Next-gen commercial EVs - how to solve the advanced charging challenge

Three scenarios with dedicated power electronic solutions

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More and more electrified heavy-duty or commercial vehicles are now on the roads and because time is money, especially in logistics, harnessing efficient options for increasing charging power or assigning idle times for charging is vital. There are commonly thought to be three different approaches.

Depot-Charging and Fleet Operation

Highly efficient infrastructure is delivered with modern battery technologies and cutting-edge power semiconductor solutions.

The ideal option for local fleet operations, such as buses and delivery vehicles the operate on relatively fixed routes and are idle during nighttime hours, is depot charging, particularly for this form of charging comes with a reduced demand for charging power and with further energy management options. Including stationary batteries, decoupling the time of charging buses from times of having excess energy also becomes an option.

Today's common battery-electric buses feature battery capacities ranging from 250 to 500 kWh, which enables them to operate one shift without charging. Individual depot chargers only need to recharge one vehicle overnight, and even when recharging 80 percent of 500 kWh in 6 hours, 70 kW is sufficient. Of course, this is multiplied by the number of vehicles that must be simultaneously charged for the whole depot.

A typical charger schematic includes an input stage that can adapt the DC link voltage, an output rectifier, and a galvanic isolation stage in-between, as depicted in Figure 2.