Here’s a potential hack to reduce electric vehicle charging time [Video]

Electric vehicles aren’t as good as gas-burners - when it comes to performance, comfort and total cost of ownership, they’re far better. However, one area in which EVs still fall short is refueling time. Even at a Tesla Supercharger, you can expect to wait much longer than the couple of minutes it takes to jerk some dinosaur juice into a legacy rattler.

Source: Zapinamo

Chargers with much higher power levels are already being installed in the US and Europe, but they’ll be playing a game of catch-up as the battery capacities of next-gen EVs increase. Furthermore, faster charging means more power consumption, and that often means expensive upgrades to a location’s electrical supply. What if there were some way to charge a vehicle faster without drawing more juice from the local service?

That’s the vision of EVSE manufacturer Zapinamo. The Coventry-based firm has developed a new charging system that uses battery storage to “power boost” a domestic electric grid connection and reduce charging time.

Youtube: Knowledge Transfer Network

According to Zapinamo, a typical home charger adds 4 miles of charge in 30 minutes, whereas the company’s new Hubz unit can add 50 miles in 30 minutes.

The Hubz product range is a modular system, designed to expand its capabilities as typical charging power levels increase.

Source: Zapinamo

The Hubz base unit can use a “community energy model” to distribute energy among several chargers.

The Streethubz unit is designed for commercial depots, where its energy storage capability can boost charging rates without the need for costly substation upgrades.

Source: Zapinamo

The Parkhubz unit is ergonomically designed to fit into the corner of a parking spot, taking up a minimal amount of space.

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Written by: Charles Morris. This article originally appeared in Charged. Source: Zapinamo