Credit: Nidec
The multinational Nidec ASI, leader in the Industrial Solutions sector of the Nidec Group, presents the innovative Ultra Fast Charger (UFC), an advanced system that hooks up to the national grid through charging towers, simplifying and accelerating the electrification process of infrastructures for supplying electric cars, and reducing operating costs at the same time. This solution will help pave the way for the spread of electric vehicles, a market which in many countries is still struggling to get off the ground, but which has huge opportunities for growth in the near future.
Electric cars are, in fact, central to energy transition and the affirmation of sustainable mobility, especially at an urban level, but currently they still only account for 0.1% of the world’s automotive market. Among the many factors likely to boost the purchase of electric cars, the widespread availability of infrastructures for the efficient recharging of the vehicles plays a central role. The Ultra Fast Charger developed by Nidec ASI – a company strongly committed to the promotion of a sustainable development model through innovations that contribute to the evolution of e-mobility – is a highly efficient solution, able to respond to the increased energy requirement demanded by the charging towers and the need to maintain the maximum stability of the electricity grid.
“We think it’s only a matter of time before the electric car comes to the forefront throughout the world. In many countries – such as those of Northern Europe, the USA and, first and foremost, China and Japan e-Mobility is already a widespread reality and responds to the ever more pressing need to reduce pollution and noise, particularly in urban centers,” commented Matteo Rizzi, Director, Global Sales and Marketing, Renewables (PV, BESS & EV) of Nidec Industrial Solutions.
“Armed with 180 years’ experience in the power electronics sector, with widely acknowledged know-how in power management, i.e. in the effective management of the electrical grid, and a consolidated leadership in the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), thanks to installations of over 500MWh throughout the world, and several years of commitment to the renewable energy and electric vehicle sectors, we have succeeded in engineering an advanced solution with a high vehicle recharging capacity, able to maintain a constant flow in the electricity grid, thereby reducing the risk of black outs that could be generated in the future as the use of electric cars becomes more widespread. This is a sector on which we are focusing on more and more, as demonstrated by the important joint venture between Nidec and the PSA Group (Peugeot), announced in January of this year, for the manufacturing of 900,000 electric engines per year, an investment worth €200m.”
The new Ultra Fast Charger, which works as a ‘buffer’ between the electricity grid and the recharging tower, incorporates 160kWh of installed batteries with advanced power controls. It is the prototype of a new generation of ultra fast chargers, which can be connected to LV or MV grids and which, against an energy requirement of only 50kW, can supply 320kW of power to a vehicle, thereby multiplying the power delivered by six compared to that drawn from the grid. Thanks to this innovative system, the batteries of new-generation cars can be rapidly recharged to 80% of their capacity in less than 15 minutes, guaranteeing the vehicles up to 500km travel. It also allows the recharging of two vehicles in parallel or three in series, has an efficiency of 95% and, thanks to its compact dimensions, it activates an extensive service able to meet the widespread distribution requirements of the electric vehicle market’s players. Nidec ASI’s recharging systems are designed to be supplied both from the electricity grid and from renewable sources, such as solar energy, and can be bi-directional: they can be used not only for recharging electric vehicles, but also the grid (Vehicle-to-Grid – V2G).
The Nidec ASI approach is to supply services and technologies to meet the needs of each company’s specific projects. Also in this field, thanks to its know-how and expertise in the automation and BESS sectors, the company can design and supply customized solutions, personalized to the client’s business model and to the type of vehicle to be recharged (bus, trade vehicles or cars), also offering smart charge management applications, which guarantee the efficient and optimal implementation of all the recharging stations, also in the case of public use for buses or trade vehicles.
Nidec ASI is developing an entire portfolio of products to meet the needs of all market players, divided in three different formats: in addition to the ultra fast chargers, it also offers LV Charging Stations with centralized batteries, thanks to which 12 vehicles can be charged to 80% of their capacity in an hour, and MV Charging Stations, possibly without batteries, which can be used to deliver greater power and recharge numerous cars (more than 12 vehicles in an hour) at the same time, such as a fleet of corporate cars, or trade vehicles in a logistics enterprise.
