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New Electric Vehicle Charger from ABB Provides "Top-Off"

Sept. 21, 2012

With the national Plug-In-Day event on Sept. 23, ABB unveils its direct current (DC) fast charger, called the Terra 51, for electric vehicles. The fast charging technology reduces the time to "charge" to 15 to 30 minutes, compared to three to five hours with a standard 240 VAC home battery chargers.

ABB's DC fast charger for electric vehicles 'tops-off' an EV at ABB’s office and production site in the industrial park in New Berlin, Wisc. — ABB's DC fast charger for electric vehicles "tops-off" an EV at ABB’s office and production site in the industrial park in New Berlin, Wisc.

With more electic vehicles (EVs) appearing on U.S. roads and every major car company announcing or releasing an EV in the near future, ABB Inc. (www.abb.com) releases its DC "quick-charger" unit after receiving UL certification several weeks ago. The company installed the charging unit at its New Berlin, Wisc. facility, where the Terra 51 is also being manufactured. The "quick-charge" technology is designed to support electrical vehicles on a commercial basis, so that they can be used for distance travel or for quick “top-offs” during normal use, according to ABB. Current models of electric vehicles for consumer and commercial fleets can provide, approximately, 38 to 280 miles per battery charge.

This quick-charge or "fast-charge" technology has been around for three to four years and research started in Japan. Other manufacturers, such as Eaton Corp. (www.eaton.com) and Schneider Electric (www.schneider-electric.com) have demonstrated this technology in the U.S. and in Europe. DC charging units also have data connections to network information from the charger to the electric vehicle and/or the owner's charging app on their smartphone.

The Terra 51 fast charging unit is in ramp-up mode now at ABB’s New Berlin Campus, with the first stateside units slated for installation in September. “Building out the infrastructure of fast chargers is in the early stages in North America,” says Cal Lankton, director, EV Charging Infrastructure, “but we now are underway.”

Vehicle owners will be able to use RFID cards, swipe them through the card reader on the Terra 51, and begin charging. Additionally, ABB’s chargers can be connected to any charging network or community via the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP), the widely adopted international open networking standard for charging equipment.

Electric Vehicles Demand
Recent sales numbers point to GM selling more than 20,000 Chevy Volts (Plug-in Hybred Electric Vehicle) for 2012 , outselling the Chevy Corvette, according to Wire Magazine. Also, Tesla Motors (pure electric vehicles) is announcing a "super-charging" network for its vehicles on Sept. 24.

Stefan Friedli, gen. manager, Power and Electronics and MV Drives, ABB, noted that a number of employees have been following closely the progress of the installation of the charger, and several have said it has helped them decide to purchase electric vehicles “This station is just the first step in what we hope is an area-wide charging infrastructure network,” stated Friedli, “ Our goal is help provide the residents of the greater Milwaukee area with a rich network of EV chargers, in order to enhance the user experience and drive adoption.”