Bender EV Charge Controllers Applied in Major Cities
Cologne is a beautiful city in Midwest Germany, home to over 1 million people. Contrary to America, German cities are densely packed with narrow alleyways and very little opportunity to park. EV charging stations are a rarity, despite the fact that Germany is currently heavily sponsoring the expansion of their green electric vehicle (EV) activities.
Charging in the City with Bender
A famous hotel in the heart of Cologne installed two Bender Ebee level 2 charging stations in 2019. These are fed by three-phase AC and are capable of delivery 22KW. Please note that the majority of German households and other larger facilities are connected to a 400/240V three-phase grounded system. Having a three-phase supply for such a charging station is therefore a normal occurrence. Here in the US, that would be more difficult to obtain in households since residential areas usually come with a single-phase 120/240V configuration, where the dryer load of 50A maybe the highest consumer product available on the breaker panel. Overall, US residential level 2 chargers deliver less power, such as 7 or 11KW. Exceptions may apply of course. Industrial buildings and larger hotels in the US do have three phase readily available, here the majority will be most likely equipped with 480V/277V three phase. 208/120V three phase is also often present. The charger installation in Cologne was made possible by utilizing the Bender CC612 charge controllers as these are the core components within the charging station.
Measuring performance
Since setup, these chargers have both dispensed 3600KWh of energy. If one takes a medium charge or top off of 10KWh, then one can estimate that roughly 360 vehicles took advantage of that specific charging station. This is not bad at all for new technology and new installation. Here, one has to give kudos to the hotel since they make this accessible as an open charge point for pretty much everyone in the region. Eventually, EVs will become more mainstream, and this availability might change, but operators already have plans to add more charge points to the building. Here, it will come in handy that the CC612 charge controllers are capable of distributing the available power evenly to a multitude of charge points. Even in three-phase industrial type power configurations, it would be impossible to operate ten charging dispensers at once under full current.
Summary
In the end, one must recognize that a bathroom receptacle cannot take in more than two hair dryers, and because of similar factors, charging stations face the same dilemma. Existing electrical infrastructure only allows so many loads at once, which will become a problem as EVs become more popular. Thankfully, smart controllers like the CC612 are fully equipped to adapt to these types of scenarios.
For more information about this application or to learn more about Bender technology related to your specific application, contact our team of experts.
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