What is essential in a charging station for the next era of super-fast charging?? Definitely, are the cables liquid cooled.
Liquid Cooled Charging Cables in the Electric Vehicle Industry
From a user experience perspective, Compared to traditional fuel cars, The weak points of the use of electric cars are mainly focused on the charging efficiency and the autonomy of the car.
To solve these two problems, car companies and new energy companies have devised solutions. Currently, The two main ways to meet the needs of users are to increase the vehicle's voltage platform or to increase the current transmitted by the charging post..
Both the increase in the vehicle's voltage platform and the increase in the current transmitted by the charging post inevitably place higher demands on the wire conductivity.
In the case of ordinary charging cables for cars, the increase in current and voltage makes it necessary to increase the diameter of the cable and the thickness of the insulation to ensure the smooth transmission of high power currents. But this also makes the cable thick and stiff., which makes the loading gun difficult to use.
Besides, the high power of current transmission inevitably generates more heat. This increases the risk of the charging gun coming into contact with the car at high temperatures during charging.. The use of high power liquid-cooled charging cables alleviates these problems..
Special Features of Liquid Cooled Charging Cables
In fact, liquid-cooled cables are an upgraded version of water-cooled cables. Water-cooled cables work by adding a tube containing water to the cable to help cool the conductors during the conduction process..
liquid cooled cables, instead, use a refrigerant fluid to form a liquid-cooled circulating system. This produces a better cooling effect and is more suitable for high power charging.. Liquid-cooled leads reduce thermal damage caused by high-power charging to the charging gun and charging post.
As the market demands greater charging capacity for electric vehicles, high power super fast charging has become an unavoidable choice for car companies to improve their advantage. This also means that the use of high power liquid cooled charging cables will increase significantly..
Development and Use of Liquid Cooled High Power Charging Cables
In 2016, the cable company Huber+Suhner developed the world's first refrigerated charging cable system. This refrigerated charging cable system can maintain a current of 500 A for a continuous load at an elevated temperature of 50 °C. is capable of reaching 80% of the charging capacity of electric cars and trucks in 20 minutes.
in december 2017, IONITY was created, a joint venture of BMW, Daimler, Ford, Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche, to deploy DC fast charging platforms on major highways in Europe. And in April of 2018, IONITY inaugurated its first ultra-fast charging station using a liquid-cooled charging gun. Till the date, The third generation of liquid-cooled superchargers has been launched in Europe.
As for the charging cables for liquid-cooled cars in the US., the spotlight is on Tesla. Tesla, the first car company to adopt liquid-cooled charging, began to develop a new liquid cooling system for charging stations in 2015.
in march of 2019, Introduced to the world the supercharger poles Tesla V3. The liquid-cooled charging cable it uses has a diameter of about one 44 % less than that of V2, with only 23,87 mm. And the charging post has a maximum peak power of 250 kW.
Market Vision and Development of Liquid Cooled Charging Cables
Liquid-cooled charging cables do much more than just cool high-power currents. Cables that support liquid refrigerants are designed to withstand low outdoor temperatures. This provides a new direction for liquid-cooled charging cables.
As the electric vehicle industry continues to adjust and upgrade to high-power, fast-charging hardware requirements, electric vehicle charging connection must master refrigeration technology. Los charging cables for cars liquid-cooled could become standard device for supercharger posts.