{"id":20623,"date":"2024-10-17T10:04:18","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T08:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/?p=20623"},"modified":"2026-02-24T14:01:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:01:44","slug":"ef-cooling-brings-the-power-for-high-power-charging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/industries\/refrigeration-ventilation\/ef-cooling-brings-the-power-for-high-power-charging_20623\/","title":{"rendered":"Cool charging: ef cooling brings the power for high power charging"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Until now, using an elec\u00adtric vehicle to travel long distances on vaca\u00adtion has often meant long stops at rest areas or service stations to charge the vehicle. For many people, this was also coupled with the concern that they would be unable to find a charging station on their journey and could actu\u00adally break down with an empty battery. However, long charging times and long distances to the next charging station should soon be a thing of the past. As a result of inno\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive new tech\u00adnolo\u00adgies, compa\u00adnies like ef cooling are shaping the future of elec\u00adtro\u00admo\u00adbility and making it more conve\u00adnient and compat\u00adible with everyday life. This not only applies to cars. Elec\u00adtric ships and ferries are already in use and could be joined by planes as well in the not too distant future. In logis\u00adtics as well great advances are being made in terms of the perfor\u00admance and range of elec\u00adtric trucks.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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High Power Charging (HPC) <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

High-power charging (HPC) is a tech\u00adnology that makes charging capac\u00adi\u00adties of 150 kW to 350 kW possible. As a result, charging is three times faster compared with stan\u00addard rapid charging stations. This means that an elec\u00adtric vehicle can be charged to 80 percent capacity in around 15 to 30 minutes at an HPC station. Depending on the vehicle model, this gives an average range of 300 kilo\u00adme\u00adters. In order to use an HPC station, the vehicle must be charge\u00adable with DC (direct current) and equipped with a CCS connec\u00adtion.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe goal in the future is to be able to recharge elec\u00adtric cars to at least 80 percent capacity far faster than at present\u200a- \u200ain just ten minutes. And it should be possible to recharge elec\u00adtric trucks to their full range of 800 to 900 kilo\u00adme\u00adters during a stop of just 40 minutes.\u201d This is the vision described by Daniel B\u00e4rtschi, CEO of ef cooling. \u201cIn order to achieve this, we already need more high-perfor\u00admance, high-power charging (HPC) stations.\u201d The Swiss company employs 70 people and supplies heat exchangers for liquid-cooled \u00adcables that ensure the effi\u00adcient cooling of this kind of charging station. Daniel B\u00e4rtschi explains: \u201cAround 95 percent of our heat exchangers are exported, espe\u00adcially to the Asian market and the USA, where elec\u00adtric vehi\u00adcles are already more widely used than in Europe. However, I am convinced that effi\u00adcient and fast tech\u00adnolo\u00adgies will enable us to achieve the same here as well.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Effi\u00adcient cooling for demanding elec\u00adtro\u00admo\u00adbility<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

ebm-papst offers cooling solu\u00adtions for all systems related to elec\u00adtric vehicle charging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Learn more <\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Heat exchangers for liquid-cooles cables<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The main chal\u00adlenge presented by HPC stations is that the charging points over\u00adheat at peak periods. In order to charge an elec\u00adtric vehicle more quickly, a higher charging current is neces\u00adsary. During the charging process, this gener\u00adates more heat, which must be dissi\u00adpated by the charging station. The voltage can be as high as 920\u2005V. The process is not made easier by the weather condi\u00adtions to which HPC stations are exposed throughout the year. Whether it is snowing and \u2013 10 degrees Celsius or it is 50 degrees Celsius under a scorching sun, the charging point has to be ready to go from standby to deliv\u00adering a full charge at any time.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, ef cooling was commis\u00adsioned by a charging station manu\u00adfac\u00adturer to develop a proto\u00adtype that ensures the avail\u00adability and effi\u00adciency of HPC stations. \u201cAn oil circu\u00adlates in the charging cable and cools the copper wires,\u201d says B\u00e4rtschi, explaining the cable cooling concept. \u201cOil may not exceed a maximum temper\u00ada\u00adture of 30 degrees Celsius. An absolutely reli\u00adable solu\u00adtion is needed for the heat exchanger that is used to ensure this.\u201d ef cooling began searching for a suit\u00adable compact fan. \u201cThe oil cooling can\u2019t func\u00adtion without the heat exchanger, so the HPC station can\u2019t func\u00adtion either,\u201d empha\u00adsizes Daniel B\u00e4rtschi. \u201cThat\u2019s why the choice of compact fan was a crucial feature of the proto\u00adtype.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cool charging cable thanks to compact fans  <\/h2>\n\n\n
