European EV Chargers in North America
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- EV Charging makers from Europe are setting up shop in North America to capitilize on the EV adoption trend occuring. In this video, I visit the Kempower and Alpitronic locations and discuss and demonstrate their products.
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Just a nitpick but the power modules that convert AC to DC are rectifiers. Inverters convert DC to AC.
Good video otherwise.
Yes, you are right.
In IT, when you install AC gear in a telco CO, you need an inverter to flip the DC plant to AC. When putting Telco gear into a datacenter, you need a rectifier to flip AC to the DC needed by the telco gear. This is well understood in IT.
For EVs, the car flips battery DC to AC for the motors with an on-board inverter. The AC charger rectifies unless it is bi-directional, in which case it does both.
In all the videos I have seen, DCFC have been said to have an inverter. I did not want to buck the trend. I figured there was some reason they were calling the flip from AC to DC an inverter and did not want to inject confusion.
But I agree with you 100%. Thx for watching.
But if you go to an EA site with a Tesla battery pack used for backup or peak demand reduction (depending on who you talk to), you will find a Tesla INVERTER (so labeled) to convert battery output to AC as well as a RECTIFIER in a cabinet for supplying DC to the dispensers from utility TRANSFORMER output. And probably there is a CONVERTER in your EV at least. Or we could just punt and call them all THINGAMAJIGs.
Charged just yesterday on an ABB Terra 184 ar 7-Eleven in Suisun City, CA. EV chargers had a dedicated parking area on the side; simultaneous CCS and CHAdeMO charging. CA has the curse of early rollout, with a lot of older, less reliable units. Can't wait to see these Kempower and Alpitronic units getting installed out here.
6:38 According to the charge operator that runs Shell's chargers in Norway, you need 70kW per stall on a large Kempower site with high throughput.
Thx for added the color. Super interesting to see how Norway is proceeding with fuel station conversions.
This is getting out of hand! Now, there are two of them! /Star Wars Reference
I love both of these charger manufacturers. Especially Kempower. They are second only to Tesla, and that's only because Tesla builds them at much lower costs and so much faster, and their deployment is unmatched.
I hope the planned Ionna network makes a deal with them soon. If they are led by the right people, they'll know this is easily their best choice to compete with Tesla. Maybe their ONLY choice if they truly want to compete.
IONNA could buy Tesla too, now that they are being sold. Thx for watching.
Tesla chargers are poor. Short cables and only 400 V charging.
Walter: The Alpitronics charger ID plate says the max temperature is 131*F. In various parts of the West and Southwest the summer air temperatures are in the 110-115*F range with temperatures inside a metal electronic cabinet without cooling the temperature limit will easily be exceeded.
This is confusing since the SiC chip limits I found are in the 600*F range.
Why would this company build a charger that can’t operate at temperatures that are high enough to be workable all over the US
Good catch! I am not sure, but perhaps because it is a field test unit and did not have cooling? Not really sure. I know in Europe, they are highly sought after, so I am sure the heat is not an issue. Not sure how they get around that though.
Thx 4 watching.
Honestly, I'd be more concerned with the -22 F limit, which occurs often in North America. 131 F is extremely rare, even in the hottest regions, though full sun exposure on the hottest days in the Southwest could easily push the dispenser/cabinet temperature past 131 F. To me, this is just another example of why, for some regions, canopies over the charging site should be mandatory.
14:00 You should demonstrate the cable gantry on top of the Hypercharger, it allows cable to reach much further around an EV.
good point
Love the cool tech in the NC area wish we had similar tech in WNY. Tesla is building charging systems in Buffalo, but v4 charging around here has been slow to come.
I like the interface on the Alphitronic systems
Alphi Hypers do have a sweet premium feel. We are lucky they are here and there is a test unit to play with. Hopefully we will start to see some of them in the wild too. Kempower for sure will do well in NA. Thx 4 watching.
Both those two chargers are heavily used by Shell and CircleK in Norway.
Usual at least half chargers/stalls have CSS and CHAdeMO installed.
Can not remember once a charger of the types in the video not working.
Their reliability is legendary. I'm super excited to see them come to NA. Thx 4 watching.
It'll be very interesting to see if/how this next generation of chargers eats away at the Tesla Supercharger network. If the CPOs can get their act together and we have more reliable hardware things could, finally and hopefully get competitive. Also, just a very minor nitpick, traditionally Finland isn't part of Scandinavia, but is a Nordic country along with the rest. That Alpitronic units look nice to, but they really need to do something about the screen glare. While the large screen grabs your attention, it's really not needed, I'd rather just be somewhere climate controlled monitoring my charging. Thanks for posting this, looking forward to more on these two.
Did not know Finland was not Scandinavian. I guess since they have Santa Claus, they feel the r better than the rest?
Thx 4 watching & the nice comment
Tesla currently installs more than 20 charging stalls per week (or 3 per day), meaning an average of two 10 stalls stations per week. And plan to be installing more than 50 stalls per week by the end of 2025. The others take a month, if not longer, to install just 4 to 6 stalls max. They have not be taking it seriously like Tesla has from the start.
Some are beginning to see the light, such as Mercedes Benz, who are very serious about their EV transition and see the profit making possibilities. The Ionna network between a few auto manufacturers (led by Mercedes) intents to compete, but they are a decade plus behind. So we'll have to see. I see them taking over EA and getting rid of all those unreliable chargers they use.
