Street Charging Without Limits
42 Rapid Battery Backed Chargers
The Exeter CIPS project developed in 2021 saw 42 Battery backed rapid chargers installed across Exeter. This rollout was one of a kind and was an innovative project run by Innovate UK and one of our partners. the project was to deliver battery backed rapid charging at the roadside from small even single phase energy supply. The network was eventually taken over by the partner who have since replaced the majority of the original technology with off the shelf Chinese slow charging in line with the rest of their network. The project was successfully delivered and demonstrated how constrained grid supply is not a barrier to fast or rapid EV charging.
Revolutionising Street EV Charging
The Hubs Exeter project really was a revolution in EV charging that has been copied but not bettered by the wider EV charging industry. The industry is still, for the most part, reliant on large energy connections, and what the project demonstrated successfully was that large Connections, even at street level, are not required. It also continues to develop our thinking and shows where some of the pinch points are in delivering rapid or ultra rapid charging at the roadside come about. Simple things like how to control noise from air cooling has led us to develop water cooled units and other noise suppression technologies.
Some of the successes in the project is that we suffered no stolen charge cables, principally because the recoiling cables made the stealing of cables almost impossible or not worthwhile. Since then we've continued to develop the process so the cables can be recoiled even up to large water cooled 350 kilowatt versions. Secondary measures such as vandalism control and understanding how the customer interacts with the charger have been invaluable. What is interesting is that we still see the same mistakes being made across most grid tied charger networks.
42 × Rapid EV Chargers at street level
Simultaneous rapid charging for small constrained connections.
2x EV per site charging at 44kW +
EV's charged from small 125kVa connections simultaneously using harvested energy.
Minimal grid, Maximum Charging
Even better was that our % margin on each kW was double the industry normal due to peak shaving
100% Ready
Maximum available charge 100% of the time
From Concept to Delivery
Proving that ultra rapid, limited grid charging isn’t just possible, it’s been here since 2021.
The concept of rapid EV charging at the roadside was born back in 2014 through 2015 following the founders of ZPN developing one of the world's first EV sports cars. The concept went through a number of iterations before the award of the ExeterCIPS and Innovate Development Contract. As some of you may notice 'someone' may have copied our initial design of our charge post. However, the meaningful difference is that even back in 2021 we were already developing dual recoiling charge cables on a street level rapid charger.
As chargers have become more sophisticated and that includes our own, one of the key things is they remain not the most elegant device but we continue to work towards improving this within our philosophy of function and user experience first.
Power. Stored. Delivered.
Explore ZPN’s advanced battery energy storage electric vehicle solutions engineered for rapid charging, scalability, mobility and total energy independence.
ZPN DRP
Deliver ultra rapid charging anywhere, without the grid. DRP provides mobile, high capacity energy storage for events, fleets and remote locations offering fast, flexible,and emission free power on demand.
ZPN STR
Designed for permanent installations, STR enables businesses to optimise energy usage, reduce grid reliance, and lower operational costs. Store energy from solar, wind or off-peak supply and deploy it when it matters most.
ZAPME
ZAPME - the world's simplest and most portable solution to mobile electric vehicle charging, EV recovery and on-demand local electric charging. Find out more about ZAPME and how it could benefit you.
Let’s Power What’s Next
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