Saturday, August 2, 2014

BMW Unveils Fast, Light EV Charger/Environmental Leader

More good news on the EV side with BMW's introduction of a faster/lighter charger.  Combined with Tesla/Panasonic's gigi-investment in battery technology, the tools are coming fast to make electric vehicles a mainstream success.  We can't wait.

BMW of North America has announced the launch of the BMW i DC Fast Charger, which is compatible with multiple electric vehicles and can specifically charge the BMW i3 all-electric�s vehicle battery up to 80 percent in 30 minutes.

BMW of North America has announced the launch of the BMW i DC Fast Charger, which is compatible with multiple electric vehicles and can specifically charge the BMW i3 all-electric’s vehicle battery up to 80 percent in 30 minutes.
The charger was a joint development between BMW and Bosch Automotive Service Solutions, and went on display July 28 at Plug-In 2014 at the San Jose Convention Center.
The charger is about half the size of a traditional electric vehicle DC charger and weighs approximately 100 pounds. The charger can be mounted on a wall and will be priced at $6,548 for authorized BMW partners.
The 24 kW DC Fast Charger feeds the current directly to the vehicle’s battery and uses the SAE Combo 1 connector. It meets NEMA 3 requirements and is ChargePoint network-enabled, allowing electric vehicle drivers with the SAE Combo 1 inlet to access the charger using a ChargePoint or ChargeNow card.
Major automakers including BMW, GM, Ford, Chrysler, Daimler, Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche have committed to adopting the SAE Combo 1 inlet for DC charging.
The chargers will be available for BMW i Centers across the US beginning in August.
BMW’s i DC Fast Charger is coming available as Tesla works to gets its proprietary supercharging station network in place, having committed to expand that network to 100 stations by 2015. The Tesla stations are designed to give its Tesla Model S half a charge in about half an hour.
In a white paper published earlier this year, Navigant Research predicted that Tesla would have a “volatile year” as the result of its plans to increase the number of its supercharges stations, while working to scale up vehicle production and enter new markets.

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