Ingostadt, Germany
“The charging hub embodies our aspiration for the electric era and highlights Audi’s commitment to ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’,” states Oliver Hoffmann, Member of the Board for Technical Development of Audi AG.
“A flexible high-performing HPC charging park like this does not require much from the local electricity grid and uses a sustainable battery concept.”
“Our customers benefit in numerous ways: from the ability to make exclusive reservations, a lounge area and short waiting times thanks to high-performance charging. This is consistent with the premium concept.”
Audi has launched a concept charging hub for what it calls “premium-level electromobility,” which it intends to show as a fully built concept later this year, ahead of a possible production debut.
With DC fast-charging and visits lasting 10 or 15 minutes, it’s likely that gas stations will have to evolve beyond offering a handful of chargers in place of gas nozzles.
To achieve this, Audi came up with the idea of a charging hub based on flexible container cubes.
Those will house second-life lithium-ion batteries delivering a storage capacity of up to 2.45 MWh, allowing for six charging stations with outputs of 300 kW.
The idea is that the batteries would recharge at night when electrical grids are lightly taxed, then charge vehicles during the day, supplemented by solar panels.
The stations will be powered by lithium-ion batteries that are themselves recharged at night so they don’t impact peak power demands in cities or regions.
The Audi fast-charging hub concept features its own energy storage, to take advantage of off-peak energy 2.45 Mwh of energy storage would be provided by used lithium-ion batteries sourced from old EVs.
Premium interior of concept fast-charging hub, expected to be constructed later this year in pilot form, would feature lounge with food and drink.
Each station would have a “premium” lounge with snacks, drinks etc., giving you something to do while your vehicle charges. (It takes the Audi e-tron GTabout 23 minutes to go from 5 to 80 percent battery capacity at its maximum 270 kW charging limit).
To top it off, Audi promises that these hubs can be “transported, installed and adapted to the individual location quickly – largely independent of local network capacities.”
Audi plans to roll out the hub pilot later this year, and is currently searching for a suitable site for this concept in Germany.
The car company plans to release up to 20 fully electric vehicles over the coming years and noted that a robust charging infrastructure will be key to their success.
In effect, hundreds of thousands of new electric cars trying to charge at peak times could play havoc with power grids. At the same time, charging stations and other infrastructure may not be in place by the time all those cars arrive.
Project: Audi Charging Hubs
Designers: Audi AG
Manufacturer: Audi AG
