ARE LIVE

New technology is dramatically increasing the speed at which you can charge your electric car

Chargenetnzhas installed dual 300kw “hyper chargers” just south of Auckland, the fastest publicly available Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) chargers innewzealand.

Supported by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) through round six of the Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund, the stations are at the motorway service centre atbombayat the end of Auckland’s Southern Motorway.

What does 300kwmeanin practical terms?

Mostdcfast-charging stations innzto date have been50kw(including those on Chargenet’s nationwide network), so the newinstallation is six times more powerful.

Sadly, that doesn’tmeanyour EV will charge six times as fast, because there isn’t yet a vehicle on thenzmarket capable of charging at that rate. But it doesmeanan EV cannowcharge at themaximumrate it’s capable of— which varies from model to model. Thenewporsche Taycan can charge at upto 270kw, whilenewtesla vehicles can accept up to 250kw (the Teslaspecific “Supercharger” network innzis 120kw).

The Audi e-trongtarriving in 2021 will allow a full 350kw, while the Hyundai Kona

Electric is capable of 80kw.

Actual charge rates depend on many different factors, includinghowdepleted the battery is when plugging it in. But Porsche famously claims that you can add 100km of range to a Taycan in just five minutes with the right charging conditions.

Owners need to subscribe to Chargenet to use its network. The chargers are activated by a swipe card or app and users pay for the power delivered: 60c perkwh for the hyper chargers, dropping to 35c when the power drops below 35kw.

Ordinarily there’s also a charge for the time parked at Chargenet machines, although this has not been applied to the hyper chargers thus far. Each of the twonew stations atbombaycan charge charge two vehicles, plus a third using a conventional Chademoconnection at62kw— so a total of six vehicles simultaneously.

It’s about future-proofing. Chargenet says the hyper chargers “will allow EV drivers to quickly add hundreds of kilometres of driving range in the short time it takes to stop for lunch and a coffee . . . the newest generation of EVS [will] add 300km of charge in only 10 minutes.”

The most recent round of theeecafund distributed $3.2 million of government cofunding to low emissions vehicle projects. Round seven will assist in the installation of another two hyper chargers in Taupo¯, while round eight will assist with seven more in four locations: Kaiwaka, Bulls, Christchurch and North Shore, Auckland. Audinzis leading the way with its dealership charging infrastructure this month, adding to the existing 1050kw chargers and one 175kw fast charger fitted across Audi Authorised Dealers nationwide. The50kwabbterra 54 chargers deliver a full 400km charge in two hours, while a 175KWABB Terrahpcharger, installed at Auckland’s Giltrap Audi, enables the e-tron 55 to charge to 80 per cent in just 30 minutes.