However, what the others don't seem to get is the total and rapid support system that Tesla has in place. They build their own chargers and learned through the years which parts broke most often, and learned to build them as robust as possible all as they went along. Superchargers are monitored 24/7/365, and they have techs and parts in just about every town, all cities, in all states and provinces. Any charger or stalls that go down are back up and running within a day, while their competitors have chargers that are sometimes down for months in less busy locations.
Most sites Tesla now builds have a minimum of 12 to 16 stalls. With many having 40 plus stalls in heavy EV adoptions areas. Some even having over 100 stalls with these sites covered in solar and battery megapacks to be able to provide the cheapest electricity rates possible.
I fear Tesla will be unseated as the CPO with the most ports. They are a single company with 3.5 factories. IONNA has the combination of seven auto makers, all of which are larger then Tesla. Their initial investment is said to be north of $10b, which is more than the sum of Tesla’s total to date and EA combined. I think soon, the Tesla SC will be seen as an austere 2nd choice.
@@thenetworkarchitectchannel That's what they've been saying for years. I myself hoped that EA would provide true competition. But instead, as we began using it more and more, we discovered what an unreliable disaster it was.
That was the best chance for competitors -- BEFORE Tesla opened up their network. I doubt non-Tesla drivers will use EA or EVgo anymore other than a backup. Rivian just got access today.
As far multiple competitors joining forces, that has always proved to be somewhat disastrous as infighting always happens. You need a single committed leader who can see well ahead of the rest. A Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Sam Walton, Henry Ford etc. Unfortunately, Legacy manufacturers are all led by pencil pushers. Their visionary leaders and founders are long gone.
But at least they'll provide other options. Which is always a good thing.
@@thenetworkarchitectchannel That's what they've been saying for years. I myself hoped that EA would provide true competition. But instead, as we began using it more and more, we discovered what an unreliable disaster it was.
That was the best chance for competitors -- BEFORE Tesla opened up their network. I doubt non-Tesla drivers will use EA or EVgo anymore other than a backup. Rivian just got access today.
As far as multiple competitors joining forces, that has always proved to be somewhat disastrous as infighting always happens. You need a single committed leader who can see well ahead of the rest. A Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Sam Walton, Henry Ford etc. Unfortunately, Legacy manufacturers are all led by pencil pushers. Their visionary leaders and founders are long gone.
But at least they'll provide other options. Which is always a good thing.
I found out Love’s will not be using these providers for their NEVI builds today. In an executive summary PDF for the Brunswick location on the Georgia NEVI DOT page it shows that they will use ChargePoint Express Plus units with NACS and CCS1.
I am very interested in seeing how they proceed. Thank you for the update
That size Kempower cabinet can only do 200kW - you’d need a triple cabinet for 600kW
Thx! I didn’t know that.
I’m not a tech guy, however I really enjoy your videos. Liked the split screen at the start, well done.
Thx. I felt it a clever way 2 start. Glad u enjoyed.
Where is the plug and charge???
Still need to use an app..
Or a credit card, which makes the most sense for a majority of drivers who won't regularly use just one network and don't want to set up multiple payment accounts.
I"m going to ask a question (or questions here) that I've wanted to ask for a while. With the onset of Ford being able to charge at some superchargers now, and other OEMs coming on board, the charging ports are not all in the same position as on the Tesla. (I know, duh). Why wouldn't Tesla starting building their supercharging stations like filling stations are now? With pass through lanes, the ability to charge on either side of the island? With covered awnings? Is this too far out of the realm of possibility? Seems like with the advent of the other OEMs coming on board, Tesla would need/should want to accommodate more/different charging port locations, instead of being stuck in the same location based supercharger setups that we see at most supercharger locations. Maybe in a configuration like the gas pumps at a Costco gas station currently?
Thoughts?
Their V4 Superchargers do have longer cables on them, but they are still way too short for cars such as Bolt or Mache or Lightning. With all or most OEMs getting on board with using the Tesla chargers, I would think that Tesla will need to look at their charger setup a little differently, perhaps initially setting up 1 of their current 4 charger subassemblies with a much longer cord for new installs, and perhaps revising the standard cord length on the V3 superchargers. Let’s wait and see where they are at the end of this year?
@@dennislyon5412 Tesla V4 Superchargers have a 9 foot long cable. More than long enough for ALL EVs.
Tesla has begun doing just that. There are quite a few pull through stations in Europe, and now that they have the Cybertruck out, they are building many pull through, and pull into, sites. Meaning with the stalls are on the sides of the EV's.
And auto manufacturers are now going to be placing the ports on either the front right or rear left, rather than the wild west it's been until now. Keep in mind than on ICE vehicles there are only 2 proper locations for the gas tank inlet -- the rear left or rear right. While EV manufacturers have been placing the ports all over the place on their EVs. So they are now narrowing the proper locations to only 2 just like ICE vehicles have.
I agree with what Paul had said. Historically, Tesla had built for expediency in a mad dash to survive.
They are now becoming more deliberate and focusing on amenities and improved site design. It is a rare day though that you see a gas station expirence. I doubt Tesla will ever be able to compete with the c-store operators in this respect. Circle K, 7-11, & Race Trac all own their property and can make EV charging customer feel welcome to a degree Tesla is unable. RaceTrac in particular is putting canopies over all their EV charging stations. Thx 4 watching.
@@thenetworkarchitectchannel Thanks for the reply.
Wheres the link for the zooster charger?
Sorry. Pls do a refresh. I just added it to the bottom of the description. It is pretty cool tech. Thx 4 watching.
@@thenetworkarchitectchannel thanks im in Greenville SC with a Tesla model S and f150 lightning.
Are the Alpitronic cables liquid cooled? Thanks for these updates.
Yes, you’re welcome