is expected to be operational early in 2024. ChargeScape is designed to increase the value EVs can provide to the electric grid and to enable EV customers to earn financial rewards through managed charging and energy-sharing services. ChargeScape’s single platform builds on years of cross-industry collaboration on the open vehicle-grid integration platform. It is designed to eliminate the need for individual integrations between each automotive brand and each electric utility, and to give electric utilities access to EV battery power across a broad range of EVs. The platform will provide energy data to electric utilities and system operators, and EV customers will be able to financially benefit by charging at grid-friendly times and to share energy with the grid during times of peak demand through vehicle-to-grid applications. “ChargeScape aims to accelerate the expansion of smart charging and vehicle-to-everything solutions all over the country, while increasing customer benefits, supporting the stability of the grid and helping to maximize renewable energy usage,” said Thomas Ruemenapp, VP Engineering, BMW of North America.

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Image courtesy of Siemens

Siemens eMobility’s new electric vehicle charger, VersiCharge Blue, is currently in full production at the company’s Carrollton, Texas manufacturing facility, and is now going into commercial deployment. The Level 2 AC charger is designed for all applications, including commercial sites, parking garages and light- to medium-duty fleets. The VersiCharge Blue charger offers up to 11.5 kW of power, and is EnergyStar Certified. It comes with a 25-foot cable and a five-year warranty. It is fully Buy American compliant to meet federal EV infrastructure funding requirements, and can easily be purchased under government contracts such as GSA, GSA-BPA and Sourcewell. “Getting our Carrollton facility fully operational in just a few months, and VersiCharge Blue already coming off the production line, demonstrates our ability to quickly and efficiently scale to meet market demand,” said John DeBoer, head of Siemens eMobility, North America. “With this expansion, we are further advancing our goal to deploy 1 million EV chargers for the US market.” Siemens eMobility continues to expand its US manufacturing footprint. This fall, it will open a clean room at its Carrollton facility for the manufacture of high-tech electronic assemblies for EVs. In Wendell, North Carolina, Siemens manufactures the company’s DC charger for eBus and eTruck depot charging, SICHARGE UC, and has developed an apprenticeship, internship and training program to prepare the EV workforce. The company also continues to test and explore EV technology at its 600-person R&D hub in Peachtree Corners, Georgia.

vider Cyber Switching has launched a new made-in-America EV charging station. The Cyber Charger C1 is a 48 A Level 2 charging station designed for commercial properties and multi-family homes. Under the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, hardware used in federally-funded EV infrastructure projects must be entirely made in America, and use at least 55% domestic materials. Many companies are concerned that this will push up costs. However, Cyber Switching says its new C1 charger, which meets BIL requirements, is one of the most cost-efficient chargers on the market. The Cyber Charger C1 design incorporates dynamic load management, and connects with the AmpUp mobile app, a pre-commissioned EV software platform. The user interface offers operators real-time visibility and control over power use, energy costs and station status. The C1 is OCPP-compliant, and can be white-labeled, so commercial properties can add their own branding. Other features include remote troubleshooting and an operating temperature range from -22 to 140° F. “While EV adoption is growing exponentially, the US is working hard to ensure its infrastructure can keep up with the demand, while also supporting domestically manufactured products,” says Nick Zamanov, Director of Business Development at Cyber Switching. “We have taken our technology one step further with our newest charging station. Our three decades of power management experience ensure our EV chargers are more efficient and reliable than ever before.”

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Image courtesy of Cyber Switching

Cyber Switching’s new Cyber Charger C1 is a made-inNew Siemens VersiCharge America commercial EV Blue EV charger now in volume charger production at Texas factory EV technology pro-

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Image courtesy of Shell

Image courtesy of Go Eve

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Shell opens enormous EV charging station at airport in China Shell has opened an EV charging station in Shenzhen, China, which it says is the company’s largest in the world. The Shell Recharge Shenzhen Airport EV Station offers 258 public fast-charging points. It is located about 2.5 kilometers from the Shenzhen Airport Terminal. The facility is jointly operated by Shenzhen Shell and BYD. During trial operation, it served more than 3,300 EVs per day. Amenities include Shell Select convenience retailing, a Shell Café, vending machines and a drivers’ lounge. Rooftop solar panels have the capacity to generate about 300,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per year. “We know that EV drivers are looking for a charging experience that is fast, convenient and comfortable,” said István Kapitány, Shell’s Global Executive VP for Mobility, “and this is reflected in the utilization rates of our sites in China, which are two to three times the local industry average. China is one of the most important growth markets for Shell Mobility.”

Go Eve secures US patent for its multi-EV charging DockChain technology Anglo-Irish EV charging firm Go Eve has secured a US patent for its DockChain technology, which is preparing to enter the US market in early 2024. The solution enables an existing EV charger to serve multiple vehicles. The patent encompasses both Level 2 AC and DC fast charging, as well as future applications such as wireless and bidirectional charging. DockChain enables an extendable daisy chain of compact terminals, each serving a single parking bay. A software protocol facilitates the sequential connection of each vehicle to the power source charger and manages priorities in a virtual queue. Customers can choose to manage the charging sequence in several ways: firstcome first-served; charging the most depleted batteries first; or using a booking system. Go Eve will initially introduce its technology by applying it to DC fast chargers. The goal is to make the cost comparable to that of Level 2 AC charging. “DockChain is ideal for large fleets and destination car parks—anywhere where there’s a bit of vehicle dwell time and the benefit of being able to fast charge in any space,” said John Goodbody, co-founder and Marketing Director of Go Eve. “DockChain complements existing charger manufacturers, providing a solution to extend their DC chargers.” Earlier this year, Go Eve secured £3 million in its first funding round, bringing its total valuation to £12.6 million.

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Enphase Energy has launched its new Enphase IQ EV Charger in the US and Canada. The IQ is designed to seamlessly integrate into Enphase’s solar and battery system to help homeowners maximize savings by charging their EVs directly from solar photovoltaic systems. The Enphase IQ is WiFi-enabled and includes smart control and monitoring capabilities. It can be programmed to charge an EV from the grid or from solar panels, depending on which is cheaper at the time. The IQ EV Chargers comes in multiple power levels, from 32 amperes to 64 amperes, and is equipped with a J1772 connector. The NEMA 4-rated enclosure is suitable for most weather conditions. All of Enphase’s EV charging solutions are safety-certified by ETL and include a 5-year limited warranty along with 24/7 customer support. “As a solar contractor that has installed Enphase microinverters for my customers since 2009, I’m glad to see the IQ EV Chargers join Enphase’s product ecosystem,” said Louis Woofenden, owner and Engineering Director of Net Zero Solar. “I was excited to try out this improved smart charger on the Enphase platform with ClipperCreek heritage. It’s so helpful to be able to easily schedule charge times, manually start and stop charging my EV, and monitor my EV energy use—all from the Enphase App on my phone.” Installers and distributors in North America can order the new IQ EV Charger immediately, and consumers can buy it directly from the Enphase Store.

