Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi researchers have developed an environmental friendly electric vehicle-charging station with an in-built solar photovoltaic interface capability.
The power of charging station is 20 kW built under ‘Demonstration of Grid Supportive EV Charger and Charging Infrastructure at LT Level (D-EVCI)' project funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.
It is a multi-functional charger with the capability of charging a wide range of EVs like cars, three-wheelers and two-wheelers.
The charging station can derive its energy from solar photovoltaic panels.In future, the solar panels' capacity can be increased and finally a totally green EV charger can be built that can act as an independent infrastructure not taking any power from the conventional grid.
The charging current can also be modulated based on the grid frequency, which allows a more stable operation leading to a reduction in grid failure.
According to the Principal Investigator of the project, Prof. Sukumar Mishra, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Delhi, “The scalable multi-functional charger caters to the emerging EV charging needs of both today's and tomorrow's electric vehicles. There has been a demand from both the automobile industry and EV charger operators for ease of scalability in their charging units”.
“The built-in modularity of the developed charging platform allows charge operators to scale-up basis requirements with minimal expenses. We also have a solar interface, which works in tandem with the electrical grid for energy sharing”, he added.
The charging power in the IIT Delhi charger can be increased in increments of 2 kW, starting at 2 kW up to a maximum of 20 kW. Besides offering ease of scalability through a modular approach, the platform also has a slim design with low maintenance requirements and a user friendly interface.
