Zerova Technologies - a new subsidiary based in Taiwan, China - made its debut at the eMove360° European Exhibition in Berlin this week. The company previewed a 480-kilowatt prototype charger that promises to make charging EVs more convenient than ever by reducing charging time to 10 minutes.
Those who don't have a full 10 minutes can inject nearly 100 miles (160 kilometers) of battery power into their cars in less than half the time. The new four-gun charger can also charge four cars from one device at the same time.
Zerova's new Four Gun charger is designed for charging passenger cars and commercial fleets. It packs some super charging capabilities in a compact space, with independent chargers on the front and back of a body. Each charger has a 16.4-foot long (5 meters) cable to help with the logistics of parking and charging for four independent vehicles. The charger supports CCS-1, CCS-2, CHAdeMO and GB charging standards and includes a digital screen designed for advertising playback.
Since the 10-minute full charge is based on vehicles with 75 kWh battery packs, vehicles with larger battery packs will take longer to charge. Zerova also estimates that the charger will add 93 miles (150 kilometers) in less than 5 minutes, allowing some drivers to quickly power up and complete their journey, then plug in the power supply at the destination for a more complete charge.
Swiss company ABB called its four cars the fastest charger in the world when it debuted a year ago, when it said it could be fully charged in 15 minutes and a 62-mile (100 kilometers) charging time was less than 3 minutes. In May, the company announced a partnership with Shell to build a network of 200 Terra 360 chargers across Germany. The company plans to install the entire network by 2023.
Zerova calls the 480-kilowatt Four Gun the "fastest" new standard, but it does face some very similar competitors. A few months before ABB launched the Terra 360, China's GAC Group Aion showed off a 480-kilowatt charger. When used with its super fast charging graphene battery , the charger can reduce the charging time of 124 miles (200 kilometers) to 5 minutes, with 80% charging time of 8 minutes. Xiaopeng also has a 480-kilowatt charger design, and NIO made headlines in July this year because of a more powerful 500-kilowatt charger, but there are not many details about it.
Of course, the battery and in-car charging hardware must also keep up with speed, these high-power ultrafast chargers must be installed in large quantities, and these attractive charging times only make sense in the real world.
In addition to the 480 kW charger prototype, Zerova also showed a 360 kW variant. It plans to launch a new Four Gun charger in the fourth quarter of 2023, but it does not state whether the 360-kW and 480-kW variants will be available at launch.
eMove360° European Exhibition began on Wednesday and continued until Friday.
