A new smart rapid charger that delivers up to 480kW ultra-rapid speed without the need for major infrastructure work will be unveiled at the London EV Show this week.

TPS CEO Carlos Neves

Developed by British engineering firm Turbo Power Systems (TPS), the new Velox range is said to be a game-changer, delivering multi-bay ultra-rapid charging speeds through a smart network energy system that manages grid, solar, battery and EV, on an efficient DC microgrid. And without the costly and complex infrastructure and installation work fleets have faced up until now.

The Gateshead-based engineering company designs and builds bespoke power solutions for aerospace, transport and other technology-led industries such as the energy sector. It has applied that knowledge to solve the problem of rapid vehicle charging for business and fleets.

“We know that lots of businesses and organisations are struggling with how to implement high speed charging without major groundworks, upgrades to sub stations and long-winded planning applications, and our system does away with the need for any of that,” explained TPS CEO Carlos Neves.

“Many rapid charger solutions are reliant on extensive upgrades to cabling and the grid to provide the power. At TPS, we design and build solutions for planes and trains that have to use the available energy in extremely clever ways – you can’t just rely on huge amounts of unlimited power. You have to work with what you have and engineer solutions from there, and so we have taken this same approach with this charging system.

“Using smart energy management, we can take in the most efficient manner possible power from the grid or onsite generation, hold it, store it, and move it, so that vehicles can be charged at high speed whenever they need.”

As a result, the firm says that for a typical installation, the operator can expect an average improvement in terms of ROI of 20%, relative to a ‘direct-to-grid’ conventional charging solution. If operating in London, then it could be an impressive 55% improvement due to the associated high land and installation costs of conventional chargers.

The Velox charger unveiled at the show comes in two configurations: i and c. The i version – which stands for integrated – achieves speeds of up to 120kW, while the c model – or compact – is a scalable system up to 480kW. Both are connected to a distribution grid inverter that manages a smart DC network to direct power to where it is best utilised.

The system will fully launch early next year but will be previewed in final pre-production version this week.

It’s aimed at any fleets high-speed charging; in particular companies and organisations which have depots, compounds or vehicle parks but have found that the cost and time involved in installing rapid charging has until now been prohibitive.

Applications include bus or delivery fleet depots, or rental firms with compounds that need to turn around electric vehicles for the next booking.

“It’s not just large fleets that can benefit though. Because of the modular nature of the system, it could be installed for customers wanting ultra-rapid charging either for private use, or to offer public charging to consumers for a fee. All would benefit from the light touch installation, and high-speed charging, we can offer,” Neves summed up.