Image courtesy of Designwerk Image courtesy of Enphase Energy

Enphase Energy’s IQ EV Charger allows charging directly from solar panels

Swiss firm Designwerk presents container-sized Mega Charger for commercial EVs Designwerk Technologies, based in Winterthur, Switzerland, has developed a new DC fast charging station for commercial EVs that’s packaged in a container format. After a year of development, the company has now presented the new charger to some 80 industry experts. Designwerk’s Mega Charger is a battery-buffered charging station with two CCS charging points, each with maximum power output of 420 kW. The container-sized charging station is equipped with batteries with a capacity of up to 2 MWh, in order to avoid burdening the power grid at peak demand times. The company says sales have already begun. The technology on which the Mega Charger is based originates from an ongoing demonstration project that aims to build a charging station with a charging capacity of 1.05 megawatts per charging point, based on the Megawatt Charging System (MCS) standard. According to Designwerk, there are currently no vehicles supporting the MCS standard on Swiss roads. Switzerland’s first megawatt charging station is scheduled to go into operation at Galliker Transport in 2024. “With its battery-buffered Mega Charger stations, Designwerk has impressively demonstrated where our industry is heading in terms of electromobility,” said Andreas Burgener, Director of auto-schweiz, an association of automobile importers. “I think it makes sense to design charging stations to be scalable and to take standards such as the MCS into account. The demonstration system at Galliker Transport will show what a megawatt charging station for heavy commercial vehicles could look like one day.”

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Volvo Trucks introduces Turnkey Solutions fleet management program in North America Volvo Trucks, along with partners InCharge Energy, a developer of commercial EV charging systems, and Gilbarco Veeder-Root, a supplier of retail and fueling products, has launched its Turnkey Solutions process. This is designed to help fleet customers procure EV charging infrastructure products and services, plan installation, take advantage of incentives, and interface with utility companies. “Identifying sources for charging infrastructure can be an overwhelming task for fleet managers,” said Peter Voorhoeve, President, Volvo Trucks North America, “so now all aspects of EV charging are covered through the Turnkey Solutions program.” According to Volvo, the program encompasses every step of the process of developing charging infrastructure, from order to operation, including charging hardware, software, permitting, installation, interaction with utility companies and equipment maintenance. Quotes from InCharge Energy and Gilbarco Veeder-Root allow customers to make decisions on moving forward with a one-stop-shop solution. Customers signing up for the Turnkey Solutions program are paired with a Volvo Trucks dealer to advise them on flexible pathways for managing infrastructure development.

ChargePoint’s new 500 kW DC fast charging platform to power Mercedes charging network

Image courtesy of ChargePoint

Image courtesy of Volvo Trucks

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

EV charging powerhouse ChargePoint has developed a new DC fast charging platform that can deliver charging speeds up to 500 kW. In the first large-scale deployment of the new Express Plus Power Link 2000 system, it will power Mercedes-Benz’s new HPC NA charging network, which the automaker is touting as a premium network commensurate with its luxury vehicles. “With the deployment of Express Plus Power Link 2000, ChargePoint is setting a new standard by offering sustained, ultra-high-speed charging for all EV drivers,” said Rick Wilmer, COO of ChargePoint. “We congratulate Mercedes-Benz on the launch of their HPC NA network, and we look forward to boosting the availability of fast, reliable public DC charging on North American roads.” Express Plus is a modular DC fast charging platform. The architecture is based upon Power Blocks, each of which can house up to five Power Modules to reach a desired charging specification. The Power Blocks deliver power that can be dynamically shared among Power Link charging stations, which feature liquid-cooled cables. Each station can simultaneously charge two vehicles at once, at sustained speeds of up to 500 kW. The Power Blocks intelligently and dynamically allocate power based on what specific vehicles can accommodate as they charge. The ChargePoint software behind the plugs includes a couple of new features, including preferential charger access via a reservation system, and automatic payment functionality via Plug & Charge. (Authentication via card, app or user interface is still possible, but not required for Plug & Charge-capable vehicles.)

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Public fast charging network EVgo has received the first shipment of 350 kW fast chargers from Delta Electronics that are manufactured according to Build America, Buy America Act (BABA) standards. Delivered from Delta Electronics’ recently opened factory in Plano, Texas, this first shipment marks a milestone in developing the domestic supply chain needed to unlock funding through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program. Delta has delivered 10 chargers to date, and EVgo expects to receive additional 350 kW BABA-compliant chargers from Delta Electronics later this year. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes $7.5 billion in funding for EV charging stations. Delta’s equipment is manufactured to meet BABA standards issued by the Federal Highway Administration, which is required for any charging stations that receive federal funding. To date, EVgo and its eXtend partners have been selected for millions in preliminary awards from NEVI programs in Ohio, Colorado and Pennsylvania. “As states award their initial round of NEVI funding, the arrival of EVgo’s first batch of BABA fast chargers— with incredible speed for onshoring—signals both a tremendous moment for domestic charger manufacturing and for additional public funding opportunities as more states announce their awards,” said Dennis Kish, COO of EVgo. EVgo is also actively working with its suppliers to help ensure future chargers will integrate Tesla’s NACS system.

SolarEdge Technologies has unveiled a new bidirectional DC EV charger that will enable solar-powered Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) and Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) functionalities. Based on SolarEdge’s DC-coupled architecture, the new charger enables an EV to be charged directly from a photovoltaic system, with no unnecessary AC-to-DC power conversions. According to SolarEdge, it can provide DC fast charging at up to 24 kW by simultaneously drawing electricity from a PV array, a home battery and the grid, bypassing the home’s AC infrastructure and the limitations of the car’s onboard charger. SolarEdge explains that its charger enables an EV battery to function as a home energy storage solution, either on- or off-grid, for backup electric power during an outage (V2H). It can also theoretically be used for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) applications if supported by the local utility.

Webasto launches towable charging station for electric airport ground equipment Webasto Charging Systems, a manufacturer of EV charging technology, has launched a new charging station for airport ground support equipment (GSE). AmpCart was developed by JBT AeroTech, a subsidiary of Oshkosh, which builds specialty vehicles and equipment. AmpCart is a towable charging station designed to enable electric GSE to access power anywhere on the ramp. AmpCart offers Webasto’s MVS chargers, including the MVS800 charging system, which can charge up to 12 vehicles at once and includes several charger ports.

