CHINA A new ultra-fast electric vehicle charging station, said to be the largest such station in the world, has recently been brought online in Beijing, China, reports Clean Technica.
The new station at the Xiaoying bus terminal in the Chaoyang district is home to 25 electric vehicle (EV) chargers operating at 360kW and five chargers operating at 90kW. Reportedly all 30 chargers can operate at once. The station covers an area of 26,500m² with the structures themselves accounting for 1,575m². It was constructed by China State Grid and is intended to recharge the Microvast batteries installed in new Foton electric buses being used on route 13.
After conversion to ultra-fast charging technology, the route has seen improved operating efficiency while reducing Beijing’s greenhouse gas emissions. Each bus takes only 10-15 minutes to complete recharging which is undertaken two to three times daily during driver breaks. Several return journeys can be completed between each charge.
Earlier battery swapping systems adopted by Beijing aimed to see if it was possible to improve slow-charge battery e-bus operating efficiency and reduce downtime. The ultra-fast charging ‘battery plus charger’ system at Xiaoying is said to neither need the investment and large storage space footprint for extra batteries, nor high cost complex automated robotic battery pack swapping infrastructure, bringing obvious advantages to customers and utility companies with more rapid return on investment. With future facility and charging point expansions already planned for 2016-2020 to accommodate more routes converting to fast charge EV, the Xiaoying charging station will play an important role in the development of clean energy public transit in China’s capital.
