Audi’s charging hub could solve the biggest EV challenge

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Audi'due south charging hub could solve the biggest EV challenge

(Image credit: Audi)

EV charging can be a bit of a drag on the power grid, so Audi has come upwards with a new kind of "charging hub" that aims to convalesce strain while too making recharging immensely faster.

The idea, as detailed in a printing release, is that Audi EV owners will be able to reserve a slot and savor upwardly to 300 kW charging speeds. The clincher hither is that the hub will be powered past lithium-ion batteries, which will recharge overnight to avert putting too much load on the power grid.

• How long does it take to charge an electric machine? What you demand to know
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• Plus: Tesla Roadster 2022 goes on brandish in LA — here's how to go and meet information technology

While gas cars exercise play havoc on the surround, we have spent several decades making the procedure of refueling incredibly convenient. Refueling also uses relatively little electricity every bit not much is needed to button gasoline through a pump. Electric cars don't have that luxury.

A mutual refrain from EV owners is that leaving your car to charge overnight means having a full tank in the morning. Invariably, there will be instances where an owner might be unable to accuse during evening hours for one reason or another. And so how do y'all solve for that? Audi thinks this bombardment-powered charging hub is the respond. Y'all don't even need to own an Audi EV to plug in, which, unlike Tesla'due south supercharging network, would make EV charging more ubiquitous.

Each hub would have up to half dozen charging stations all hooked up a battery system with 2.45 MWh of power. For reference a MWh is one thousand kWh, and most electric cars have less than 100 kWh of bombardment capacity. In other words that's a lot of power, and it means these hubs aren't likely to run out of ability very hands.

But in that location are solar panels to add together some supplementary charge during the day. Not merely volition that ease the burden on the grid during the nightly recharge cycle, that energy is coming from a clean renewable energy source.

The batteries being used are what's known every bit "second-life" batteries that have been recycled and repurposed. As EV batteries reach end of life, new recycling companies are popping up that repurpose materials to assistance create new batteries. Given that lithium-ion batteries are made with minerals that crave environmentally impactful mining, recycling will become critical in bringing new batteries to market place. CNBC put out a video speaking to some of these companies, detailing what information technology takes to recycle batteries.

To top information technology off, Audi promises that these hubs tin be "transported, installed and adjusted to the individual location rapidly - largely independent of local network capacities." If Audi'southward pilot proves to be successful, these stations could be rolled out quickly.

The pilot scheme is due to launch in Germany in later summer, and the results volition exist used to determine how the hubs will be implemented in future.

• More: Here are the best electric cars you can buy right now

Tom is the Tom'due south Guide's Automotive Editor, which means he can commonly be found knee deep in stats the latest and best electrical cars, or checking out some sort of driving gadget. It's long style from his days every bit editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He's unremarkably institute trying to squeeze some other giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining that Ikea won't let him buy the stuff he really needs online.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/audis-charging-hub-could-solve-the-biggest-ev-challenge

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