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Image courtesy of Webasto

Image courtesy of EVgo

EVgo receives first shipment of Buy America 350 kW DC fast chargers from Delta Electronics

SolarEdge unveils new bidirectional DC-coupled EV charger

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WeaveGrid and Wallbox to offer utility-managed smart charging, starting in Colorado California-based EV charging software developer WeaveGrid and Spanish EV charging equipment supplier Wallbox have partnered to expand North American Wallbox owners’ access to utility-managed charging programs, beginning with Xcel Energy’s Charging Perks Program in Colorado. The program optimizes residential EV charging times to align with low power grid demand and high availability of renewable energy (mainly wind power in Colorado). Wallbox charger owners who enroll in the program can receive cash incentives and save money by charging at low-cost times. The two companies plan to expand these capabilities to Wallbox charger owners across the US. “Our goal,” said Yakov Berenshteyn, WeaveGrid Director of Automotive and Charging Partnerships, “is to remove barriers to EV adoption, and this partnership helps make EV charging more affordable, reliable and clean for Wallbox owners.”

Image courtesy of Ford

Image courtesy of Wallbox

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Ford and Resideo to conduct V2H energy management pilot Ford and home automation company Resideo Technologies have announced a joint V2H simulation project called EV-Home Power Partnership. The project involves pairing the bidirectional EV charging of Ford’s F-150 Lightning with a Resideo smart thermostat to explore the potential of the EV batteries to optimize home energy management, reduce customer electricity costs and relieve strain on the electric grid. The project is expected to be completed by the first half of 2024. It is designed to assess how coordination of a bidirectional EV and a smart thermostat can reduce a home’s overall energy needs during times of electric grid stress and minimize energy usage during the most expensive hours by controlling the thermostat to match a consumer’s time-of-use electricity rate. It will also assess how coordination between the battery and the thermostat can leverage cleaner energy from the grid if renewable energy is readily available. “The two largest contributors to an individual’s carbon emission footprint are usually their car and the heating and cooling of their home,” said Dana Huth, EVP and Chief Revenue Officer, Resideo. “With this project, we can discover new ways for F-150 Lightning owners to use their EV battery to power their home’s heating and cooling and optimize their home’s comfort and energy use.”

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ENVIROSPARK HAS INSTALLED OVER

7,800 CHARGING PLUGS HERE’S WHAT THE COMPANY HAS LEARNED. EnviroSpark runs its own EV charging network and helps others, including Tesla, Volkswagen and Ford, with installations and operations. By Charles Morris he parlous state of public charging reliability has emerged as a major roadblock to wider EV adoption, and the entire industry is going through a soul-searching phase, trying to identify the roots of the problems and correct them. Contrary to what some might assume, most public charger malfunctions aren’t the result of drivers abusing or damaging the hardware. Numerous charging industry experts have told Charged that the seeds of reliability problems are often sown during the plan-

Q&A with founder and CEO Aaron Luque.

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Image courtesy of EnviroSpark

EnviroSpark’s design and installation teams have learned a thing or two about how to do it right the fi rst time (and what can happen if somebody doesn’t). Founder and CEO Aaron Luque shared with us some of the insights his company has gained about how to design and build a charging project that will be efficient and reliable. Q Charged: Would you describe what you do as a

turnkey service?

A Aaron Luque: It’s fully turnkey and it’s vertically

integrated. We set out to be able to do everything inhouse—we can find the sites, do all the site design work, pull the permits, dig the trenches, run the conduit, install the breakers, and do the utility coordination, as well as provide and maintain the chargers and software to operate them. When we got into the industry in 2014, EV charging was a relatively new thing for electricians and general contractors to try to take on. And even to this day, I don’t know of any other companies that are contractors that specialize only in this type of work at a national scale. So, I think we were able to provide a lot of value to those companies that were looking to do this at scale. Over the last 10 years we’ve been held to the highest standards of quality and workmanship by groups like Tesla and Volkswagen, and we’ve been able to leverage that experience to be the best partner possible for our current and future clients.

ning and installation process, before the fi rst EV plugs in. EnviroSpark is a vertically-integrated installer and operator of EV charging stations—it handles electrical design, permitting, inspections, construction and installation, as well as ongoing operation and maintenance. In addition to running its own network, the company is responsible for the installation of more than 7,800 charging stations for Tesla, Volkswagen, major utilities and others, and is currently working with Ford to deploy charging infrastructure at dozens of its US dealerships.

Too many cooks Q Charged: I suspect that a big reason for the poor reliability of public charging stations is that a dozen different companies might be involved in installation and deployment. Does having everything in-house help to avoid reliability issues? A Aaron Luque: That’s a great point. What we found

early on when the market was disjointed, let’s say somebody else had their electricians run the electrical wiring and we’re doing the final connections, we have no control over the quality of the design or the runs for the circuits. Maybe a station starts acting up, we send our maintenance guys out to look at it, and we determine there’s an issue with the circuit. Then maybe the electrician comes out and says, “No, it’s the charger.” And we say, “No, we’ve

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE

already tested the charger.” Meanwhile the stations aren’t working and everybody’s upset because you have people finger-pointing. It’s the same thing with communication. If the client wanted to save a few bucks on the monthly fee for us to operate the stations for them, they could provide us access to their network. But then let’s say their IT team updates the firewall or something, or the router goes down, people are calling us, they’re angry our stations aren’t working, and then we have to get on the phone with their IT department. It’s our name on the stations a lot of the time. And it actually wasn’t an issue on our end. So we prefer to do everything. We have our own wireless network that we’ve set up for the stations. Unless it’s somebody like Tesla that has their own network.

Maintenance: Who, me? Q Charged: Even when a site gets designed and built efficiently, I imagine ongoing maintenance is still critical. A Aaron Luque: In the early days, when very few

vehicles on the road were EVs, many sites that were hosting charging stations were only doing so because an incentive or rebate program was footing the bill. The early programs, whether through government, utilities or auto manufacturers, would typically only cover the initial hardware and installation, but not any of the maintenance or upkeep. The flaws in these types of programs didn’t present themselves until years later, when the stations would start experiencing issues and there were no maintenance programs in place or funding available for repairs. The site hosts in many instances did not want to pay for repairs on something they received for free, which would lead to defunct and inoperable stations and ultimately less-than-ideal driver experiences. Another example is that early charging station manufacturers used to install 3G communication modules in all their stations. When cellular providers discontinued 3G service, 100% of these stations stopped being able to run transactions, report problems or be accessed remotely for troubleshooting. With tens of thousands of stations in the wild using 3G at the time of its discontinuation, you can see how this might present a reliability issue. The same issue about

Image courtesy of EnviroSpark

who should pay to resolve these types of problems after installation played out in this scenario as well. The good news is that all parties involved, including governments, utilities and EV manufacturers, have identified these challenges and are addressing them, so that five years from now we will not be experiencing the same issues. Tesla is a great example of this. Q Charged: It sounds like Tesla has done a good job

of following up and making sure that the brand didn’t get damaged by reliability problems. Other companies not so much. A Aaron Luque: You’re right about that. So much of

their brand and their ability to sell vehicles hinges on the strength of their charging network, and they’ve done a lot to ensure that confidence in their network remains high. With regards to other companies, they are now fully aware of the impact of reliability, and they are all working diligently to try and attain the same levels of driver confidence that Tesla currently enjoys. The fact that most rebate and subsidy providers now demand a minimum 5-year maintenance plan as a part of the funding requirements doesn’t hurt either.