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The heat exchanger ensures that the coolant never exceeds a temper\u00ada\u00adture of 30 degrees Celsius. (Image | Timo M\u00fcller)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The copper wires in the charging cable are surrounded by a sheath. The oil used as the cooling medium is pumped back\u00adwards and forwards through this sheath, first to the plug and then back to the heat exchanger once it has heated up. This cools the oil using three compact fans supplied by ebm-papst, emit\u00adting the heat to the ambient air. \u201cThe higher the outside temper\u00ada\u00adture, the more diffi\u00adcult it is to cool the cable,\u201d explains Daniel B\u00e4rtschi. \u201cThat\u2019s why we chose a robust and very high-perfor\u00admance compact fan.\u201d As the HPC stations are used all over the world, it was impor\u00adtant to ef cooling that the fans were able to easily with\u00adstand envi\u00adron\u00admental influ\u00adences such as extreme heat or cold. Samuel Schlit\u00adtler, a member of the sales team at ebm-papst in Switzer\u00adland, explains: \u201cThis was the reason for choosing fans with an IP68 rating for the HPC stations. As a result, the compact fans are resis\u00adtant to splashing water, salt spray and other weather influ\u00adences.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of effort and thought <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Along\u00adside the tech\u00adnical require\u00adments, the design of the charging point also played a major role. The appear\u00adance of the HPC charging station was as impor\u00adtant to the manu\u00adfac\u00adturer as its internal work\u00adings. \u201cThe charging point was to be slimmer and taller, reducing the amount of space for the heat exchanger. Suddenly, the dimen\u00adsions were too tight and we had to come up with some\u00adthing new,\u201d says Daniel B\u00e4rtschi.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUlti\u00admately, we\u200a\u2013\u200alike ebm-papst\u200a\u2013 are a supplier that works to imple\u00adment our customer\u2019s wishes as best we can.\u201d That is why ef cooling devel\u00adoped a new unit in which the heat exchanger and the pump func\u00adtion inde\u00adpen\u00addently of each other. \u201cThis was a true feat of engi\u00adneering. There were actu\u00adally crit\u00adical voices within the company that doubted it was even possible,\u201d recalls Daniel B\u00e4rtschi. \u201cHowever, it was soon clear that we were building some\u00adthing that not everyone on the market is capable of.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The oil cooling can\u2019t func\u00adtion without the heat exchanger, so the HPC station can\u2019t func\u00adtion either.<\/p>\nDaniel B\u00e4rtschi, CEO ef cooling Ernst H. Furrer AG<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Reli\u00adable suppliers matter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Reli\u00adable suppliers are key to such a special high-tech solu\u00adtion. \u201cIn this project in partic\u00adular, the people behind the product were impor\u00adtant. We wanted a compe\u00adtent partner that could help us when a problem came up,\u201d empha\u00adsizes B\u00e4rtschi. \u201cWe found a great partner in ebm-papst.\u201d He goes on: \u201cIn addi\u00adtion to the high-end tech\u00adnical product, we were espe\u00adcially impressed by the efforts made by ebm-papst to reli\u00adably supply the number of compact fans needed, despite the diffi\u00adcul\u00adties of the coro\u00adn\u00adavirus pandemic. For me, that is defi\u00adnitely an addi\u00adtional mark of quality.\u201d Samuel Schlit\u00adtler from ebm-papst recalls: \u201cAt peak times last year, we deliv\u00adered 1,200 compact fans each week to ef cooling. They were used to equip a total of 400 cooling units weekly.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project has been running contin\u00adu\u00adously since 2019\u200a-\u200aand it remains exciting. Until now, every elec\u00adtric vehicle manu\u00adfac\u00adturer has had its own plug for HPC charging stations. Now, after years of uncer\u00adtainty, there is a global shift to the uniform NACS plug. It remains to be seen how e-mobility will evolve. In the future, elec\u00adtric aircraft, ferries, and even container ships could be trav\u00adeling the globe.\u2002 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Until now, using an elec\u00adtric vehicle to travel long distances on vaca\u00adtion has often meant long stops at rest areas or service stations to charge the vehicle. For many people, this was also coupled with the concern that they would be unable to find a charging station on their journey and could actu\u00adally break down [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fans","category-refrigeration-ventilation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20623"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22593,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20623\/revisions\/22593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}