Â鶹´«Ã½

Aalto-born technology company Unified Chargers has created a new type of electric vehicle charging station that can charge any brand of electric vehicle. An easy-to-use and open mobile application is used to control the charging process and for payment.

'The feedback we have received from customers has been mostly positive, since there is no queuing with this new station,' says Jukka Anttonen, CEO of Unified Chargers.

'It is often thought that we need faster charging stations, but in fact the vehicle is usually the bottleneck. If one vehicle is connected to a fast charging station, it receives all of the station's capacity. Most vehicles can handle such high charging power for only a moment, after which they drop to 30–40 kilowatt power,' he adds. 'We have the possibility of building fast charging stations for up to 20 vehicles.'

The station offers a total of 60 kW of charging power, which is intelligently split among connected vehicles. The application optimises charging time with consideration for the varying charging rates among vehicles. When one vehicle is fully charged, the available charging power is then automatically reassigned to other users. This means that the station's efficiency remains the same regardless of how many vehicles are connected. The station supports both the CCS and CHAdeMO fast charging standards.

Unified Chargers has a positive view of the future, as the company has already received patents for its technology in China, India and USA.

Fast charging stations are especially in demand in densely-populated areas, on roads out of the city and in business clusters.

'For many electric vehicles, a drive from Helsinki to a meeting in Tampere is enough to drain the battery. Fast charging during a meeting is convenient and makes trips like these go smoother,' Anttonen says.

The fast charging station is a a part of Neste's low-emissions service station of the future. The charging station was built in collaboration with Leppäkosken Energia.