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Q Charged: You’ve done installs for Tesla on both Destination Chargers and Superchargers. In the latter case, you just do the install, right? A Aaron Luque: That’s correct. With Destination

Charging we would help fi nd sites as well as design and build them. With Supercharging it was more like they would already have the site identified and hand us a set of prints and say, “build this,” and then we go pull the permit and we do the construction work for them. In the old days we were a go-between. Now we are supporting the design part, and then Tesla is actually working directly with the client on the approvals. They’re basing it on our design, and then they have a direct contract that now solves that issue with the maintenance and the upkeep.

Connectivity is key Q Charged: I used to assume that charging networks wanted their stations connected to the internet because they wanted to gather data on their customers. But after talking with so many charging industry experts, I understand that it also provides resources for monitoring uptime and diagnosing problems remotely. A Aaron Luque: Absolutely. We used to install a lot of what you would probably call dumb stations, because I just wanted to do whatever was best for the customer and get them the basics of what they needed. Some would say, “Hey, I don’t care about the data, I just want people to be able to plug in and charge.” We used to see a lot more of that. Now the vast majority are smart chargers with that cellular component. This comes with a lot of benefits. We’re not relying on drivers to report problems, or on an internet connection provided by site hosts. We have direct access to the chargers. We can be proactive in our monitoring and in our maintenance agreements with the client. Our goal is for the client and drivers to never even know that there was an issue on a station. We can find out immediately if something doesn’t report in, or if it reports in with a problem. A lot of times we can remotely troubleshoot now because everything is networked, and if we need to, we can get somebody out within 24 to 48 hours to fix it in

With Tesla's Destination Charging we would help find sites as well as design and build them. With Supercharging it was more like they would already have the site identified and hand us a set of prints and say, “build this.” most cases. The Level 3s are a little bit more nuanced and complex, and sometimes we have to get parts that we don’t have in stock to do repairs, but on the Level 2 side, we stock all the different Level 2 chargers, so if something needs to be repaired and it’s not checking in, we just show up and swap it out. Q Charged: It sounds like dumb stations are on their

way out, because you want to have that capability to monitor them.

A Aaron Luque: Yeah, and I would think the customers would too. We’re really seeing the value in maintenance now. After installing 7,800-plus stations and maintaining those over time or getting the calls for the stuff that’s out of warranty, we have realized that there is significant value in having connectivity.

Avoiding utility bottlenecks Q Charged: You work with a lot of utilities. I constantly hear people in your line of work saying, “These utilities take forever, they’re slow.” And then I speak to people at the utilities and they say, “Well, it’s not us.” I know the advice you’re going to give is to talk to the utilities early in the process. But what other tips would you give for somebody doing an install? How can they avoid those utility bottlenecks? A Aaron Luque: I hate to shamelessly use it as a plug

for us, but I’ll say, use us or someone like us who has a

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE relationship with the utility. That’s a benefit for us on multiple fronts, the fact that we’ve worked with most of the major utilities and permitting jurisdictions, so we understand on the utility side how we need to design things and who we need to call to get confirmation that we can build things the way we plan to. That’s a big part of what we do on the front end, verifying that we can build it the way that we want to, and that they can bring in the power that we need. Especially these big installs. Anything on the DC fast 480 V side, you’re typically having to do some level of utility coordination of electrical upgrades. You can design it, but if the transformer doesn’t have adequate power or they can’t bring in power for whatever reasons, then you can slow down your time to deployment. It’s the same thing with the permitting office. I used to get laughed out of the permitting office when I would try to pull a permit for this stuff. They would say, “Why are you pulling it? I don’t even know what this is. Yeah, we’ll take your money and we’ll sign off on it.” But now it’s very rigorous what they require. And there are some jurisdictions (I won’t mention names) that are very, very difficult in terms of what they ask for in order to approve an EV charging project, and if you’ve never worked with that jurisdiction before it can be very difficult. So, finding a design company, ideally with an electrical engineer on staff that’s familiar with that jurisdiction, you know, like at EnviroSpark, that can be helpful as well.

...and then there were two Q Charged: The big news these days is that everybody’s going to add Tesla NACS plugs. I understand you’re going to be offering that as an option, so customers can have CCS or Tesla or both. How’s that going to affect the overall charging industry? A Aaron Luque: I’m really excited about this move to

standardization. I think it will create a lot of efficiencies and eliminate barriers to adoption. They used to have CHAdeMO and CCS, but CHAdeMO is going away. So now instead of having three standards, you basically have two, and now that Ford and GM and others are going to start moving to the Tesla NACS standard, that’s going to continue to bring things closer to having one standard, and that’s the most efficient. Having driven multiple EVs with the different types of configurations, I can say NACS

is the most efficient plug from a driver standpoint. The reason CHAdeMO probably went away first is because it was the least efficient. You had to have two different inputs on the car, one for your Level 2 and then one for CHAdeMO. The CCS is a little bit more convenient, but you still have to have an extra input in the car, whereas Tesla, it’s one plug for Level 2 and Level 3. It’s the cleanest. Also, when it comes to footprint and size—it’s the smallest plug, so I think we’ll continue to move in that direction. The one area I haven’t yet seen this move taking place is on the heavy-duty, fleet vehicle side. Vehicles like buses and delivery trucks still seem to be favorable to CCS from my experience. A lot of the stations that we’re going to be putting in in the future are going to be, especially on the fast charging side, the Tesla standard and the CCS standard. The way we explain it to a lot of clients is that it’s almost like iPhone and Android at this point. The good news is you can use either with adapters, so that was a really big announcement from Tesla that other people were going to be able to use Tesla’s network.

Why is it taking so long? Q Charged: Another big complaint is the slow pace of some deployments. How about some tips on getting projects up and running on time? A Aaron Luque: Supply chain is still a major issue for the deployment of these charging networks. On a project we’re doing for one of our OEM partners, for example, there’s 28 sites that we need to build for. We could build 90% or 95% of the site in a month or a couple of weeks—we could be almost done, but then there could be one piece of equipment that would hold that entire project from getting fi red up for a year. Sometimes it’s a utility transformer, because some utilities have them, some don’t. The ones that don’t, it’s typically at least a year out. So then you have that challenge. Do we build everything and have it ready, or do we wait until we have better visibility on the missing part and then start? I know some groups experienced this in the past—the stations are in, everything is ready to go except we’re waiting on the utility or some other gating factor. And then people would complain: “These things have been sitting here non-functional for six months.” And

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Taking 10 years of experience, we built a proprietary software application to allow our customers to track their portfolios throughout the entire construction process.

