Charging stations for electric vehicles and trucks
Charging stations for electric trucks: let’s have a look at some information to get to know this system, which you can find more and more in cities and elsewhere.
Kinds of charging stations:
- Alternating current domestic charging plugs - AC - Mode 1
- Alternating current charging stations - AC - Mode 2
- Alternating current charging stations - AC - Mode 3
- Direct current columns for charging - DC - Mode 4
Kinds of electric vehicle supply equipment and connectors
Indicators are showing steady growth indexes of deployment of electric vehicles in the coming years. The charging network system is also beginning to develop simultaneously. There are alternating current charging stations - AC - and direct current charging stations - DC -, also called ultra-fast, on the market. The charging points are purely AC in the domestic sphere, while public ones are of both types. We find Mode 1 plugs with 230-volt alternating current within domestic environment. Mode 2 stations exist too. In the public area we find equipment with faster charging, Mode 3.
Charging times and costs
Recharging can be slow (4-8 hours) or fast (1-2 hours) depending on the power delivered by the charging point; so-called flash charging stations are beginning to be experimented in Italy as well, aiming to increase the efficiency of electric vehicle supply equipment, as it allows 80% battery recharging in about 30 minutes. Not all energy storage devices are the same: for some it takes only two hours to gain 20 percent more charge than still available percentage. These are the batteries without the so-called "memory effect." How much does it cost to "fill up" an electric car? It takes about 2-3 euros to restore the energy level to 100 percent in a set of Alkè vehicle batteries. Generally, the charging point operator provides the electric vehicle user with a rechargeable card with a dual function: to pay for the refuelling (scaling how much you owe from the total credit) and to activate the service. In order to avoid vandalism, the charging cables (from the station to the car), or the sockets (from the car to the station) are usually located inside a compartment in the charging point. This compartment will open only after the card is inserted. The most technologically advanced operators provide wireless keys: it will be enough to bring the object close to the station to activate its functions.
Alkè Cloud monitoring the charge state
Alkè electric vehicles can be equipped with a cloud platform that offers a whole range of information related to the battery and charging, even in real time. These data include the battery status, the route taken, whether the vehicle is charging and the battery percentage. All this useful information allows proper management of both the vehicle activities and of work to be done.
