Stellantis revolutionizes EV charging with innovative technology. As we know, people who are about to buy an electric car are often concerned about the range that the car can offer, but especially also about its charging time. Stellantis is currently working on this very project, to try to overcome this limitation. The automaker is developing a new technology that can give its cars the ability to recharge much faster, even using the most common infrastructure found nowadays.
New charging technology developed by Stellantis
The Stellantis automotive group is working to develop a very innovative new technology. It would be a system that could transform the charging that electric vehicles do at low-power DC fast charging stations. This by Stellantis is an ambitious project that was created to try to reduce the differences between 300-volt and 800-volt charging architectures. The system has also been described in a patent, which has been published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
If the voltage difference is reduced, as Stellantis wants to try to do, there will be a chance for high-voltage electric vehicles to be able to recharge much faster even at charging stations with less power. Nowadays, most of the stations that have been built operate at 400 volts, a factor that fairly limits vehicles that need 800-volt charging to be put on the road more quickly. Precisely because of this problem, many car manufacturers, have had to equip themselves differently. They in fact employ dedicated DC boost modules, which add weight, cost and complexity to electric cars. Stellantis is working on this project precisely to reduce these kinds of disadvantages for those who want to equip themselves with zero-emission cars.
More details of Stellantis’ strategy
Stellantis decided not to rely on bulky components for this project, so it proposed to use a system of relay switches and a small DC capacitor. These components work together with the inverter and the electric motor of the vehicle, to be able to convert the lower voltage into the higher power, which becomes necessary when you want to recharge with higher speed. This type of system reduces the need to use components that are usually much bulkier, as well as costing more. In addition, this system definitely improves compatibility with 400-volt charging stations in the territory, including Tesla’s Supercharger. So this system becomes very important for both Stellantis brand cars that need to be connected to 800-volt power. By the same token, it will also benefit all those that continue to be produced with STLA and continue to use 400 volts for charging.
Stellantis always goes to great lengths to try to find solutions that are always best suited to maximize customer satisfaction, especially in the field of electric vehicle components. Therefore, this new patent adds to an already long list, such as that of reducing on-board hardware, which aims to make electric cars lighter. So we shall see, whether this new system will also turn out to be a decisive factor in increasing the numbers of consumers moving toward electric cars in the coming months.