Image courtesy of EnviroSpark

it has nothing to do with us. It has to do with maybe one part that we can’t get for a very long time. Another woe that we saw early on with big national deployments was that visibility into the progress of a project has always been very difficult. We’ve done a lot of these big portfolios—Tesla, Volta, Electrify America, Racetrac, Starwood and others. A client might say, “I want charging stations at all of my sites by the end of next year,” and maybe they have a hundred locations or 200. We found that a lot of our clients wanted higher levels of visibility into their deployments. They would want to know things like: When did a project move out of permitting? When did the design get done? Where are we at construction-wise, how far along are we? This was a problem, and there was really nothing

out there to manage that part of the process specific to this industry. So, taking 10 years of experience, we built a proprietary software application to allow our customers to track their portfolios throughout the entire construction process. If something’s in design, they can use our software platform to see the notes on the design. If something’s going into permitting, they can see a copy of the permitting application. My advice to anyone looking to deploy charging stations at scale would be: “If you’re going to work with somebody, whether it’s us or anybody, verify the level of visibility you’re going to get before selecting a partner.” We used to have to e-mail daily reports to our clients to provide them with the visibility they needed on active construction projects. Post-construction, we would have to provide them with access to their live stations through a separate charging station management portal. At one point I thought to myself, “Why not combine these two things into a single software platform?” So, we did just that. To my knowledge EnviroSpark’s EnviroCore system is the only software in the industry that allows a client to fully track an EV charging project through engineering, design and construction while also providing direct station access and management capabilities after they go live, all in one place. That’s a little bit different—any other charging software on the market that I know of, you only get visibility into the station once the light comes on. But as we’ve said, the install time can take a year, and there’s probably a lot of people wondering how those installs are doing and what we’re waiting on.

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE

BATTERYINTEGRATED CHARGERS OFFER A CURE FOR AMERICA’S WEAK ELECTRIC INFRASTRUCTURE attery storage, once considered a nifty additional feature for large-scale charging infrastructure projects, is steadily becoming de rigueur for public and commercial charging deployments of all sizes. Adding batteries to the system offers several benefits: coupled with on-site generation, it allows charging to be offered at off-grid locations; it enables peak shaving to avoid utility demand charges; and in some cases, it allows a site to avoid expensive grid connection upgrades. XCharge considers battery storage to be an integral component of a charging site. Furthermore, the company draws a distinction between a battery-

buffered solution, which needs the grid to operate, and a battery-integrated solution, which can operate on its own, and can be made bidirectional to send energy back to the grid in times of need. Alex Urist, Vice President of XCharge North America, explained to Charged how its solutions are specifically tailored to the American electrical grid. Q Charged: So, the difference between a mere battery-buffered charger and a battery-integrated charger is flexibility? A Alex Urist: Absolutely. What’s generally out

there in the wild now is a battery-buffered system—

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Image courtesy of XCharge

By Charles Morris something like a FreeWire or an ADS-TEC, where you’re taking a lower voltage from the grid, it’s going into your battery, and then it’s being boosted into your DC fast charger. A battery-buffered system is just taking energy from the grid. There’s no component of bringing that energy from either the car or from the battery back to the grid. When we think about the ability to buffer charging, that’s obviously a key and integral component of the unit—it requires less of a grid connection. But a batteryintegrated system has a little bit more flexibility in its usage, because the battery can function separately from the charger applications. What we manufacture is a bidirectional battery-inte-

grated DC fast charger. The important point is that you can take energy from the grid to the battery, but you also can take energy from that battery and dispense it back to the grid. You can take energy from a vehicle, dump it into a battery, and it can be held in the battery either for charging other vehicles, with the operator taking an arbitrage off of the pricing, or that energy can be placed back into the grid for arbitrage opportunities, resiliency, you name it. Looking forward, that can also apply to V2X applications. There’s also the benefit of being able to take energy from photovoltaics, store it in the battery, and then sell that energy back to the grid or use it to charge a car.

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE Q Charged: Tell me more about DC-to-AC conversion. A Alex Urist: Coming in from the grid, it’s AC. An

energy storage solution is a DC system. You’re going AC to DC, and there is an efficiency loss associated with that. It works, but you should be prepared to lose some of the energy that you’re taking off the grid and paying for. A battery-integrated system has AC-DC bidirectional modules. The power is coming into the system via an AC-DC bidirectional module, and then any communication between the battery and the charging ports is generally through a DC-DC module. It is similar to what you would find on an ADS-TEC or a FreeWire battery-buffered solution. However, those are not bidirectional modules. The FreeWire system can be input on split phase. ADS-TEC is still 480 three-phase. Everybody has their own niche that they fit into, but we like to think that a battery-integrated solution offers a little bit more flexibility in terms of what you can earn from an ROI perspective. If nobody uses the energy, there’s still ancillary grid services that can be taken advantage of, being able to put energy back into the grid.

Choosing the right charger Q Charged: You have three different charger models. How do they differ? A Alex Urist: The Net Zero Series (NZS) is the only product with a battery integrated into it. The other two units are standalone DC fast chargers. There are three different output ranges for our units in different install applications. The standalone DC fast charger, the C6, is a platform we’ve had since about 2016. It has been deployed globally across 25 different countries. For the North American market, we modified the C6 to run on 208-volt three-phase to offer more flexibility in terms of install applications. With that, we’re able to put that charger in a lot more environments that you generally wouldn’t be able to put a DC fast charger into. Think about multifamily dwellings or hotels. Places you generally look to put in four Level 2 chargers, you can now put in one DC fast charger. Revenue opportunity is higher, your cycle count is higher, and the general utility to the public is also higher. What we do see though, is that there are demand charges from the utility if there’s a sudden influx of usage on the charger and it’s not a steady rate. That’s why battery-integrated solutions became a priority. The output of our first

If nobody uses the energy, there’s still ancillary grid services that can be taken advantage of, being able to put energy back into the grid. product line, the C6, is in the 50- to 150-kilowatt range. Then the NZS fits in that the 200- to 300-kilowatt range. When we look at gen three, we have the C7, which we’ll be releasing in the US soon, which is in the 400-kilowatt range. That’s really designed for a charge point operator, a big public charging network operator that needs a lot of power. It’s important to point out that ultra-high output is not necessary for everybody. Your 400-kilowatt chargers matter for Interstate charging sites, they matter for heavy-duty EVs, but we don’t need them everywhere. That’s why our product mix plays into what the infrastructure constraints are in the US. We have a solution for every step along the way, but we like to understand what a customer is trying to solve with their charging infrastructure and how we can achieve that with our hardware, as opposed to, “Here’s the biggest and baddest charger out there, go and get that bad boy in the ground now.” That’s not how we operate. Q Charged: One thing I like about your web site is that

you have a table that shows the charging times for some selected EV models, because this is something I see all the time from EVSE manufacturers. They say, “It can charge an EV in X minutes.” But there are so many variables that a figure like that is practically meaningless. A Alex Urist: There’s so much that goes into estimating

charging times. There’s the state of charge you’re coming into the charger with, whether the battery’s been preconditioned, even what the temperature is and how long you’ve driven that day. If we look at charging data, for an output of 300 kilowatts, for example, you’re getting that for the first minute or three minutes of your charge cycle and then you’re dropping. You get a lower amount for another six to eight minutes and then you’re dropping again to something around the range of 50, maybe 40 kilowatts.

