The HPC booster: a compact cube full of energy. (Photo | ADS-TEC)

It looks rather unre­mark­able on the outside: A white cube, around 1.20 meters high, standing on a black base. A venti­lation grille is recessed on the sides — also in black. The HPC Booster is remi­nis­cent of an over-sized freezer. But under the lid of the 1.8 metric ton cube, there are no deep-frozen oven fries, but 320 kilo­watts of concen­trated charging power for elec­tric cars. From zero to 80 percent in just a few minutes —  this is fast and achieved easily by the HPC Booster and the asso­ci­ated charging station, the HPC Dispenser.

Power from the socket

The topic of e-mobility is advancing more than ever before. The range of elec­tric cars is growing, along with demand. However, there are still too few charging stations in some Euro­pean coun­tries such as Germany. This is primarily due to high construc­tion costs because most charging stations require access to the medium-voltage network, which involves first digging up roads and laying new power cables. Some­thing which costs a lot of time and money.

“Every house­hold could theo­ret­i­cally set up its own quick-charge station.” – Jannik Lorenz, ADS-TEC

However, with the HPC Booster from Nürtingen-­based ADS-TEC, expen­sive expan­sion of the medium-­voltage network is no longer neces­sary. The white power cube has its own energy storage system, enabling it to be connected directly to the well-devel­oped low-voltage network that we all know from home. From there, the HPC Booster can store and pool energy, and transfer it quickly to a connected elec­tric car via the HPC Dispenser.

“In theory, every house­hold can set up its own quick-charge station in this way,” says Jannik Lorenz, PR specialist at ADS-TEC. “The HPC Booster impresses not only with its high perfor­mance when charging, but also with its compact design. This makes it unique as a quick-charge station.”

Clever cooling concept

However, high perfor­mance also means a lot of energy. And a lot of heat is gener­ated wher­ever a lot of energy flows. This is no different for the HPC Booster and poses a partic­ular chal­lenge precisely because of its compact design. This is why the quick-charge cube has a clever cooling concept to ensure smooth oper­a­tion. ADS-TEC also relies on tech­nology from ebm-papst for this. Two EC centrifugal fans from the RadiCal series and a cooling unit ensure that cold air circu­lates constantly around the lithium battery block in the power cube.

The HPC Booster can be used to charge all common elec­tric cars from 200 volts, as well as upcoming models with up to 920 volts.

Here, the cooling unit extracts heat from the battery block which must be dissi­pated to the outside. Two more EC centrifugal fans take over this task as condenser fans. This means that the HPC Booster can be oper­ated without any prob­lems at an outdoor temper­a­ture of up to 60 degrees Celsius — whilst the inside temper­a­ture never rises above 30 degrees Celsius.

Under these condi­tions, the white power cube can deliver top perfor­mance and charge around four to seven elec­tric cars one after the other in conjunc­tion with the HPC Dispenser. Here the quick-charge cube continues to draw energy from the low-voltage network and is prac­ti­cally never empty.

HPC booster and dispenser on site. (Photo | ADS-TEC)

In addi­tion, another HPC Dispenser can be connected to the quick-charge cube to supply power to two elec­tric cars at the same time. And it does this irre­spec­tive of the vehi­cles’ volt­ages. This is because the HPC Booster can be used to charge all common elec­tric cars from 200 volts, as well as upcoming models with up to 920 volts, making the power cube the perfect quick-charge station for the future.

This was also recog­nized by a well-known German auto­mo­tive manu­fac­turer and a large energy supplier, who have invested in ADS-TEC’s quick-charge station. We will there­fore certainly see the white power cube more often in the coming years at gas stations, car deal­er­ships, and city centers.