We head to DMG MORI’s global headquarters in Winterthur, Switzerland, to discover more about the company’s pioneering car charging system and its impact on energy efficiency.
It is a widely discussed fact that electric vehicles only drive CO2 neutral when running on green power. Therefore an accessible charging infrastructure based on green energy is essential for the future of e-mobility. The whole infrastructure as shown in the e-charging station register of “goingelectric.de” includes 4,912 charging stations for Germany and 464 for Switzerland (status: 05.08.2015).
In the United States the U.S. Department of Energy has registered 10,267 charging stations for electric vehicles. However it is not apparent how many of these stations are supplied by green power. It is striking, at least in the European context, how low the proportion of fast charging stations is. A mere 5% of the stations in Germany and 15% of the stations in Switzerland are listed as fast charging stations.
Fast charging means that the charging terminal is capable of charging a vehicle at a rate of 22 kW or more. However, only fast charging stations that are able to provide 44 kW to 50 kW can charge electric vehicles like the VW e-Golf or the BMW i3, within 30 minutes up to 80% of their capacity. When charging an electric vehicle at home with a conventional plug the charging time goes up to eight or ten hours. Clearly a wide network of fast charging stations based on green power has the ability to significantly increase the attractiveness of e-mobility.