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Image courtesy of XCharge

A Alex Urist: Bingo. It’s a DC-coupled solution. You don’t have to go through a separate DC-AC-DC solution. That’s how it would generally work if you were, say, integrating a battery-buffered solution with photovoltaics right now. That’s another benefit of the battery-integrated solution: it’s meant to be the central hub for everything you’re completing as a grid service. It’s not like the battery on your phone that can only function with your phone. It’s supposed to provide some ancillary service or ancillary charging ability. Q Charged: Is there a formula for how much generation you would need for a particular charging hub? For example, let’s say I’m going to have X number of EVs per day charging at this site. Can you say, “Then you need Y square feet of photovoltaics?”

Everybody wants the biggest and baddest toy in town, but two to three minutes, that’s just a couple more minutes in line at the McDonald’s where you stop to charge, and it’s only practical to stop at those types of locations if the local infrastructure can support the charging rate. Ultimately, that’s not a reality if we want every charger on 480 three-phase, because you’re going to have to upgrade the utility interconnect. Whereas if you had a 208-volt solution, you can drop one or two chargers in an area. If you have a battery-integrated solution, you can drop one or two in an area and it starts to become a meaningful revenue stream locally, as opposed to this idea of needing to build the gas station of tomorrow.

Integrating with solar Q Charged: Obviously, to get the most out of the battery integration, and take the utility out of the equation, we need onsite generation. Tell us about that. A Alex Urist: The NZS is capable of direct integration with photovoltaics in our generation-three unit, which is slated to be ready for customers in July of next year. Q Charged: Integrating directly with photovoltaics

avoids a DC-AC conversion?

A Alex Urist: There’s partners that we would work with

to help run through the equations on that. It’s dependent on a lot of different factors. There are restrictions on how large of a system you can effectively integrate into the NZS. Also, it’s going to be very hard to get a photovoltaic array that’s going to make up the entire energy that you need to power a charging hub. The best way to think about integration of photovoltaics is to cut the dependence on energy from the grid. Effectively, it’s like ancillary peak shaving as well. You’re able to put more energy into the car that’s not coming from the grid and you can set your eco mode accordingly, which is all controllable via the OCPP backend or via the software that we provide with the units. The additional value is that you can feasibly take in lowercost energy overnight, then sell that energy back into the grid during peak hours, or use that to charge vehicles so you’re playing better off of your arbitrage. It is all algorithmically controlled via the backend and how you set your limits on when you want your charge and discharge times.

Different sites, different charging scenarios Q Charged: Can you tell us a little bit about how the architecture differs for different kinds of charging sites? For example, a public charging site versus a bus depot versus a fleet of trucks?

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE A Alex Urist: In any circumstance, it’s important to look at the infrastructure constraints on site to begin with, as opposed to trying to think about creating a solution for a given property or a given use case. From a public charging perspective, having the battery-integrated sites allows you to pack more charging assets in a given location on less energy. At 80 amps of 480 three-phase, you can get up to 194 kilowatts output on the current iteration of the Net Zero Series. That will be increasing in the next iteration. You’re generally looking at a 200- or a 300-amp breaker on a 75- to 150-kilowatt DC fast charger. You’re going to need a smaller breaker size with the battery-integrated assets. There’s some really good studies on what Tesla has done for their load balancing and load management. It’s like 250 amps on the breaker that go in and that allows them to effectively control their demand charges throughout the day. A battery allows you to control your demand charges, which helps mitigate your overall operational costs, making more money on an Interstate location. When you take that same type of rationale to a bus depot, a depot is going to have heavy spikes of energy usage, given that it’s offduty cycle times. Generally, the buses are not going in and out all day—there’s a period where they’re charging on one cycle and then they flip, and the next cycle comes in. It’s generally a longer charge period. With the Net Zero Series, or our standalone DC fast chargers, you can set a longer charge period. You can set load balancing across the entire site to say, “We only want to consume X amount of electricity,” and that’ll balance across all of the assets. Again, it depends on the constraints of the site, and what you’re trying to accomplish with the infrastructure you have. If you need more energy, put an NZS in because you can connect on 480 and it’s already there, but depending on where you are in the process of your electrification journey, it might make more sense to put a couple 208 assets in there—that can be a bridge solution. For a fleet of trucks, a 208-volt solution is very interesting. Effectively, it’s like a Level 2 charger for a heavy-duty truck. If you’re looking at municipal fleets that are using heavy-duty trucks, battery-integrated assets are great because you can provide power back to the building. That’s one big benefit, particularly for government sites, that you can provide that as emergency energy storage. There are a lot of benefits to having battery-integrated solutions, but it really is dependent on what infrastructure constraints you’re given. There’s not going to be a carbon

Electricity is super-complicated. I’ve talked with a ton of folks in the utility industry and I cannot even begin to imagine trying to plan out some of the stuff that they have to deal with.

copy best layout for every single property around America. That’s just not how our grid is designed. It’s finding the best hardware for the constraints that you’re given. That’s what we offer in the flexibility of our product line. Q Charged: What about a totally off-grid location? How would the architecture there differ from a more typical grid-connected charging hub? A Alex Urist: You’d be eliminating any of the intercon-

nection from the grid to the unit, but what you would still be looking at with the bidirectionality is providing an AC load back to a building, which the NZS is capable of. Powering a building from the battery. But effectively, the way that you’d be looking at it is a DC-coupled photovoltaic solution pulling in solar, pulling it into the DC input, which is separate off of the charger itself. Then you’d be able to pull in solar, ideally running the asset off of that. You would be limited in the total amount you can charge per day. The battery’s 233 kilowatt-hours, so you can generally charge about four to six cars per day off of that. Q Charged: Can you just add more battery storage to

serve more vehicles in that case?

A Alex Urist: Yep. You can add another pack for up to 466 kilowatt-hours in the current iteration of the NZS. Effectively, you could stack more assets in a given property, but they won’t run in series necessarily. You would have to have the photovoltaic arrays connected to those assets independently.

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frankly, the bureaucratic nature of utility companies to make that happen. Electricity is super-complicated. I’ve talked with a ton of folks in the utility industry and I cannot even begin to imagine trying to plan out some of the stuff that they have to deal with. I wish it was as easy as just plugging in a charger to the grid, but it doesn’t work that way, unfortunately.

