BorgWarner develops 350kW DC fast charger, which could reduce costs by 20-30%

According to foreign media reports, BorgWarner has received $4.09 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a cost-effective next-generation modular DC fast charger.

(Image source: BorgWarner)

The three-year project is one of 25 U.S. Department of Energy research, development and demonstration projects aimed at advancing electrification, reducing vehicle emissions and improving electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

BorgWarner will work with U.S. suppliers and research partners, including Michigan State University, Duke Energy subsidiary eTransEnergy, consulting firm Cityfi, the state of Michigan, and design and construction company Barton Marlow. It will also receive component support from silicon carbide chip supplier Wolfspeed.

The project aims to reduce the cost of DC fast chargers by 20-30% while increasing power density, reducing energy losses, shrinking packaging size and improving reliability. Through new technologies, such chargers will eventually become widely used. BorgWarner and its project partners are committed to providing chargers with 10 charge points and a total capacity of 350kW.

The design will use BorgWarner's single-stage power conversion and power module architecture to charge up to five vehicles at the same time, with an additional five vehicles plugged in and ready to charge. Depending on the project design, the charger product will have scalability of 150-350kW or more, with a single power module output power of 25kW.

Compared to traditional Level 2 AC chargers, DC fast chargers charge much faster and are just as easy to access. The charger delivers DC power directly to the vehicle battery, which improves efficiency. Because DC fast chargers can provide higher power levels, charging stations can deploy multiple charging points so that multiple vehicles can charge simultaneously. The unit is designed to support current electric vehicles and can be flexibly upgraded to support future pure electric vehicles that may operate at higher voltages.