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VW’s New Ultra-Fast Charging Station Solves Nothing, Really

In today’s world, juicing up the battery of an electric car is problematic mainly because of two reasons: long charging times, and the unavailability of stations where you truly need them. But the biggest hurdle in the path of mass adoption of electric vehicles is space.
New charging station by E.ON and Volkswagen 1 photo
Photo: Volkswagen
With a number of countries moving to completely ban the sales of ICE-powered cars in the not-so-distant future – the latest to announce such a move is the UK - all parties involved are scrambling to find solutions to the problem of space.

When electric cars start counting in the millions, we’ll need charging stations at every street corner. Maybe that’s not a problem in itself, but installing a station anywhere requires civil engineering work of above-average magnitude. It also requires mains connections to the power grid to be established, as all that energy needs to come from somewhere.

The quickest workaround is of course finding faster ways to charge a car battery, so one doesn’t spend more time plugged in than an ICE car at the pump. But by the looks of it we’re nowhere near that point.

So the next best thing is coming up with a charging station that has its own power supply. That means a charging station equipped with its own battery.

Of course, the idea is not new, and has been tried over the years by all the major companies in the business of making EVs and charging stations.

Using the same basic idea - a battery-powered unit – the Germans from Volkswagen promise to come up with a “flexible ultra-fast charging station” that can be installed virtually anywhere in no time.

The technology, currently in prototype stage, has been developed together with German utility company E.ON. The station is capable of providing fast charging (150 kilowatts) to two vehicles at the same time, feeding them enough electricity for 200 km of range in 15 minutes (124 miles).

VW’s concept solves the problem of civil engineering work, but it does not completely take the station off the grid and make it self-sufficient, as the battery inside it is permanently fed by a conventional 16 to 63 ampere power connection.

That means we’re not talking about a station with swappable batteries that can literally be installed anywhere. Sure, it’s ideal for use at gas stations, parking lots, and so on, but it still doesn’t address the main issue: where will people living in apartment buildings charge their EVs at night?
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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