Image courtesy of XCharge

Loosening the utility bottleneck Q Charged: We hear a lot about the slow pace of getting utility interconnects installed. Say a fleet customer wants to deploy 50 EVs, but they don’t have enough power, and the utility tells them it’s going to take two or three years to upgrade the connection. I know you’ll say to talk to the utility early in the planning stages, but what other advice would you give as far as mitigating that bottleneck? A Alex Urist: Obviously, it is talking to the utility

company early in the process, and that’s what I’m always going to say. I think another thing is to be creative around the solutions that you can deploy and don’t be set on something as the only solution. We will only see increasing problems with timelines on utility service upgrades with demand increasing, particularly as you see NEVI projects coming online. The other thing that’s important is understanding how much capacity you have available on site to begin with. There is a solution to be made. If you have limited power available on site, you just need to know how much that is and what your duty cycle is, how many cars are you trying to charge, what’s your scaling plan. There’s really nothing we can do about the utility companies and how long they’re going to take on upgrades until there’s a significant increase in the workforce, and

Different regions, different challenges Q Charged: You sell in several different regions. What can you tell me about the differences among those markets? How would your pitch to a customer differ if they were in a US state, or maybe different regions of the US, versus in Europe? A Alex Urist: The US pitch versus Europe versus the

Asia-Pacific region would be entirely different. I mean, just look at voltage in general. Any time you’re putting in a DC fast charger in the US, you’re going to need to get the utility involved or some step-up infrastructure involved, something to get you to 480-volt three-phase. However, 480 three-phase in Europe is very commonly available. It’s not as much of a difficulty to get you to where you need to go, given that everything is based off of 240. Obviously, looking at the difference of 120 or 240, US versus Europe and the rest of the world, there’s differences. I think they face much more of a constrained grid market in Europe. But one thing that’s quite interesting is that you see a lot of chargers deployed in Europe that are not like our massive 400-kilowatt chargers. They’re starting to come out more, but a lot of that early infrastructure is actually within the 60- to 120-kilowatt range, which is quite fascinating when our policy and all the regulation that’s been released in the US is really predicated around that 150-kilowatt minimum and our European counterparts, who are further along in the electrification journey, are not mandating those output requirements. Both APAC and Europe, we don’t see as high an output requirement. Hence, our C7 charger came about. Also, in the European market, the customer type varies

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE greatly from the US. There’s definitely a lot more emphasis in the US on the independent business owner and the individual being able to reap the benefits of public incentives to get charging infrastructure in. In Europe, a lot of the customers are utility companies or charge point operators. We have a lot less of this “go and get the public incentive to get your charger at your property” type of situation going on there, so it centralizes the purchasing patterns a little bit more. Q Charged: Are you saying that in Europe, for a given

project, there are likely to be fewer organizations involved? I know in the US, it seems like for a lot of infrastructure installations, there could be 10 different companies and agencies involved by the time it’s done. A Alex Urist: Yeah, it definitely feels consolidated more.

Most of the time in Europe, you’re working with a public agency who’s going through an RFP process or something of the like. In the US, there are a lot more private market players. You have the site host, the utility company, your EDC [engineering, design and construction] partner. Sometimes there might be a turnkey partner involved who’s actually the customer contact, then you have the manufacturer, and your OCPP backend. Everybody wants to have their piece of the pie when it comes to developing projects in the US. Whether that makes projects more efficient or less efficient, time will tell. Q Charged: Just to clarify, what you need as an input for

your chargers is a 480-volt three-phase connection, and that is the norm in Europe, but in the US, that usually requires some kind of a step-up transformer, correct? A Alex Urist: Generally, you need a service upgrade in

the US every time you’re dealing with 480 three-phase, and that’s the norm for DC fast charging infrastructure that’s being deployed in the US. What we’ve created is the ability to install on 208-volt single-phase, which is available at about 95% of commercial locations across the US. Q Charged: We hear a lot about having to have a service upgrade, but does that always mean more power, or just a case of needing higher voltage? A Alex Urist: It’s generally both. A service upgrade will

generally be pulling a new line of service from the

substation, to a transformer that then puts that into 480 three-phase for you. If a CPO comes into a property, they will generally go and get a new line of service put in. A service upgrade will also generally involve a capacity increase where you’re increasing the total capacity of energy that you can deliver to a site, for example going from 1,000 amps of service to 1,500 amps of service, and you’re often going to need to do a panel upgrade—but the panel upgrade is definitely cheaper than having to put in a transformer and do a service upgrade. Q Charged: Are utility interconnect bottlenecks

more of an issue in certain parts of the US than others? Is that a regional thing?

A Alex Urist: Definitely. I mean, it’s a problem every-

where. Anywhere you’re thinking of more congestion, that is certainly an issue. The service upgrades also come in and where you have more people trying to do more activity on the grid, that congestion increases those upgrade times as well. Q Charged: Are areas with higher population density

likely to have more problems?

A Alex Urist: Correct. But then the other side of that is

that rural areas, where there’s not a demand, also have a long period. Because the substation might be a ways away and they previously had no reason to have any 480 V service on site. Just getting that pulled out there can be quite a challenge. Q Charged: A different set of problems depending on

where you are.

A Alex Urist: Yes, different set of opportunities.

Turning to Tesla Q Charged: What about the rush to adopt the Tesla connectors? We all know the Superchargers are more reliable, but I’m a little skeptical that is still going to be the case when everybody’s hooking up to it. A Alex Urist: I would definitely echo some of your

concerns. I think there’s going to be some kinks to shake out for auto manufacturers and for Tesla on interoperability. Adopting the NACS cable is not a fix-all for charging

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It’s not that the technology is necessarily better, it’s that the Tesla charging network has operated more efficiently. reliability per se. I think a lot of that issue comes with the interoperability questions. A lot of it comes with payment solutions and integration. At XCharge we’ve been manufacturing NACS cables and deploying them on our chargers since March [2023]. Our rationale is that 70% of EVs on the road are Teslas, so we would be foolish not to service them to begin with. I think we’re going to see a lot wider availability of charging options generally. Sure, the Supercharger will be a preferred place for Tesla drivers because it’s their network, but I think there are going to be some issues early on with opening up that network that are going to turn off some other drivers. Having solutions on other networks and other hardware is important too. We’ve definitely stood by. Technologically, I don’t think it’s more efficient necessarily. It’s not that the technology is necessarily better, it’s that the Tesla charging network has operated more efficiently, but the Tesla charging network has had no payment terminals on their devices and they haven’t had to deal with other manufacturers with different voltage architecture in their batteries. The Tesla network is only rated up to a 650-volt architecture, so when you get into the 800volt architecture of the Hyundais and the Mercedes, you might have a little bit of a diminished charge rate in those vehicles, or potentially spiking issues going on.

