Fastned is partnering with EVBox to install a 400 kW charging station in the Netherlands. This is the second most powerful charging station in Europe, along with the one installed in Madrid by Circontrol last September. Something to worry about the stars of the market, in particular Tesla and Ionity.
Autonomy, and therefore charging, has always been one of the main obstacles to buying an electric car. And yet, the infrastructures have evolved very well over the years, while the market is developing at breakneck speed. If we are still far from the objective of 100,000 terminals installed by the end of 2021 in France, the Avere France site emphasizes that the country had 77,318 terminals as of October 31.
A new alternative
A constantly increasing number, which we owe in part to the arrival of new players on the market. We think in particular of Ionity, but also of Electra, Allego or Fastned, among others. The latter is already well established in the territory, having signed a partnership with Sanef last April to set up 18 fast charging stations on highways. The operator is also present on the APRR network and will soon arrive at ASF and Vinci.
A few days ago, the company announced the arrival of a new feature making it easier to use the Autocharge system. As a reminder, this technology allows you to start a recharge without having to take out your card or identify yourself. The terminal then automatically recognizes the car, as proposed by the Plug & Charge system by Ionity.
But the Dutch firm wants to go even further to attract electric car users and make charging even easier. For that, it has partnered with the company EVBox, also based in the Netherlands and founded in 2010 to offer a new generation terminal called EVBox Troniq Modular High-Power. Announced in a press release, it becomes one of the most powerful in Europe.
And for good reason, it delivers no less than 400 kW, a value identical to that displayed by the chargers developed by the Spanish company Circontrol and installed since September in Madrid. For now, only one charging point has been set up by Fasned and EVBox, in the De Watering station located on the A8 motorway near Oostzaan in the Netherlands. This is in the testing phase.
100 kilometers in three minutes
According to the company, this new terminal then makes it possible to recover up to 100 kilometers of range in just three minutes dump. But you still have to find a car capable of handling such power! Because for the time being, the most powerful models, the Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron GT, are content with 270 kW. To note that the power of the terminals can be shared by two carsthen delivering up to 200 kW to each.
This new terminal, which could end up being developed all over Europe if the tests are conclusive, should then put a real beating on Tesla. Because for now, the American brand only offers Superchargers peaking at 250 kW in their V3 version. The V4 should increase to 350 kW, which remains lower than the 360 kW of Lidl and Kallista Energy.
The voltage of the Fastned terminal has not been specified, but it is a safe bet that we are in the presence of 800 volts, as at Ionity and unlike the 400 volts of other operators. This reduces the charging time, with for example 18 minutes to go from 10 to 80% on the Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5.
But the manufacturer is also working on Megachargers capable of delivering up to 1 mW (1,000 kW). If we do not know if they will be compatible with the cars of the brand, the Semi and Cybertruck will indeed be able to connect to it. For their part, the fast terminals of Ionity currently cap at 350 kW.
Other brands are also working on ultra-powerful chargers, like Nio, which is developing 500 kW terminals. These should soon be established in China and Europe. The brand also continues to install its battery exchange stations, allowing you to leave with 100% autonomy in less than five minutes. Several are already present in Norway as well as in Germany.
When testing the Nio ET7 electric car, we were able to try out the battery exchange system (Nio Power Swap Station) which allows the batteries to be “recharged” in five minutes. The result is…
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