ABB installs fast-charging station for electric vehicles at Prague supermarket

September 14, 2017 - ABB has supplied its fast-charging station for electric vehicles to the Lidl supermarket in Barrandov, Prague. The Terra 53 CJG fast-charging station includes a special ABB application that uses the capabilities of ABB Ability digital offering, allowing DC-based charging network monitoring and control.

This type of charging station has been installed at Lidl stores all over Europe. There are currently more than 100 charging stations in operation in Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, Slovakia, Poland, France, Switzerland, Spain and Hungary.

The electric vehicle market is growing. In 2016, the sales of e-cars grew 40 percent as compared to 2015. This trend is expected to continue in the years to come, including the increase in the number of customers that will use their e-cars to go shopping.

ABB‘s charging stations comply with three international charging standards – for DC charging CHAdeMO, which is the fast charging standard of choice for the Kia Soul EV, Citroen, Mitsubishi EVs, Peugeots, and Nissan and the Combined Charging Solution (CCS), which is the fast charging standard of choice for Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Daimler, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, General Motors, Porsche, Volkswagen, Volvo and now the new Model 3 Tesla, together with the AC charging standard (Type 2 Standard). The stations are therefore suitable for all types of electric cars available on the market. ABB provides up to 65 percent of fast charging stations in Europe. So far, the company has sold over 5,000 DC charging points worldwide.

Two technologies are currently used to charge electric cars – charging with alternate or direct current. Alternate current allows you to charge cars depending on the power of the charger built into the vehicle. So, those with 3.6 kW chargers will charge for 8 to 10 hours, those with 7.2 kW chargers – for 5 to 6 hours, and those with max. 22kW chargers – for about an hour.

DC charging is a newer technology and is available for all electric cars, allowing battery charging from 0 to 80 percent in as little as half an hour. Due to the technological limitations of the battery and its tendency to overheat, the last stage of charging, takes place with lower power.

An important part of Lidl’s contract is “Drive Care” – a package of communication and charging station managing systems. With this application, Lidl will be able to constantly monitor the parameters of its charging points, including the power consumption for each of them, or to calculate statistics over a defined period.
All processes of collecting and processing data from the station are a part of ABB Ability, which includes more than 180 digital solutions and services.
 
ABB is a technology business in electrification products, robotics and motion, industrial automation and power grids, serving customers in utilities, industry and transport & infrastructure globally. Continuing a more than 125-year history of innovation, ABB today is writing the future of industrial digitalization and driving the Energy and Fourth Industrial Revolutions. ABB operates in more than 100 countries with about 132,000 employees.