Going bi Q Charged: Everybody I talk to, I ask about bidirectional charging, and I get different answers. Some people say it’s a huge game-changer, but some, mostly on the utility side, say they think it has limited application. But one thing everyone seems to agree on is that, right now, vehicle-to-grid is a pilot-stage technology. A Alex Urist: I think it’s still within the pilot phase.

There are distinct applications in the school bus space, fleets, and then there’s something to be said about residential play as well. I still have questions. What central remuneration platform is there? If I’m providing my energy, how does that play out on the virtual power plant side of things? Who’s the broker of that energy buyback? Are the utility companies directly purchasing it from, say, a residential user or from a corporate user? There are a lot of logistical questions that go into the payback process, aside from any of the technological components. I don’t think it’s going to be as clear-cut as people think, like you have all the cars plugged into the grid and this is how much energy you have to pull on. I think there’s a lot of demand signals that are going to have to come into play for the remuneration to even happen, and then how much remuneration are we talking about? Is it cents on the dollar, or is there actually a meaningful payback? It’s really hard to judge at this current stage. It still needs to go through more pilots. Is it a virtual power plant play? Is it more akin to a Tesla Powerwall type of play, where you have solar that’s generating into the battery and then Tesla can say, “Hey, we’re going to sell this back to the Texas grid because we have a virtual power plant agreement and then we’re going to pay you out a fraction of what we’re able to get?” That seems like that would be the best way to run it, but then that’s one company that’s aggregating the assets across that. That’s what we would say is the play for our batteryintegrated assets as a stable asset. There’s one identifying authority that’s trading the energy back. But when you bring in individual private landowners, there’s got to be an aggregating authority that’s going to handle the payback, but then how much of a margin are they taking? Is there a way to opt into other services? Are you stuck with, say, ChargePoint’s V2G program because you put in a ChargePoint charger? What’s the overall process? Do they have an interconnect agreement with a utility? I think that’s just where a lot of the questions are being shaken out. Q Charged: But your hardware is technically capable of V2G any time that everybody else is ready to get on with it? A Alex Urist: Yep, exactly. It’s effectively a soft ware

enablement at this point.

OCT-DEC 2023

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Charging: Help is on the way

By Charles Morris

hen the conversation turns to EV adoption, the first and EnviroSpark (see page 66) are sharing their learnings and topic that comes up is invariably charging. This developing best practices guides. is only logical, because charging is the part of the Increasingly, funders of charging products are insisting on vehicle ownership experience that differs the most from what standards for maintenance and reliability. The $7.5 billion in gas drivers are used to. funding authorized by the US Bipartisan Infrastructure Law There’s a lot of ill-informed speculation in the media, and comes with uptime strings attached, and the UK and Nethmost non-EV drivers probably have only a dim idea of how erlands have enacted more stringent requirements (which charging works. However, it’s true that there are a trio of may apply to all public chargers, not just government-funded charging challenges that urgently need to be addressed. The ones). good news is that they are indeed being addressed (if less A third often-heard refrain is “not enough public chargurgently than we would like). ing.” If you’re struggling to find a charger, take heart—help is The first of these opportunities is what I call The Plight of on the way. The US government’s 7.5 big ones will buy a lot of the Drivewayless. Many urban dwellers have no driveways, or chargers once the slow-grinding wheels gather speed. Five of even assigned parking spaces, and consumers aren’t going to those bananas will be funneled through the state-based NEVI drive to a “charging hub” every couple of days—if that’s the program. Some states are dragging their feet, but others are deal, most simply won’t buy an EV. In the past, I’ve described powering ahead with their NEVI plans, and some have fundthis as a tough nut to crack, but after recent visits to Oslo and ed additional initiatives. California, which offers an alphabet London, dense cities where EV adoption levels are high, I’ve soup of programs to finance public chargers, met its goal of realized that the nut has been cracked, and with no need for deploying 10,000 fast chargers a year ahead of the predicted any of the Rube Goldberg-style date. In 2023, New York allocated gadgets that have been proposed. $15 million in new funding for The answer is simply lots and Level 2 charging infrastructure. If even half of the charging lots of curbside chargers. Several The private sector is also ponycompanies make small chargers ing up. Walmart says it will deploy projects on the table get that can be retrofitted to lampand operate its own chargers at energized, the word “tsunami” posts, a solution that takes advanthousands of its locations (in adwon’t be an exaggeration. tage of existing electrical service, dition to the 1,300 fast chargers it and doesn’t add to sidewalk currently hosts), and has reportclutter. Shell subsidiary ubitricity, edly already issued an RFP. A which has deployed thousands of chargers in Europe, says its group of seven major automakers hopes to build some 30,000 curbside charger takes only two hours to install. In the US, new fast chargers in North America (which would double the the DOE has funded several curbside charging projects, and current number)—the first are expected to open this year. In both uppercase and lowercase companies, including FLO, December, Pilot Travel Centers opened the first of a planned itselectric and Voltpost, are active in the space. 2,000 DC fast charging stalls across the US. Electrify America The second big charging challenge (to use one of the less still has about half a billion bucks left to invest. In Europe, colorful of the terms we hear) is the unreliability and often IONITY plans to have 7,000 stations active by 2025. Tesla poor design of public charging sites. Or should we say, of continues to build out Superchargers at a rapid clip around non-Supercharger sites? The rush to jump on the NACS the world. bandwagon has been fueled by Tesla’s enviable customer Many, many smaller players—auto dealerships, utilities, satisfaction ratings. Will adopting the NACS connector really local governments, retail chains, apartment complexes, improve reliability? We believe the reason Superchargers work rideshare operators, parking providers, oil companies—are so well is that (like Apple in the early computer era) they’re rolling out a few dozen chargers here, a few hundred there. built as a single system, overseen by a single firm, rather than On the commercial side, WattEV, TeraWatt and others are the chaotic jumble of companies and agencies involved in building charging hubs for heavy-duty EVs. other charging projects. The good news is that everyone I talk Granted, there’s many a slip between press release and to in the industry seems to agree, so hopefully decluttering plugging in. Charging industry observers are predicting a the deployment process will go hand in hand with applying shakeout in the overcrowded ecosystem, and some projects learnings from Tesla’s success as the coming tsunami of charmay not get built. And some funding sources overlap—it’s not ger deployments gathers momentum. always clear whether an announced dollar amount represents Numerous initiatives to improve reliability are underway. new money or merely a share of NEVI funds or other already SAE and ChargeX are working to develop common chargcommitted financing. But if even half of what’s on the table ing station error codes. CPOs, including ChargePoint and gets energized, the word “tsunami” won’t be an exaggeraEVgo, stung by the bad image of the industry, are raising their tion, and hopefully this wave will wash away the “not enough diagnostic and maintenance games. Installers such as Qmerit chargers” argument once and for all.

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